we put a 440 in a 318 car. rear of car was riding too low, so we had air shocks pumping up the rear to raise it to clear wide tires. This made the ride very harsh obviously.
I replaced the 30 yr old 318 springs (which were both broken where they wrapped around front bushing), put in summit racing extra heavy duty springs for 440 and hemi cars.
got rid of the air shocks for summit racing shocks (adjustable).
To make sure it is high enough, I also added 6 inch shackles (instead of the 4 inch originals).
I should explain, we are going for the rat rod look with the rear sitting above the tires instead of tucking them in the wheel wells. I Just love the 70s look I guess.
To my surprise, when I set the car back on the ground, it was exactly the same height as before without the air shocks holding it up, barely clearing the tires. About 3 inches lower than I expected.
The extra heavy duty springs dont seem to be any stronger than 30 year old broken originals. :dontknow:
Without the 2 inch longer shackles, the car would actually be lower than it was.
Any ideas what went wrong here? I checked the part numbers on the springs and they are correct according to summit.
I also added frame connectors during this. Could this be transfering more weight to the rear?
I want to get the rear to be about 3 inches above the tires and its barely 1 inch. 25.5 inch diameter tires on 14 inch rims.
