This may be stupid, but has anyone ever removed or modified the upper spring perch to accomodate a coilover or strut setup? The other day I saw a show where they were adding an adjustable coilover to an older musclecar and made me wonder if this would be a plus on the Twin I-Beam setups. Would you gain anything or would it be waste of time. Anyhow, what are your thoughts out there, particulary for those like myself who are lowering our trucks.
Mark

 

Not a stupid question! Stupid questions are the questions people do not ask, because they never get the answer, and unanswered = stupid to me. . . . SO let me try to answer this the way I see it. . . .
Perhaps I'm full of it, but I see twin I beam front suspensions as a coilover design.

I-Beam and Radius arm form angled pivoting arms of a geometric "A" Frame. Coil spring & shock absorber both mount & strike out between this ( I-Beam + Radius arm) "A" and spring perch which is higher & above the frame rail. And that is the basis for a coil over suspension. The Sprung load sort of "hangs" or is SUSPENDED off the spring perch position, unlike a say Brand X Blow Tie with two A frames.

In the Blow Ties the coil spring strikes out under or in the bottom of frame rail. So the suspension sits on top of the coil spring sort of teeter tottering above the laod center. Thus actually that type of suspension is a "Coil (or Spring)" Under suspension, since weight is sitting on top of the coil & not hanging down off it like the FoMoCo twin I.

The Falcon platform ( Falcon, Comet, Mustang, Cougar, Caliente, Maverick, Fairlane etc) is a modified coil over strut, and the 80s-up T-Bird/ Cougar/ Mark VIII were actually McPherson strut systems. . . .

IMHO Henry Got I as right as could be for the weight & forces involved with the Twin I Beam set up in their "F-Series" trucks. Since I have been known to "romp the 1/4 mi every so often, I am here to tell you shutting down hard after a 120+ mph Pass is a cake walk with the OEM Suspension, progressive shocks and the oversized PDBs off a late 70s Trailer special. I don't know of a Goat truck or a Blow tie where I run that cets off at the 1st turn out after the traps, but my Slick seems to be able to with ease, So why would I want to cahnge that? It's great if ya ask me.

It's like "trick" is okay if it improves something about the vehicle ya "trick" but IMHO if ya Trick something just for the sake of tricking it, even if it has a negative net effect, why would anybody bother. . . . My thing is IMPROVE It don't just trick it out.

Would you say this explanatio is a stupid answer?

FBp

 

I don't see why it wouldn't work, I've put QA-1 coilovers on everything else, might as well try it on a truck!!!! Big thing would be to weigh the front of the truck, and the entire truck, so that you can get the correct rate springs for the coilovers.... Great idea, I think. The coilovers would also take a lot of front end weight off the truck, maybe even a bit of notching and lower the front end.... Got to go look it over on mine this weekend......

 

Thanks for the response guys. It just seemed that if a person really wanted to they could grind off the rivets holding the upper spring perch and remove it. Then reattach the I-Beam pivot bracket and fabricate a new upper mount that would fit a good aftermarket adjustable coilover or a strut setup from a newer vehicle. The I-Beam setup seems to be a great design, but the newer setup would sure look cool and possibly offer some performance benefits. I realize we are limited to height adjustment due to the camber issues, but it may have its benefits in regards to a few inches of adjustability.
Mark

 

I agree, Mark. If I can get all the customer stufff done today, going to go do a little looking and mocking up on my '71 tomorrow... The frame mount would be a piece of cake and fabbbing up a lower mount would not be all that tough either. I guess the only issue that concerns me is the coilovers would be running near vertical and it would be crucial to get jus the right spring rate to avoid a harsh ride... I have a set of race car scales, might just weigh the old truck up and see what kind of spring it would require......

 

Dave,
Let me know what you discover. Seems that it would work fine and just give an older, proven suspension design a bit of a facelift. You would think that a common aftermarket product (aka, the most readily available) from a 4x4 setup would work if the tower was set to the correct height to take advantage of the travel of the coilover with accomodations for your ride height.
Mark

 

im with FBp on this one why fix/trick what aint broke if ya want to lower your truck get some drop I beams and springs fords idea worked better than anyone elses idea so why not run with it a whole lot cheaper and more reliabale than coilover this and spring under that stuff

 

my sport custom 71 cs has all the goodies .dual tanks.f350 springs all the way around .stupid auto trans.245/75/16 mt/rs.360 2bbl .a very heavy duty truck
weighs about 4500lbs.my 71 f250 8 ft stepside.360 2bbl 4 speed.not a cs
weighs about the same.

