nickdaytona

hey guys , Nick here . Bought a sweet '68 coupe this spring for my girl and replaced the rear springs as they were done.ordered a new set from the Mustang barn and put them in (with beers) on Friday with no issues . The car is now sittng better but it still looks like it's an inch lower than the front , which makes me think the P.O. put in big block front springs. What are my options? Air shocks? Gonna be putting 17's on soon so there's also an option to fix with the tires size as well ! Suggestions on rear height and also rim tire combos appreciated ! Thanks !

Nick

pjlietz

When you did the rear did you replace the shackles? If not the PO might have put the 1inch lowering ones in, i did that with my 66. I would think it would be easier to do the shackles then front springs. I had air shock in my car at one point however they developed a leak pretty quick so I tossed them.

Jonk67

A pic would really help and more info. As asked above, does it have non stock shackles? What springs did you buy - standard, mideye, reverse eye?

I would not do airshocks for any reason, the floor pan is not strengthened to support the wt. of the car by the upper shock mount which is what the airshocks will do. Had a pair on my '70 20yrs. ago and they cracked the floor metal and almost punched through the floor, many other stories of this if you search.


Here's a pic of stock shackles which are 3 1/4" between bushing centers as an idea of spacing:


Jon

lefty3382

As above, what rear springs did you get? The type of eye can have a definite affect on ride height. As taken from the Mustang Depot website:

Standard Eye (generally stock ride height)
Mid Eye (approx 1" lowering)
Reverse Eye (approx 2" lowering)

Did you replace the rear shocks along with the springs? If the old shocks have been on the car as long as the leaf springs, they probably need to be replaced as well.

Also, obviously the ride height of the front of your car plays a big factor. Is the front suspension stock? Is it where you want it to be? If you plan on putting performance tires on your new 17s then that will likely lower the profile of the front tire and thus your front ride height as well. Posting pics of your current setup and a more detailed description of what you want the end result to be would help.

nickdaytona

Thanks for the replies ! Got the standard springs with the standard shackles so I'll need to get higher ones for the rear ( I'm also not a fan of air shocks) .

rmodel65

the rear of the car sat lower factory than the front....

2+2GT

Really? I've looked at a lot of photos and film of these car when new, and I disagree. Although you can find pics of Mustangs a bit low in the rear, the opposite is also true. Anyway, they were supposed to sit level at the rocker. The real problem is these car were infamous for saggy springs, especially the six cylinder cars. I was there, and these things tended to drag butt within a few years of leaving the factory.

If the OP's front end is higher than new G/N rear, something is up, because the G/N rear springs are a bit on the high side. Most likely a prior owner has done something odd to the front.

Before changing the front springs, though, look into doing the Arning/Shelby "drop". A side-effect is it lowers the front about 5/8". It dramatically changes the geometry, improving handling.

nickdaytona

Took the old shackles and had my bud Pete add 1 1/4 inches to them and it brought up the rear by 3/4 inches , which looks pretty nice in my book

nickdaytona

This was just after the install. after a spirited ride it settled down from the 16 1/4 inches you see above to 15 3/4, up from 15 before shackle mod.

MustangFTW

lower the front and I think you would have a very nice stance.