I'm redoing my century and would like to lower it a couple of inches. How far can I go with the stock suspension and still be able to align everything? Thanks for your help, Bill
Bill I wouldn't lower it too much just for appearance sake. With the open wheelwells, it will look funny if its too low. They look like the tires are jambed under the fender. my 2cents.
go as low until a cross member scrapes, and then go 1/2 inch more hahaha, but thats me.... give yourself atleast 3 inches of clearence under the cross member, or whatever your lowest part under your car is...thats usually how i would do it if i was going to drive it often. but ive had cars that bottom out and get stuck going up a little curb....but 3inches from the lowest part of your car is safe bet. if im not mistaken...those are all coils under those, so you could go buy a set of lowering coils, or you could cut them. my 65 lesabre is cut coils, and it drives great, i drove it daily. just make sure when you cut coils, have a hose ready, and run the hose from where you cut and all follow all around the coil so the heat "escapes" the metal properly, so it doesnt get weak. air bags can be done cheap, and ithink for your car, it'd be a snap...at the most you might jsut have to make a bracket on the top so the line can go through, so essentially drilling a hole, and a couple welds...farily simple...can do it yourself for like $1000-$1500 or get someone to do it for more like $2000-$2500 my .02$
I looked into lowering my 55 by getting shortened springs. Turns out Kanter Auto Products will make them any height and will adjust the dampening rate accordingly. I remember them being rediculously cheap when I called - I wanna say like 40 bucks a piece to whatever specs you desire. Problem is, I wanted to drop my car 2-3 from where it is now, but who's to say how much the car has sagged in the past 50 years? I could order 3 inch drop from stock, but that might end up being exactly where the car sits now or maybe higher. The only real way to calculate what you want correctly, would be to install brand new springs for $40 each, measure the car then, and order a lowered set after that. Kinda dumb and a waste of $$, thus the reason I haven't done it yet.
You cna't cut the coils because they are pigtailed on the ends . You can get loweing coils but then your steering and alignment will be off.( it can be corrected for the most part). I'm looking at ordering some drop spindles from fat man. then your alignment and suspension travel remains stock. they are pretty pricey though. chad
How much does Fat Man want for a pair of dropped spindles?? I'm looking to lower my '55 Century and am looking for similar advice as 56Cent. I was thinking of either cutting the coils or heating them. If I do that, is that really going to mess up my steering -other than needing an alignment? Is there anybody out there that has actually lowered their 55/56 Buick this way that can give some good advice? Thanks, Dan o No:
Lowering the front end will change your front tire camber, this means the top of the tires will be tipped in on the top. You can correct it some and if you only lower it slightly you may be able to get it back within specs. heating the springs can be tricky not to overheat and take too much height out, and there is the possibility of taking the 'spring' out of them. If you chose to heat them, I recommend you put blocks under the car a little higher than the final height you want, then heat the springs until they 'settle' on the blocks. Let the springs cool (overnight) and then remove the blocks from under the car. The springs should hold at about the height they cooled at and this will help make the car even from left to right. However, I just picked up a copy of 'Hot Rod and Custom Supply'new catalog. They have some kits for around $60.00 that replace the lower spring pockets on the front to allow the front end to 'drop' without altering the spring characteristics. This will change the camber just as heating the spring or cutting it though. If lowered springs are available for nearly the same money, they may be better in the long run. I am pretty sure somewhere in the shop manual there is a ride height spec you can get and then check against your vehicle. If not see if the supplier of the lowering springs can give you an installed height of the spring for your application. Then measure your springs as installed in your car. This will tell you how much your height will change if installing lowering springs. I bought some springs for the rear of my 55 at Napa to raise it slightly by using the measurements from their catalog and my actual installed height. I know I ramble on, I am sorry. Just trying to give as much info as I can.
Thanks Joe. I got my shop manual and it says there is supposed to be about 3 and a half inches to 4 and a quarter inches from the bottom of the spring pocket to the top of the lower control arm so we can't drop too much maybe an inch and a half and still have enough travel. So it looks like drop spindles is the best bet. Who makes the best ones?? Thanks so much everyone for the help!!! Oh yea the rear distance is 4 and a quarter to 6 and a quarter from the top of the housing to the bottom of the frame rail measure at a slight angle forward. thanks again, Bill
I don't personally have them but fatmans seems to have a good rep. I think their's go for 450-480? I do know that you have to bend your steering arm. You get to keep your stock travel. I wanna lower mine also but I need to do the important stuff first. Keep us updated.
Here's my 55 Special with no air in the air ride system. You could get used to seeing it that way, but you wouldn't want to drive it that low!
Andy, Nice car!!! Did you spindle it along with the airbags? If so what did you go with and how much? Is that trophy really that big? Looks great, Bill
What did we do? We did the whole shooting match. We had Art Morrison build a complete new frame that incorporated the air ride system and all around disc brakes. More information on the frame can be found here: http://www.55buick.com/Project/frame.html. You can see the spindles in this photo: and this one after powder coat: and here's a more complete shot before we put the body on: and here is a peek at the complete front:
Oh yeah... The trophy is from Blackie Gejeian's 2006 Autorama. That was a great show. There is some more information and pictures from the Autorama at http://blog.55buick.com. If I recall, the frame was about $10,000 with all the air ride components, steering components, rear end, 4-bar, and the brakes.
