Thread: And more questions: Front suspension & clearance

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This pic shows the 32's Deuce factory stainless lower shock mount.
It measures 2 1/2" from center of perch bolt bore to center of shock mount stud.

The shock on this car measures the same as the one on the 31 in the above pic.

I would argue the point about a panhard bar on a cross-steer car.
They work very well and control shackle sway steering inputs caused by the frame swinging on the shackles when entering a turn and while in the turn.

My 32 steers very well on twisty mountain roads, tracks well on the straighaways and is a pleasure to drive.


Far as the front spring goes, place the two 'stacker blocks' on top of the spring - appropriately retained by the spring center bolt.
You may want to buy a new spring center bolt.
They're cheap and commonly available at real parts houses.

If you've not disassembled a leaf spring there are several precautions you want to take.
Let us know.

Getting the front end up a little bit will help with the crank pulley/tie rod conflict, but . . . you're still going to have conflict issues cuz the chassis still bottoms out in the same place.

To that end, it looks like you have a Hurst motor mount setup in the car and are probably running the 48 Ford style rubber biscuit mounts.

If - big word here - you have room to go up, you may be able be to raise the engine.
You may run into exhaust to frame problems, trans conflict with the body's trans tunnel and driveshaft angle problems as well as throttle rod interference with the body.

If you decide to go this route, measure how much travel you have before the front suspension bottoms out and raise the engine 1/4" - 1/2" above that figure.

You may be able to get away with a minimal engine raise and depending on how the rear axle is hung, you might be able to adjust the pinion angle without welding or other major work.

Even simpler would be to heat and bend the steering arms a reasonable amount so as to lower the tie rod thereby gaining additional clearance between crank pulley and tie rod.

I understand that some aftermarket steering arms are cast so you can't bend those, but if they are forged or original Ford forgings you can.

It appears you have aftermarket arms so you need to be careful here.

Speedway has steering arms with a fairly deep bend and that could be a good way to go.