 

Why not??? Restoring is boring. If all I wanted was everything stock, I'd just drive a truck til it quits then get another. The technology available today is far better then the technology when the bumpsides were built. My truck started life as a 2wd F-250 with a 360 and a 4 speed. Lousy performance, lousy gas mileage, and plain green... Now the truck has rolled pans front and rear, custom dash, custom bed, lowered, F-100 front and rear suspension, disc brakes on the front, an HO 351W with some billet and lots of shiny's, and a C-6 with a shift kit, hurst shifter in a custom built console. All the seams are welded and smoothed, It has a custom built 40 gallon fuel tank, and all Autometer gauges in a custom built dash. The seat and headliner are red and white pleated, 70's custom style with red carpet. I've taken a plain jane farm truck with little or no value and personalized it to make it everything I want in a truck.... Or as I'm so fond of saying, anybody can restore a classic, takes a man to cut one up!!!!

 

Mark, did some trial fitting and mockup, coilovers would work out great!!!! When I get my dropped I-beams I'm going to have to give some serious thought to converting the front to coilovers, maybe even a "T" mount and dual coilovers on each side with superlight springs..... Would definitely be a different look!!! Also thinking of machining a camber adjuster into the inner I beam mounts in order to tweak the alignment when I get my final ride height where I want it...... Or, just put it all back together and save the new ideas for my '73 extended cab. (gonna chop and section that one!)

 

Nobody said a thing about removing the I-Beams, just going from coil springs and shock absorbers to coilovers.

As far as going to an IFS setup, I sell and install them, about half of them are on pickups. An IFS with coilovers built and installed correctly with the correct amount of frame boxing and reinforcement, a large dose of lowering, moving the rear shocks to the outside of the frame rails, and a large infusion of horsepower makes one of these bumpsides handle like a sports car. Improving on 35 year old technology is easy.... Henry got it right, all right..... For the technology that was available in 1971 when mine was built. Many changes and improvements have taken place since then. Why not take advantage of the excellent styling of the bumpsides and add a dose of today's technology and improved components? Kind of like having the best of both worlds, isn't it????

 

I have always liked that quote. "Anybody can restore a classic, it takes a real man to cut one up". I personally go by "stock sucks". Another good one, "Real Hot Rods are never done".

My poor father-n-law has had a hard time adjusting to this mentality. He has a '62 Corvair that his mom bought new that has 63,000 miles on it and looks like it is about 2 yrs old. Completely stock. I did talk him into 4in exhaust on his Cummins though. I guess there is hope for him after all.

I think that the Coilover setup would work really good if the spring rates were setup right. It seems to be all the rage right now in the 4x segment.

 

Or how about, "to each their own". Or, it's your truck, do what you want with it. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion and preferences.

Not anyone can restore a classic and doing so doesn't make you less of a man. Neither does modifying or cutting one up. Do what you want with your truck, make it how you want it and enjoy it.

How about we don't bash others who have different opinions and do different things. In the words of King, "Can't we all just get along." (ok, so it's Rodney King )

 

Sure, I can get along with anybody. It just bothers me when a guy comes on this or any other forum asking legitimate questions about updating and modifying his vehicle in an attempt to individualize it and improve on an antiquated design and folks imply that we're less then intelligent to think we could improve on a 35 year old design.....

I sure as heck don't go on the restoration threads and tell the guy looking for the absolutely correct OEM carburator (or whatever) for his restoration and tell him to go buy an Accell DFI system for it......

All cars and trucks have a place in the Hot Rod/Restoration world. The two factions have never and probably will never "just get along". Nice thought, though, right up there with "peace on earth".......

 

Dave,
Thanks for the follow up on your mock-up. Please keep me informed on what you do and how it all works out. I have replaced all of the bushings on my '68 chassis with urethane and do plan to lower a bit, all in an effort to make the truck handle as well as possible. I have a few more things to finish on the chassis and when that is done I will add the photos to my gallery. With all do respect to everyone that have responded to my "stupid question" I do appreciate your input and do agree with the others that to each your own on your trucks. We all have different visions of what what we want from our trucks, whether stock, modified or heavily modified. For what its worth, I enjoy all of these aspects. Just great to see people taking a step in the right direction in preserving these old trucks in whatever fashion that fits them. Kudos to all!
Mark