Technical Thoughts on lowering the front of my 59.

Just found an equivalent to the CC851 on Rockauto. They are on their way.

Sometimes I get so stuck on something I can't see my options any longer.

Thanks for the suggestion @Greg Rogers

 

Very nice looking '59.

Aside from the stance...

My dad's best friend worked his whole life for FoMoCo and always owned either Mercury or Ford. He owned a '59. He would immediately install taller tires on his newly purchased vehicles. He said that Ford always under-tired their cars. I tend to agree with him. So I think overall tire diameter is important, especially on a big car. Don't forget that a forward rake can be achieved with rubber. But also don't forget that a forward rake decreases caster angle and can cause the car not to track or return to center as well.

 

One more thing. To me, a forward rake was more often than not due to bigger tires in the back and became a performance look. Yours is not a performance type car. Rather, it's classic American Cruiser in its style. I would stay with that. I have admired those stainless steel skirts you spoke of.

 

I just want to lower it overall. It is 2" taller in the front now.

I'm going for at least 2" lower in the back and 3-4" lower on thr front.

I'm not a fan of thus type of car being higher in thr back either...maybe 0.5-1" taller in the back. Pretty much level.

The tail dragger looks better with lead sleds, my square cruiser I'd like just about level.

 

Let us know how these work out. I'm in the same boat, looking for lowering springs for my '60 Sunliner and saw the recommendation for the Moog CC851 springs (which are discontinued as you found out). Being the suspicious person I can sometimes be, I dug up the specs for them and found out that the 'other' brand springs RockAuto lists for this application isn't the same....

Moog lists two rear springs for the '90s T-birds. The '89-91 uses the CC851 and the '92-97 uses the CC861. RockAuto no longer shows any Moog springs for either application, but does list the same rear springs for all '89-97 T-birds in the other brands. Now RockAuto is hit-and-miss as far as showing spring specs, but where they do show specs the specs are for the later model cars. The differences Moog shows aren't huge, but they're enough to make me wonder. They're very similar with three main differences. First is unloaded length; the 851 is about 13.25" long, the 861 is 1/2" shorter. Next, load rating at installed height is 1325 Lbs for the 851, only 1150 for the 861, a difference of 175 Lbs per spring. Not a big difference, but my '60 is a heavy car (very close to 4000 Lbs, and at least 55% on the front wheels) and that's a concern for me. Lastly, the 851 has a spring rate of 440 Lbs per inch, the 861 is only 413 Lbs. I'll note here that the popular CC850 springs seem to be too short for the '57-up cars, but does have a 600 Lbs per inch spring rate, which may be why they work so well.

I suspect that on your lighter '59 this may not make much difference as it's about 300 Lbs lighter than my '60. My personal experience with aftermarket lowering springs or cutting the OEM ones has been all bad. Within a year every time I've done this the springs have settled another inch or more throwing my alignment off, eating tires and creating clearance issues.

I did find the complete spec listings for Moog springs, I'll take a shot at seeing if I can find something that's suitable and not discontinued. And I'll try calling Eaton, but I suspect their springs may be straight-rate, I'd prefer a variable-rate to keep that 'big car' ride... LOL

Moog Coil Springs | Moog Suspension Parts (moog-suspension-parts.com)

 

I'm running a 355 Chevy (aka my a-hole detector...) with a M20 and lots of aluminum parts on the engine. The Colorado title said it weighed #3460, but I'd say I'm under #3400 as it sits today.

I run 215/75-15 tires on 6" wheels up front and I think the disc brake conversion shoots the wheels outward a bit. On even mild driveway sloped with the wheels turned the tires scraped. With OG 14" tires, probably not an issue. I have to run another spring-rate calculation for taking another 1/2 coil out of them, I'd like it a bit lower. Like you say, it can always be lifted with spacers up top if needed.

 

The springs arrived today.

I'm very pleased to see they are USA made. It is interesting the 851 in the part number. I would guess like WIX filters other companies use their numbering system in their products.

I'm waiting on a correct swat bar and I'll get them installed and report the results.

Had to drop a lower control arm to get the sway bar out. So I'll have to get the bar in before I can get the springs installed.

 

I took my old sway bar out with an cut-off wheel. The new one went in without taking anything else off the car except for the bumper brackets, 1 side at a time. The shorter springs should go in without a fight.

 

About 1" over the bump stops! Love it.

Just took it for the first ride, I'll have to get some pictures of the car outside. The stance is perfect.

Waited 5 months to get a 31 tooth second gear for my Granada Toploader, when that arrived, it was all hands on deck to get this thing back on the road.

 

Slick!

Joe

 

Cool! Can’t wait to see it outside!

 

Looks just right!

 

I'm so glad I did it! Had many positive comments on the couple of days I've driven it.

 

I have the same springs, I took them out after a short ride. The 15" radials scraped the fenders on just about anything. The stance you got is perfect.

 

My 14" radials are very close in the fender. Haven't scraped yet, but verrrry close.

What shocks should I run, my KYB Excell's are definatly out of their valving range and the car is more bouncy than it was when it was 3" higher.

 

I believe that my disc conversion shoots the wheels outward just enough to add to the problem. I really liked the look of the Aerostar springs up front. They may go back in one day with a spacer up top.

Up front I'm using stock Monroe shocks. With the shorter springs I had something else, still have them in the box on the shelf with the springs.