How should I lower my 60 Impala?

Getting ready to order parts and I need some help before I jump out there to far.
Back when I was driving the car I cut two coils from the springs and it lowered it
about four inches and it was down in the weeds and looked kool. It was driveable
but it was rough around town.

I had planned to order 2"springs and 2 " drop spindles for the front and 2" springs for
the back. I was told in another post, don't buy the drop spindles because you loose
a lot of your turning radias and they're not worth buying. I remember years ago I
bought drop spindles for my '55 Chevy and I had to shave some of the A arms off so
I could turn the wheel. So I'm starting to doubt if I should buy them or not.

Bags are not an option because I want to keep it simple.

Any one out there lowered their '60 recently?

Happy Trails, Mick

 

Whatever you decide to do, look into a slip yoke and a better carrier bearing, They will help keep things trouble free with a lowered daily driver. Look for a thread on here called something like "lowering an X frame car" or something to that effect.

 

Thanks Lone star for the tip and I will for sure do that.
I'll also do another search for the "X" frame thing.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=643289&highlight=lowering+frame

 

I don't want to get into a pissing match, but drop spindles generally keep the suspension geometry close to stock and are good way to lower a car. Before going on bla,bla,bla Internet bullshit, I would do some research for facts about turning radius with drop spindles. If just moving the tire up into the wheel well is causing the reduced turning radius, it ain't the spindles causing the problem. The offset of the front rims may be the issue and a different offset rim may fix the problem.

 

The 60 Impala has the same diamater top and bottom springs ft and rear i cut mine for the perfect ride hight and put air shocks w/on board compressor its free it works i drove the car all over the east coast with no tire wear issues and it was low look at my photo pics

 

My 62 with 3 inch lowering springs 15 inch wheels I did have to put air shocks on drive shaft hits the tunel with lugage in the trunk

 

Had a 58 a few years back. bought a set of 3" drop springs and cut them 1/2 coil. Lowered it around 4 inches, and still handled well. I put in a Slip Shaft Driveline from CPP with a new carrier berring. Highly recomended.

 

Nice car, IMHO Impalas should have come from the factory with
2 pumps, and 8 batteries.

Spindals and rear springs cheap, easy and dependable
Godspeed
MrC.

 

I put a set of Ecklers 3" lowering springs in mine,actually only got maybe 2" even after they had time to settle down.Ended up stepping the a-frames 2" & cutting 1 coil from the rear.That got it where I wanted.I've put 5k miles on it with no problems.

 

Here is my 60 Belair with 3" lowering springs fron and rear. Rides great with no issues. Something extreamly important you need to do is when you change the rear springs is to "set" the D/S support bearing. Just have the car on Jackstands,loosen the center bearing. Jack up the rearend to put a load on the springs and re-tighten the support bearing. The stock bearing is inexpensive They make a heavy duty one for about $100 that might be worth looking into. Todd

 

Mick, your 60 has the same suspension system as my 62. The drop spindle will retain the correct geometry in front.
With the drop spindles I chose to use the strongest new springs I could get and cut them to match the spindle.
In the back, I used new springs, again the srongest, and cut until I got my car where I wanted.
It drove just fine. It was driven to Des Moines, Pueblo, Col, Biloxi, Miss and other distancees. i am posting an attachment of the car, just in case you may not remember it.
At first, I had 15 inch Chrome smoothies, they worked great.
Then 16 inch Torque thrust II as shown. Both sets of wheels had the 3 and one half inch back space as designed for the cars.
In the end, It is your decision.
I would do the same proceedure, if I ever lived with another x frame.
As to the drive line, Nothing changes there.
However I did replace all u joints and carrier bearing.

I had used Drop spindles on an 83 chevy truck with the same success,
Vehicles drive like they should.
You will not give anything up in the ride, either....

 

Thanks guys for the help, this new ground for me. I'm Not familiar with the
X frame set up. I plan on driving the wheels off of it. With the knowledge that
is on the HAMB I shouldn't make a mistake.

JimC how can anyone forget your sick Impala. Your car sits purrfect and i want
The same stance. Thanks for the help but ya didn't tell me what spindles ya bought.
i know your car has been on the road for a long time. Do ya remember what they were?

Thanks again guys you've been a big help.

