Front ride height
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 307
Likes: 2
From: McCordsville Indiana
Front ride height
I recently bought a 77 coupe,smallblock, and the front seems to be high,tire size is 225/70R15,front and rear. The measurement from the ground to bottom of front wheel well openings is 29",and the measurement on the rockers is 9" front and 8" rear.My question,are the tires too tall causing the front to ride high or do I have a spring issue,I think the tires are too tall,Any opinions? 
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 3,047
Likes: 124
From: Wichita KS
I recently bought a 77 coupe,smallblock, and the front seems to be high,tire size is 225/70R15,front and rear. The measurement from the ground to bottom of front wheel well openings is 29",and the measurement on the rockers is 9" front and 8" rear.My question,are the tires too tall causing the front to ride high or do I have a spring issue,I think the tires are too tall,Any opinions?
If they used rubber bushings and tightened the a-arms BEFORE letting the suspension settle, then that would cause the front to sit too high.
Race Director
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 14,062
Likes: 602
From: Henderson Nv-Rohnert Park/Sonoma C o. ca/born in NY Rockaway Beach.
My 77 sat very high too... i oppted to use a vbp 550 spring with one coil cut out.. and i sit low.. maybe a tad to low..
255/60/15
before
255/60/15
before
Last edited by ptroxx; Mar 4, 2011 at 01:39 AM.
Team Owner
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 87,315
Likes: 1,585
From: Western NY
To the OP, just on the odd chance that someone did replace the front a-arm bushings, and tightened them up when the car was off the ground, as "mapman" suggested, get the car on some ramps, so the suspension is loaded, but you can get under the car. Then loosen all the a-arm pivot bolts, let the car settle for a couple of minutes, then re-torque all the bolts, and see if that helps.
If that doesn't do the job, you may want to trim the front springs. One thing to keep in mind, if you want to start conservative with your trimming, such as 1/2 a coil, you have to remove an equal amount from BOTH ends of the spring, so the spring's ends will still locate properly in the frame and lower a-arm.
For example, even though I did my wife's car a long time ago, I seem to recall that a full coil was 14" of spring (measured around the outside of the spring), so I cut 7" of coil off the springs...3.5" from each end.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 2,487
Likes: 10
From: Palm Beach Florida
St. Jude Donor '12
My wife used to own a '79 coupe, it had the 225/70 tires on it, and I installed a VBP 'glass rear spring, as well as their 550 coils up front. It sat the same as yours in the "before" picture in front after the spring installation, however I took only a half a coil off.....
To the OP, just on the odd chance that someone did replace the front a-arm bushings, and tightened them up when the car was off the ground, as "mapman" suggested, get the car on some ramps, so the suspension is loaded, but you can get under the car. Then loosen all the a-arm pivot bolts, let the car settle for a couple of minutes, then re-torque all the bolts, and see if that helps.
If that doesn't do the job, you may want to trim the front springs. One thing to keep in mind, if you want to start conservative with your trimming, such as 1/2 a coil, you have to remove an equal amount from BOTH ends of the spring, so the spring's ends will still locate properly in the frame and lower a-arm.
For example, even though I did my wife's car a long time ago, I seem to recall that a full coil was 14" of spring (measured around the outside of the spring), so I cut 7" of coil off the springs...3.5" from each end.
To the OP, just on the odd chance that someone did replace the front a-arm bushings, and tightened them up when the car was off the ground, as "mapman" suggested, get the car on some ramps, so the suspension is loaded, but you can get under the car. Then loosen all the a-arm pivot bolts, let the car settle for a couple of minutes, then re-torque all the bolts, and see if that helps.
If that doesn't do the job, you may want to trim the front springs. One thing to keep in mind, if you want to start conservative with your trimming, such as 1/2 a coil, you have to remove an equal amount from BOTH ends of the spring, so the spring's ends will still locate properly in the frame and lower a-arm.
For example, even though I did my wife's car a long time ago, I seem to recall that a full coil was 14" of spring (measured around the outside of the spring), so I cut 7" of coil off the springs...3.5" from each end.
Team Owner
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 87,315
Likes: 1,585
From: Western NY
1-1/2 to 2-1/2 is both quite a range, as well as potentially quite a drop. What do you have, big block springs in a small block car?
