I am going to lower my 74 down a bit. I have used the Pinto drop spindles on hot rods before but have not seen anything on here about people using them on there Pintos. Is there any reason why? Or am I just not finding the threads?
Jake
Hello Jake,
The 2" drop spindels would be alot for the ford Pinto.
Maybe too much?
I have not used them because they will not work on the early Pinto.
From Pintony
Well on my 74 with the stock rims and tires it would be exactly where I wanted to go. Then I just need to machine out some lowering blocks for the rear. Just as long as there is not some problem in fitting them I had not heard about.
Jake
Hello Jake,
The drop spindels should be a direct swap.
14" stock rims get very close to the upper arm on the later pintos (I was grinding the wheel weights off). A 2" drop, depending on the rims, might be a problem.
Bill
I am looking at a 16 inch wheel. At the very least a 15 inch. Not really worried about that part.
Jake
Quote from: Gaslight on February 20, 2006, 11:53:43 AM
Well on my 74 with the stock rims and tires it would be exactly where I wanted to go...
I thought you were thinking about stock rims.
Bill
Oh no. When I said that I was just measuring the amount of drop. So measuring with stock wheels the ride height of the car with a 2" drop. The drop spindles are for converting the car over to a 5 lug. I am going to do it all at once with new wheels at that point. I have to get in there and take a closer look. I glanced under there the other day and did not see any reason why the drop spindles would not work as is.
Jake
I just swapped the Hiedts(SP?) 2" drop spindles from the 79 to the 78.
Heres a pic of the 79 passenger side installed. The stock 13" wheels can be mounted backwards to clear without the calipers on. With the calipers on I had to use a 1/4" spacer. I had the 13s on to just move the car around.
(http://photos.imageevent.com/pandbz/1979fordpintowagon/websize/PR00001141224.jpg)
Here is a shot of the 78s drivers side put together. the wheel is a 3.5x15 draglite with a 1.5 backspace.
(http://photos.imageevent.com/pandbz/78pintowagon/websize/78%20pinto%20036.jpg)
**A real big pic is here http://photos.imageevent.com/pandbz/78pintowagon/78%20pinto%20036.jpg (http://photos.imageevent.com/pandbz/78pintowagon/78%20pinto%20036.jpg)**
The brake lines are pretty tight. I'm going to replace them with longer lines. The upper arm has to be ground down a little for clearence. Heidts describes this in the instructions they provide. Also if youre going to reuse the dust shields, they need new holes drilled for the mounting bolts. The spindles still limit how far down the suspension hangs. Shouldnt be a problem on the street. If I was pulling the front end up all the time (Like Jeffs going to be doing soon :cheesy_p:) then I would be more concerned about the ball joint getting damaged. The tires are a little tall also. They are about 25" tall. They would sometimes rub if I was on the brakes and turning sharp with the stock hight suspension. They look like they are going to rub on the 78. They did rub the 79s inner fender. The firewall one, right where you put your feet when sitting inside. I used a big hammer to get enough clearence. For some reason the 78 doesnt look like it will be as bad.
Heres the caliper side.
(http://photos.imageevent.com/pandbz/78pintowagon/large/78%20pinto%20039.jpg)
Bigger pic here http://photos.imageevent.com/pandbz/78pintowagon/78%20pinto%20039.jpg (http://photos.imageevent.com/pandbz/78pintowagon/78%20pinto%20039.jpg)
I'm still working on it. I need to swap the power rack for manual one from the 79. Thats why the cotter pins are not all in yet. Once the car is on the road and the mechanical bugs worked out, then I'll take it all apart and please the shiney police when its back together. :coolrasta:
Now, as for the look of the lowered suspension........... the car sits at about stock hight with 15" wheels.
(http://photos.imageevent.com/pandbz/78pintowagon/78%20pinto%20031.jpg)
Bigger pic. http://photos.imageevent.com/pandbz/78pintowagon/78%20pinto%20031.jpg (http://photos.imageevent.com/pandbz/78pintowagon/78%20pinto%20031.jpg)
The suspensions are only a couple years old. They have about 2500 towed miles one the 79. It had a 2.3 5speed with just the alt. on the engine. The 78 is a v6 auto with a/c, p/s, p/b and smog equipment.
NICE! Thanks for the pictures. I just a couple of hours ago paid for the drop spindles so they are on there way. I have a better idea what I am getting myself into now.
Jake
Glad I could help. I geuss being home sick was good for something.
Yeah, thanks for the pics and info Glassman! I plan on doing this to my wagon later in the year/next year. Are the Hiedts spindles really worth the extra $ over their competitors? Seems they are running about $100 more than the others...
Thinking of suspension, who makes a good rear shock for our wagons ('74-'80)? A fair amount of choices for the fronts, but not the rear, at least for the wagons :( . Thought I had heard something about them being the same as an older Camaro takes, but couldn't find the thread.
Youre welcome.
I have both Hiedts and the less expensive E-Bay spindles. I have the E-bay spindles boxed and havent look at them in a year or so. From what I remember is that the Hiedts spindles look like Ford factory parts and the E-Bays spindles look like......E-bay spindles. If I wasnt planning on making my Pinto as quick as I can, then the E-Bay spindles would be fine. In my opinion they are both worth their prices. I'll see if I can get one out of the box and take a couple pics for comparison.
As for shocks, I looked around for a while and I found this place on E-Bay that seems to have gas charged shocks quit often. http://cgi.ebay.com/Gabriel-Gas-Shocks-Ford-Mustang-2-Pinto-82027_W0QQitemZ5512960760QQcategoryZ1467QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem (http://cgi.ebay.com/Gabriel-Gas-Shocks-Ford-Mustang-2-Pinto-82027_W0QQitemZ5512960760QQcategoryZ1467QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)
There might be a better shock out there. I just wanted a basic shock for now. The place was really good to deal with. I accidently double paid and they refunded one payment quickly. The shocks are as described. I bought front and rears.
(http://photos.imageevent.com/pandbz/78pintowagon/websize/78%20pinto%20042.jpg)(http://photos.imageevent.com/pandbz/78pintowagon/websize/Work%20017.jpg)
The front should come up a little after the engine swap. If it doesnt come up about 1/2" then I'll need smaller tires. They rub in the same areas as the 79. The rear is sitting up a little higher than I like. I'll see what its like after some miles are put on it.
Cool, I'll add the Gabriel shock link to my "research" list I'm accumulating. I've been trying to focus on this t-bird motor buildup, but it all inter-relates once the brain gets on a roll.
Your wagon looks like it's coming together. I'm digging that color! Haven't seen one like it before.