Ride Height - Anyone Know?

[bcomo]

Mike:

I hate to ask, but could you please take another two measurements?

Front, from the Center of the Hubcap to the underside of the fender lip.

Rear, from the Center of the Hubcap to the top of the skirt. (That one is hard to do)

Here is what my measurements are, taken like that:

On my 60, I have:

Front: 14 1/2" Center of Hub Cap to Fender Lip

Rear: 8 1/2" Center of Hub Cap to Top of Skirt
(This is high because of stock extra leaf)

[fomoco59]

No problem...I'll try to remember this weekend.

[byersmtrco]

I parked next to a 59 conv at a car show yesterday. His car was only an inch higher than mine. We both agreed that convertibles sit lower than hardtops. Addn'l weight? Who knows. He feels his car is sagging about an inch (WAAAAY less miles than mine) So leaf springs w/2" raise it is. Then at least I'll be sitting level. It is kind of funny, getting on the freeway or hard acceleration it's like being in an old Chris-Craft w/the bow coming way up til she gets up on her plane.

Which reminds me, had some clown in an older 5.0 Mustang screwing with me on the way back. I got on it for a second. He stayed right there, but couldn't get by me. Prob surprised him.
We might have hit 90. Lots more to go, she was barely out of 2nd.

Heh heh!!

[Dan Leavens]

John you old drag racer you. Some of these guys just don't get it with theri new playthings. I had a Mazda 3 of all things try to take me, on on a merge lane on the highway just cause he was being a ##**&&. The 58 had lots to spare and he had to hit the binders once he saw the" old car " perform. Good for you.

Bart I have taken some of the final measurements on my 58 hardtop you wanted and some others as follows:

Ground to Rear Well Height: 18.5 "
Ground to Front Well Height: 27.2"

Ground to Bottom of Door Struts: 8"
* Door shut and measured to lip **

Hope this helps with your calculations. Attending a show & shine this weekend there were several 59's & 60's that had a variety of vehicle heights from back to front. Upon yakking with them, some have beefed up the springs while others have installed sway bars etc. My 58 HT is stock with no conversions added.

Dano Calgary,Alberta Canada

[byersmtrco]

Measurements hub ctr to top of w/opng

Frt 14"
Rr 6"

[bcomo]

Dan:

Got it, but don't have any others besides your 58.

John:

Your front was in the money at 14

I can't come up with a good rear measurement yet. Mine is high, yours is low.

Maybe when Mike remeasures his 59 front and rear from Cap center to wheel well lip, we'll have more of that.

When Doug gets through with his 60 front end rebuild, we should have a pretty darned good factory measurement on the front. He may be the only person that has measured the uncompressed height of his springs out of the car and has a perfect measurement of 15.75"

[fomoco59]

Front - Center of hubcap to fender lip = 14.5"
Rear - Center of hubcap to fender lip = 7.0

[bcomo]

Thanks Mike:

Front: 59-60

From what we got, 14" to 14.5" from the Center of Hub Cap to bottom of Wheel well lip should be close to the original front measurement.

Doug's front measurement will come later after his rebuild.

Rear: 59-60

It looks like 7" to 7.5" from the Center of Hub Cap to top of skirt should be close to the original rear measurement with 6 leaf springs (standard equipment).

Optional factory heavy duty rear suspension with 7 leaf springs should be about 8" to 8.5"

Still waiting for some more 58 measurements.

[dgs]

Doug's front measurement will come later after his rebuild.

You keep mentioning that, well ...

... don't hold your breath. :P It's been 3 straight weekends with no real progress due to other commitments. This weekend will be 4 as we'll be out camping.

It'll get done, someday, just not any day real soon.

[bcomo]

Doug:

Didn't mean to imply any pressure at all.

Someone once told me that the "T" in T-Bird means "Tinker". I've been tinkering ever since.

[dgs]

Doug:

Didn't mean to imply any pressure at all.

Someone once told me that the "T" in T-Bird means "Tinker". I've been tinkering ever since.

No worries, I just wanted to let you know.

[byersmtrco]

Ha ha ha !!! It's like, people think "H-D" stands for Harley-Davidson. It really stand for Hundred Dollars!!!
These TB's are about the same !!!!!

[tbird430]

My 1960 430cid Hardtop with a/c has 5 total rear leaf springs (I counted the smaller bottom helper spring)....

[bcomo]

Jon:

Did you check the rear height from the center of the hub cap to the top of the skirt? If you do, let me know.

Alexander's 60 has 6 leafs, Mike's 59 has 6, and I think that John's 60 has 6 also. I double checked the 58-60 factory specs again, and it only shows 6 leafs.

Later -- I just looked in the 60 shop manual (page 8-10). I count 6 leafs in the drawing.

So, it would be interesting to know why yours has 5.

[tbird430]

That is odd. My car is alsmost unmolested as I am the 2nd owner. It even had that rare rear bumber hitch on it, so I doubt the 1st owner would have removed a leaf. As for the measurements, it will be a while as I have the heads, intake, air cleaner, carb, dist,etc in the trunk. I'm working on some engine overheating things still...