Re: Chris IIRC, they are 17's in the rear (245/45/17's, same as mine) and 16's up front, not sure of the tire size. It also has 2 inch dropped spindles and 4 wheel disc brakes. The rims are Torque Thrust II's. Car is very nice!
I found the specs I had noted on my old and "new" springs before I completed the swap. Not as much height diff as I had thought there was. The new springs are only 3/4" taller, 15.5 to 14.75, but about 1/16" thicker, at about 5/8". What a huge difference in ride height though! I actually just put a tape measure to the car, and the rear is now no less than 4" higher than it was before! Those are some stiff springs... For the first time today, I also had a chance to look at the profile with it sitting on a FLAT surface, from a little distance. In the early pic I posted, it's deceiving 'cause my driveway is sloped quite a bit. On a flat area, it really looks jacked up, not quite the new look I had in mind. Old springs go back in Saturday.
Amazing how much difference a 1/16th of an inch can make huh? I must be getting old.. I never have liked huge rims on older cars. I've driven larger rims on an older car before of a friends and it rode rough, and was noisey as heck.
I hope you get it the way you want it. It did have that nostalgic look with the high lift rears, but if you crave a better ride quality, then I would say out with the heavy springs. I have installed sets on Rivs along with KYB's. The cars did rid rougher, but the difference it made in handling was enough to keep them. Big cars on mountain roads need all the help they can get here. I am going with a lower stance on my 71. That is, if I ever get time to install all the parts I have. Show us some more pics after you finish.
Well, I took an hour Saturday a.m. and swapped the old springs back in. I have to say, it is GREAT to have the old ride quality back. Those cargo coils were so stiff, they sent my head into the headliner on any medium-sized bump in the road. And they were a full 3" higher than stock. I would have liked about 1.5" instead, but they were worth trying out, Bob C gave me a great price on them. The cornering is fantastic, now that I've got the big 1.25 front bar on, and installed a rear bar early this spring. The fatter 245/15's probably help too. But I did find that I don't have much clearance on the psngr side between the exhaust and tire. I don't think the exhaust was installed quite in the factory location. It extends quite a ways outside of the frame, as it passes the tire, and not much room by the lip of the wheel well either.
Dave...If you haven't figured it out yet, you speedo isn't really that far off... Figured out your old tire diameter compared to new tire diameter and used calculators on webpage listed below to figure out how far off your speedo is...When your speedo reads 60, you're actually going about 63...When speedo is at 70, you're actually doing about 74...Basically, you're speedo reads slow...Any tranny shop should be able to help you out with the speedo drive gear...Should need speedo drive gear with one tooth difference than what you have... Go here for the calculators... http://www.4lo.com/ At the toolbar on top of the page are links to the calculators...Basically a 4x4 website, but some neat stuff there...
Jim, thanks for the info, I appreciate it! I think my speedo is off a bit more than that though. Roadside radar at area construction sites clock me at 56-57 when I go by showing 50 on the speedo. I'm not too worried about it, just a mental adjustment while driving. Something to take care of later on for sure though.
Dave- Funny story. Now I own a wagon, and those springs would work nicely. Any chance they are for sale? ;-) -Bob C.
Hey Bob, you betcha! Do you remember what I paid you for them? You can have them for the same, no problem. I would rather ship them out now than move them in a couple months. We made an offer on another house today, our house sold yesterday. So we'll be working on packing stuff up, and the garage is by far the most cluttered up area. I'll see if I can find what I paid you for them.
