I plan on doing the shelby drop sometime this year or the beginning of next and am wandering if I am going to need new coil springs. I have the current springs cut down 2 coils on one side and 2.5 on the other to make the car sit level how would the drop effect this? also do I need stock height or could I use lowered springs? has anyone used variable rate springs? I found some on the rockauto.com web site and wander if anyone has tried theme. thanks.
Wow, that's a big cut! Did you have aftermarket springs to start with? I only cut one coil off of mine and it dumped it on the ground...but then mine are 35 years old.
Mine where the stongest I could get from autozone. for the 4-door with v8 and ac. my car is a 2 door, now it has a v8 w/ no ac but it used to have the I6 w/ ac. It was really high before I cut it though. I should have done a 1/4 or 1/2 cut less on both sides though.
Also does anyone know where I can get a 1" drop templet made from metal? I don't know how accurate it will be with bolting a piece of paper on the car and trying to drill throught it without the drill "walking"...
I made one myself...but you can get one from the following website... http://home.bresnan.net/%7Edazed/test $11.99 plus shipping.
As far as the coils go here is the address... http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,carcode,1132210,parttype,7512 Husky; RC8318 RC8328 Don't know what the differance of spring rates are or any other differances between the two.
of those who did the drop what kind of springs did you use and how did it sit afterword? I want to do the drop but I'm unsure about what to do about the springs... I don't think I could use my curent ones sents I heard that the shelby drop would drop the car down but once again I don't know by how much. I would appreciate any suggestions... presettled 1" drop mustang springs... "Husky Springs" progressive's.... high rate stock... etc... thanks.
I used Moroso Drag Springs when I did the mod. I had to cut a couple of coils out also. Mine sits about like SHINEYSIDEUP's car shown in his sig. I don't recall if anyone has done an actual "Before and After" comparison on a Shelby drop to quantify its value. I was told it would help handling - that's all I needed to hear. It's not that big of deal to do so it was worth the time in my case. Also, the (free) template and other topic info can be found in this thread: http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=29167&highlight=shelby+template Good luck.
David, i was going to do the drop on my '73 but there was a plate wrapped around the lower shock tower so my holes would be off from the template. i also would find out why you had to cut 1 round off more on one side first... ......
I could never figure out why I had to do that, I even took it to a body/chassis shop and they couldn't figure it out either... The last time I rebuilt my front suspension I did have a spring compresser "pop" on me while I was reinstalling the coil on the passenger side (the side with the extra half coil cut out) and I was thinking that maybe when the spring fully extended in that instant it might of forced the upper control arm and perhaps bent the mounting locations causing a slightly differant angle. but I don't know.
Also does anyone know how much the shelby drop actualy drops the car? I've heard 2 1/2 inch but that sounds like alot. just think about the geometry and the location of the spring perch I would esimate about 1/2 inch. Also does the change in geometry allow for the tire to go up into the fender when compressed? I'm still trying to figure what kind of springs to go with and spring height (retain old springs buy new ones and if I do should I go with progressives, some of the mustang 1" drop springs, etc) any info would be helpful. thanks.
I can't answer the other questions David, but by changing to the Shelby drop I only saw about a half inch drop. But I already had
now to finish my thought...lol...it sucks when you hit return accidentally! Anyhow, I already had my springs cut down by one coil. As I said these were the stock 30 year old springs from a 6 cylinder car (even though the 6 cylinder and 8 cylinder look identical in diameter, length and number of coils). I hope that this helps you some!
Sort of... my car is probably as low as I want to go so I might have to get new springs and start again with the cutting to get it to a good point. thanks though.
