Front Suspension Travel (What did I do wrong?)

[JLMounce]

To put it bluntly, I have minimal suspension travel and as a result have an incredibly harsh ride over rough pavement.



What I have:
1969 Firebird, stock subframe
SPC upper and lower control arms.
Uppers are part of Mark at SC&C's Street Comp 2+ system.
Hotchkis 2" drop springs
Factory disc spindle
Progressive rate bumpers
Verishock SS shocks
Hellwig swaybar

The lower control arm would naturally drop the car a bit in the front, but I already had the 2" drop springs, so I used SPC's spring adjuster plates to position the arms at "stock" height.

In order to accomplish the install, the shocks are mounted on top of the arms, however their total length was such that I needed to compress the spring about an inch to inch and a half in order for the cross-bars to contact the bottom of the arm and secure the bottom of the shock. I allowed for 2 visible threads at the top shock mount to give me piece of mind on mounting there, but also allow for as much length as possible in the shock.

When the car is sitting, the jounce bumpers have about an inch to inch and a half of remaining compression before the mount contacts the frame. So in effect I have about that much compression travel before the whole system bottoms out and the frame starts to absorb the full impact.

Even with the ride height adjustment pads, the car dropped about half an inch or so from it's previous height. I'm thinking out loud, but I'm guessing the shock is not long enough and having to compress the arm upwards to meet it has caused this situation. This was really the only way to mount the shock as the height adjustment pads do not alter the mounting for the shock itself.

I guess the question is, how much suspension travel should I be seeing and what is a possible remedy here to get me more travel so that the car isn't jarring to drive over rough pavements.

Fortunately most of the roads around me are decent and even over roads that are pock-marked with small ruts and holes, the ride quality when the suspension can work is pretty great.

Thanks in advance!

-Jason