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Hi guys,
My son has his floors welded in to the 66 coupe project He put in a set of torque boxes and we are getting ready to do the front disk brake swap. While we are in there........
I have many unused parts from doing my car years and years ago. On the shelf are a set of coil springs that I cannot for the life of me remember where they are from or what rate etc.. They are Blue 1 inch drop but no idea who the make or spring rate is. If I can figure out how to post a photo I will. Maybe someone knows who made blue springs. Trying to decide if we should use these or stick to another set of stock springs cut to drop things about 1 1/2 inches. At my age I prefer a softer ride with some performance. I don't want to install something too stiff so I thought I would get your thoughts. We will be doing the arning drop and putting in upper control arms with new spring saddles. I saw that there is a scott drake saddle that says it rotates more than stock but not a full roller. Any opinions?
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I can honestly tell you using shortened stiffer springs with the Bilstein shocks, and a 1inch spacer on top of the spring (to get my stance just right ) with the shelby (or arning) drop is the best decision I made.
I have an extra set of 65-66 coil springs sitting here .. stock .. which I thought about putting back in , because I thought the spring was making my ride stiff. I was wrong on so many accounts :D
it was the shock absorber that made my ride stiff..
I have variable rate spring in there .. I got them from Dr. Gas, but they closed busines recently ..
If you are in there, and wanting to do it right. Get variable rate springs with much higher rate than the stock.. stocks are too soft.. and go with bilstein shocks .. I cannot believe how comfortable my 65 is now..
And believe me , I kicked and screamed against this advice that was given to me by many people here.. but I ended up just coming to this config.
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I have a set of blue front coil springs that I bought from John’s Mustang in Houston about 25 years ago. They are so much shorter than the stock coils that a spring compressor is not needed to put them in or take them out. They were advertised as 620 lb/in when I bought them. They are very stiff. The coil stock is 0.700 inch in diameter.
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Thanks Hornman. That looks like it might be them. I will put a caliper on them and check the wire size. They look very short and maybe too stiff. Kind of what I was afraid of. They might need to stay on the shelf while we experiment with the cutting the stock ones down.
Any thoughts or experience with the Scott Drake High performance spring saddles? Roller is out of the budget right now.
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Hornman wrote:
I have a set of blue front coil springs that I bought from John’s Mustang in Houston about 25 years ago. They are so much shorter than the stock coils that a spring compressor is not needed to put them in or take them out. They were advertised as 620 lb/in when I bought them. They are very stiff. The coil stock is 0.700 inch in diameter.
that is what I think Dr. Gas used to sell too. and I have thsoe too.. they are shorter .. hence I added the 1" spacers.:D
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Do either of you happen to know the ride height measurement you have center of wheel to bottom of fender. Gaba 1 inch spacer was necessary to clear your wheel tire setup? If you don't mind me asking what tire and wheels size are you running.
Thanks guys.
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Qstang wrote:
Do either of you happen to know the ride height measurement you have center of wheel to bottom of fender. Gaba 1 inch spacer was necessary to clear your wheel tire setup? If you don't mind me asking what tire and wheels size are you running.
Thanks guys.
The front end of my 66 is 13.5” centerline to fender. I’m running 17 x 7 wheels all around (Torq Thrust M’s) with 225/45-17’s all around. That is as large a tire as I can run even with rolled fenders, you car may vary.
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Thanks that helps. I realize everyone will have different results, but it gives me a general idea of where we might land.
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Qstang wrote:
Do either of you happen to know the ride height measurement you have center of wheel to bottom of fender. Gaba 1 inch spacer was necessary to clear your wheel tire setup? If you don't mind me asking what tire and wheels size are you running.
Thanks guys.
good question
15" wheels and I had 26" total wheel diameter.. but that was too much . I had to get my fenders rolled , and use a little smaller tire.. I did not need a spacer to run the tires I have now ( smaller than the old 26") .. I will post the size when i get home.. (25" I think) .. but they fit well. and look good..
I will also post a pic of the new stance with the 1" spacer as well.. so you can see
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Thanks Gaba I really appreciate it. We will be using 15 inch wheelsas well. Hoping not to roll the fenders if we don't need to. Maybe I am paranoid, but worry about causing damage to paint in the process. I will have to look into every ones advice for best methods on that.
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Qstang wrote:
Thanks Gaba I really appreciate it. We will be using 15 inch wheelsas well. Hoping not to roll the fenders if we don't need to. Maybe I am paranoid, but worry about causing damage to paint in the process. I will have to look into every ones advice for best methods on that.
Be paranoid, I am every time I need to do something that could hurt the paint. Took a lot of years and dollars to get that paint!! If you have to roll them, a heat gun to warm the paint will help to prevent the paint from cracking.
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You can calculate spring rate with measurements using this calculator:
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I agree those are probably around 600 pounds per inch. As suggested do the Arning aka Shelby drop on the upper control arm. This modification wasn’t designed to lower the the suspension but to improve geometry. As a side affect it lowers the front by about 5/8”. Roller bearing spring perches will also improve the ride quality
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Thanks guys. Definitely doing the arning drop. Picked up the template from Daze cars. we don't have the budget for the full roller bearings right now. Are the scott drake Hi performance spring perches worth it? The description and reviews indicate that they have a bit more movement than the stock ones.
Online!
Hornman, how many miles do you have on that suspension combo?
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We got the old parts out and have drilled the holes for the drop. Waiting on the control arms to be delivered, In the meantime we took a look at the set of springs that we have that we thought were stock 66 springs, but notice they don't have the same flat spot. Are these aftermarket or maybe not even mustang? We picked them up from a guy on CL. Same diameter and overall length. The top coil wraps tight to the last coil, but is not flat like our originals or the 620 Blue coils.
Kind of hesitant to put the blue ones in if we need to use a spacer and wondering if we should be concerned about them being able to be placed without a compressor. Thanks in advance
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