DereII
Active Member
I've had SuperStock springs on my car since shortly after buying it about 18 years ago, even with the front bolt through the lower position of the adaptor the car always looks like it sits low. Ordered some ESPO XHD springs and since they do not know how high stock is I took a chance and ordered the +1" version. Took the time on an extremely hot and humid day to center the Dere in the garage and get to swapping. Bought new hangers front and back for the new springs, it all went pretty easy. I'd added a shim on each side to get the pinion angle set to 3degrees down. With the shims re-used, it's now at 5deg which is in line with recommendations in the Mopar Chassis book of 5-7deg.
Since the contact at ESPO had no idea where stock began or ended I just laid a steel square against the center of each side's wheel opening trim and also at the top front edge of each bumper end. I don't think my car's had work on either element in its 54 or so years on the Earth, but it looks straight. There's probably a better place to make those measurements on the frame, I'd guess a longitudinal, but this works for my A-B check. I found the passenger side to start off maybe 1/2" lower than the driver's side, this may in part be due to a heavy battery in the trunk on that side for 15 or 16 years.
I'd installed two of the same S/S Spring, the ...456 part # for 3400lb cars, just because I was curious at the time and wondered if the factory bias of the original sets might cause the car to sit crooked or drive that way, and I drive the car more on the street than race it. Didn't seem to hurt, the car only runs in a 12.00/7.50 second class, best of 11.5 in the 1/4.
The car now sits level, as measured at the bumper top edges, the pass side came up around 2" and the driver's side 1.5". I can go through old pictures of the car at rest to see where the wheel well trim crosses the wheel and see that difference, better are the pictures by our track photographers of the car approaching the staging lights. I'll try to post links to some of those images, but something else they showed me was the car used to raise the rear on launch and now it squats as the leaves let the axle wind up. Fortunately it doesn't seem to affect the car's run, I have very similar reaction, 60' and 1/8th mile times. Have an adjustable pinion snubber to try next, it never mattered with the S/S springs that I could tell probably because those springs did what they were designed for with my car.
Attached images, if this works, show each side's before and after shots.
Since the contact at ESPO had no idea where stock began or ended I just laid a steel square against the center of each side's wheel opening trim and also at the top front edge of each bumper end. I don't think my car's had work on either element in its 54 or so years on the Earth, but it looks straight. There's probably a better place to make those measurements on the frame, I'd guess a longitudinal, but this works for my A-B check. I found the passenger side to start off maybe 1/2" lower than the driver's side, this may in part be due to a heavy battery in the trunk on that side for 15 or 16 years.
I'd installed two of the same S/S Spring, the ...456 part # for 3400lb cars, just because I was curious at the time and wondered if the factory bias of the original sets might cause the car to sit crooked or drive that way, and I drive the car more on the street than race it. Didn't seem to hurt, the car only runs in a 12.00/7.50 second class, best of 11.5 in the 1/4.
The car now sits level, as measured at the bumper top edges, the pass side came up around 2" and the driver's side 1.5". I can go through old pictures of the car at rest to see where the wheel well trim crosses the wheel and see that difference, better are the pictures by our track photographers of the car approaching the staging lights. I'll try to post links to some of those images, but something else they showed me was the car used to raise the rear on launch and now it squats as the leaves let the axle wind up. Fortunately it doesn't seem to affect the car's run, I have very similar reaction, 60' and 1/8th mile times. Have an adjustable pinion snubber to try next, it never mattered with the S/S springs that I could tell probably because those springs did what they were designed for with my car.
Attached images, if this works, show each side's before and after shots.
