Suspension question Cutlass 1966

[olds77]

Hello
Building a 66 Cutlass, the car was a mess when I bought it. Springs in front was cutted and shocks and springs in rear worn out. I am now about to order som springs and shocks. I already have new front control arms and they will lower the car 1,5-2" and maybe thats enough in front. So my question is, should I buy stock height springs and shocks for front and 1-2" lowering springs in rear? Or should I go with a set of lowering springs front and rear lets say 1" then the front will come down max 3" and rear 1", or maybe 2" springs in rear? I do not now the standard height of this car and how much it is possible to drop the front without having to much of ground clearance problem. I will also fit it with some 18" wheels later on. What do you guys think?


Will post som Picture of the car later..

[csouth]

What front control arms did you get that lower the car, SPC?

[olds77]

Nothing fancy, got these arms from Jegs and what I found out later is that they probably is chinese crap or something. They look and feels good but are for sure a knock off from some expensive brand. Read a lot on other forums about these cheeper arms and many use them but replace the balljoints with Moogs and that will I also do. According to Jegs the lower arms will drop the car 1.5-2". Anyone out there who have lowered their 66-67 cutlass 3" in front?

[jetmech442]

Hey Olds77,
I used the hotchkis 1'' lower springs along with the 2'' drop spindle from CPP. That gave me the perfect height for my 18's IMO. When I installed the tall lower ball joint to correct bump steer, it lowered it an additional ~1.5'' which was way too much and allowed contact with my fender. In the rear, I believe I used Hypercoil 11'' springs.

I think what you should plan for is to choose a set of wheels and tires and decide the rake/stance you want and go from there. I am running a tall tire in back and the '69 cutlass has a lip that dips back into the body, so that affects my rear spring height. Check out my build thread if you want, I covered my trials and errors with all that there. https://ls1tech.com/forums/conversions-hybrids/1418981-lq9-t56-1969-old-442-conversion.html

[csouth]

You might be able to find some shims that sit under the springs to raise the front back up if you find its too low.

[jetmech442]

You might be able to find some shims that sit under the springs to raise the front back up if you find its too low.

Forgot to mention that, yes I used SPC spring spacers. Since the motion ratio is about 2:1, I used a 3/4'' spacer to get my 1.5 '' back after the tall lower ball joint.

[chpr1972]

figure out what tire height you are going to be using.compared to stock. take your lowering measurements from all components will put you in ball park. I have 2" Heidi dropped tall spindles,1" dropped Hotchkis BBC springs and 245/40/17" tires. This combination put my front end lower than it should have and I had to put a 1/2 spacer to go over speed bumps at an angle. I can now just slide a 4x4 block under the front control arms. The car is a 66 Pontiac Lemans conv. with 489 BBC/ TKO600 with steel heads and Lakewood scattershield