You just never know what’s next when learning as you go!

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For the jacked up look. Saw that a lot in the 60's and 70's. Tire wear was really bad.

 

We're always learning as we go. I know that I know a lot more now than I did when I was kid and working on cars. I had no idea at 7 years old that you had to mix a hardener with bondo. I didn't understand why it never set on my bike. My dad let me learn on my own....And now I dance with girls...

 

That's what you do when you cut to many Coils out the first time around.

 

We used to use the aluminum twist in spacers that you stuck a 1/2" extension in and gave it half a turn. Some times used 6 of them in each front spring. But we were young and stupid then.

 

Did the screw in trick on my 65 Fairlane front end. Worked OK, until I pulled out from a stop sign, turned right, stomped it, pushed out the spacer at the speed of light, and promptly knocked a bigass dent in the top of my left front fender. It was great, I could see the damn dent all pooched out every time I looked out the windshield.

 

Never had much luck with either of these methods. Hard launch or sideways cornering and they'd be gone.

 

Ha ! - great example of what not to do - had friend that owned a '56 Ford that had front tire wear - his Dad paid to have all new ball joints, etc installed to correct problem - then friend used the solid type spring spacers and could not get it high enough - so, he took out the shocks & added more spacers - road like a rock - suspension had no up down movement - Dad was thrilled - Ha!

 

I remember those!!! LOL

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This is another reason I fell in love with Mopars..... 3/4" socket and a ratchet, then you and adjust the ride height! Great engineering!

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Put a piece of pipe in the suspension once, got about three houses down the street when I realized the error of my ways.

 

All jacked up and nowhere to go....

 

Some minds sure do work differently:

To me it's simply unconscionable to produce and market such a thing towards the ignorant.

But I'd sure like to have the money made off of stuff like that.

 

Nobody ever went broke under estimating the taste (or intellect) of the American consumer.

 

Hello,

As young teens, we knew how to lower our cars (55-58 Chevy sedans) and accepted the bumps and grinds that come with the rake. But, when it was too much of a rake or the ride was not to the “girlfriend’s” liking, then something had to be done to correct the situation. The first thing that we found on the market was those “twist wedgies” that could be popped into both sides of the springs for the even stance.

Those rubber ones were easy to install, but when going over a bump in the road or a dip intersection, they would pop out, causing an odd angle of a ride. Of course, finding them and putting them back in place was a home garage thing. Then the next big thing, (probably from J.C. Whitney or Pep Boys) were the steel adjusting clamps shown. An adjustable metal coil spacer made it relatively easy to adjust, but it just took time. We found out that they had to be evenly spaced around the coils to give the car a level stance.

The ones we experimented with were single bolts, but everything else looked similar. The single threaded bolt had a flat surface in the middle for the wrench to make the adjustments when in place. But, again, they had to be placed on both sides of the spring for an even stance and ride. These were so much better than the black rubber “twist wedgies.”

Jnaki

The main reason for this fiddling around was due to teenage pocketbooks. If we had the money, the cut coils and different shocks were the best ride with no worries. But, as low cost teenagers pocket books commanded, cheap alternatives had to be used first.

The cars in our group eventually went to the cut coils and different shocks. The 55 2 door post had the steepest California rake. The 56 2 door post had a mild lowered front. The 57 Bel Air hardtop had the most radical California rake. The front was very low and the back was slightly higher. When riding around, driveways and intersections were the low and slow versions of cruising. But, the 57 was the fastest of the bunch.

My 58 Impala experimented with those adjusters, but the standard springs and level stance ended up being the best look. Besides, when accelerating, the front end rose with the 348 power to the rear wheels and shifts. After the years of cruising, drag racing and just having fun, the front lowered itself from constant usage. It still rode quite well and when there were 4 teens inside, it was a lowered cruiser, even with new shocks.

 

In high school in the 70s. I ran wide Ansen's on my 68 Vette, with Indy tires. I had 14''wide x15'' on the rear, and 10''wide x15'' on the front. So the tires stuck out of the fenders. {ya think} I took and welded angle iron together, to lowered the factory bump stops. That way the tires couldn't hit the fenders, and still remain low. My old go kart had a better ride! Lol I have pictures but it's OT on here. We never stop learning. What doesn't kill us, makes us smarter. Fun times though. Ron.....

 

Hey, when did you crawl under my car to take that picture?!! (by the way, how is the plywood doing under there, where I patched the rusted out floor?)


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" Unconscionable" huh , what's it like to live high on that hill in that rarified air , don't think too much of yourself , do ya' , what a bag of wind ,.........
ROFLMAO LOL .....

 

I once inserted a bunch of old spark plugs in the front coils of my 56 Ford ! Looked good for about a block !

 

They still use em over here in East Dallas to put those big 20+ inch "rims" on old clapped out Chevys.

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I knew someone that used the wooden version. They had a softer ride while they lasted.

 

Those things were first sold to clamp the springs down to lower the car. They had been around for a decade before anyone thought of raising a car ….

 

Wondering if anyone was ever young and dumb enough to swap the leaf springs on their 55 Ford onto the top of the rear axle to get a badass rake.
Can you say "instant dog walk", ""zero ride control ( becuz you couldn't figure out how to reconnect the shocks), and my personal favorite, "stand on the gas so hard you shift the axle as far back on one side as it can go, wrinkle your quarter bottom, pull the driveshaft out of the trans so the front yoke drops down, sticks into the blacktop and stands your 55 up on its nose."
Not suggesting I ever did this, but seem to recall it happening ..... I would have been 16 at the time - IF I had done it.

 

My older bro and I used those to clamp the coil springs on our high school ride to make it lower. It probably road as bad as cars that used them to jack up.

 

A fat kid with a '55 Chev 210 came into the boss's shop, around '64...asked about spring spacers to 'lift it up', Racer style...
I told him, "Don't dooo it..." (even sang it to the tune...remember?)
He returned a few evenings later, parked the Chevy in front of a closed stall with the door down. I looked, the Chevy was HIGH, but...there was 'AIR'!
He was laughing, obviously pleased with himself, "Hey...I raised it up for less that $20!"
Pointing to its new 'airborne' position, he said "Orchard Supply Hardware! Eight inch pipe nipples, all 1" wide...and some long bolts! Right on top of the body mounts!"
All he left out was, "How-ya-like-me-now?"
I could put my LEG between the body and frame...Thought I'd seen it all.
He even 'spaced' the steering wheel 'up', but I didn't ask how. True story. Name was 'Dave'.

 

Every Ford in the 50's and 60's were required to have these!

 

Anybody ever put muffler clamps around the rear shocks when you have it up on the jack.? Let the jack down and....instant California rake. Rode like crap...til it broke the mounts
6sally6

 

Never ever raised a car.


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