 

mick
call cpp. they have everything you need.spindles,springs,carrier,etc
I've used their stuff before and no issues.
and when you decide that its not low enough, let me know.....

 

On my 60 I think I chopped off a coil and a half. Next, go get a low rider magazine, flip to the back, find the ad for the billet carrier bearing, order it and install it. You don't want to be changing that thing on the side of the road.

 

Thanks Ryno, I'll give CPP a call. I know all of your rides sit right. Looking for a
Traditional 60s style stance like to have a little rake. I'll drive over when I get it
On the road.

Sad to admit but I didn't think of the carrier bearin at all until I started to read the
Comments on the HAMB. This forum is a great resource and should limit your mistakes
Whatever your working on. ..... I guess you had to change a bearing a long the road.
Man, that would suck! Thanks for the advice.

Happy trails, Mick

 

I cut my 59 elco (stock[old]) two coils (nice springs no taper). It sits 'bout rite most likely due to the age of the springs. Poor lake pipes. I have some stories about getting home with popped bags/lines (No cell reception. On the ground/hwy miles from home). I get nosebleeds hence all my rides have to be low, low, low. When I have looked into and have used dropped spindles they have presented challenges as well the first being the added cost and now I am forced into a disk-break setup, rotors, master-cylinder, proportioning valve, lines and on and on. In my case "less is more".

 

OK...who or what is CPP...??? I'm just now starting work on my '60 Chevy Brookwood two door wagon (ONLY 14,000 built) and will need to do the same to get it closer to the earth...

Congrats Mick, on your '60...so you now have a "late model", eh...??? When did you get that one...???

R-

 

Classic performance products


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I slammed my 60 Impala several years ago. One night after a few beers a friend said " this thing would look good with the front dropped". We decided to go about 4". It was simple. We put some blocks under the frame and he heated the coils. I pushed it down to the blocks. It looks and rides great.........very simple. I didn't drop the back. With lakes pipes and moons it looks like a California car from the late 50s.

 

Air Bags

 

Thought they only had 4x4's in Squim? sweet belair!

 

I have a brand new pair or 3" rear lowering springs I'm selling. They are made for 58-64. And a pair of stock front springs (good for spares). Rears I installed for less than a week. And fronts 10 min. I didn't like them.

 

What can I say, I am a rebel

 

That Bel Air is from Euclid, Ohio. Yes it does have bags.

 

Was from Euclid. Now on a transport heading west...

 

Years ago I lower the Impala by removing two coils. It lowered it 4 inches and looked
Awesome. Really don't want to go that low maybe 2 to 3 inches at the most. Looking
For an alternative to lowering the 60 and not lose quality of ride.

I like the bagged look, just not good for a daily driver. I'm not old enough to keep from
Playing with it all the time.

Roger, I bought the Impala almost twenty years ago. Drove it for years until the motor was
Getting too weak. I ended up parking it and fell in loe with my Merc. I drove the Impala to
The host hotel (Saturday night) at the 3rd Stray Kat 500. Good luck with your wagon hopefully
you pick up some tips from the post. I've learned a lot.

Thanks guys for the help.

Happy Trails, Mick
Looking forward to the updates and drive I as a daily driver.

 

I just posted in your other thread, then saw this. This one seems to be more "on topic", so...

Hellfish, Tugmaster, and myself are all on 3" lowering springs (Coil Spring Specialties or Jamco), stock spindles, and I'm running the 2 deg. offset shafts on the upper arms. Radials (say what you will) and my car almost drives itself. I replaced everything in the front end (no P.S.), and I couldn't be happier.

I also bought the slip joint driveshaft from Inland Empire, and it got rid of a lot of vibration caused by lowering. Buy the heavy carrier while you're at it. The last step is an adjustable panhard bar, because the lowering shoves the rearend off center. I had a FULL trunk last weekend, and it kissed the tunnel a couple of times. about 800 miles on this setup now, and it was worth every penny!

 

Where did you get them?

 

I lowered my 59 with 3" lowered springs from http://www.coilsprings.com/.

It was a few years ago, but it was about $300 total and the car rode like a new 59. About 7000 miles later it still rides great

 

Over the weekend I kinda taked myself out of the spindles and seeing what you guys
have done is good enough for me. I think that I can still get a disc brake conversion
with stock spindles. Thanks for the link