I have seen and read about many people lowering a pinto iam wanting to do my 79 but wanted to see on here first. I think i read something about someone lowering there car three inchs and the driveshaft rubbing the tunnel. iam looking for about 3 inch drop but wanna see what all is said first
thanks
mike
Hello Mike,
Do you have any cousins???
Pile them in until you Pinto sits where U want and measure the drop!!! ;D
Seriously 1 inch is alot when you see it.
I lowred my Purple Pinto with a BIG speaker box.
2/3 coil from the front springs.
From Pintony
On topic, but off track....Can anyone tell me the factory ground clearance at the front crossmember? I'm pretty sure mt Lil Horse has been lowered, or the springs are sagging. I have less than 6" clearance there.
Quote from: crazyhorse on July 25, 2007, 07:32:15 PM
On topic, but off track....Can anyone tell me the factory ground clearance at the front crossmember? I'm pretty sure mt Lil Horse has been lowered, or the springs are sagging. I have less than 6" clearance there.
Hey Crazyhorse,
R U running shorter that stock fron tires???
From Pintony
When I bought my 73, it had 2" blocks in the rear. The car looked awesome but I had problems with my aluminum driveshaft rubbing in the tunnel. Had I been running the stock drive shaft, I would not have had a problem. I ended up pulled the 2" blocks and replacing them with some racer walsh ones that are about 1.5" tall. I am running 15" wheels so I am down close to where I want to be. I am not sure if you will have problems with 3" blocks? That may be a little too low? I also lowered my 79 wagon with racer walsh blocks and a coil cut off the front. It looks better than stock and is probably low enough as I rub on some speed bumps with the stock wheels and tires already. Here are some pics of both, sorry it is not a good pic of the wagon.
hey guyz
thanks for the reply after the post i was out doing some figuring and measuring lol no wonder things rubbed cause three inchs is low on a pinto!
by the measuring i believe 2 inch will be perfect on 14" If you guyz think this will be a problem are what to look for let me know
Oh yeah Pinto tony lol i have alot of cousins my mom is the youngest of 11
so i will round up the chubby ones lol and get to work
thanks
Pintomike
Quote from: pintomike76 on July 26, 2007, 06:11:30 PM
hey guyz
thanks for the reply after the post i was out doing some figuring and measuring lol no wonder things rubbed cause three inchs is low on a pinto!
by the measuring i believe 2 inch will be perfect on 14" If you guyz think this will be a problem are what to look for let me know
Oh yeah Pinto tony lol i have alot of cousins my mom is the youngest of 11
so i will round up the chubby ones lol and get to work
thanks
Pintomike
Now that is FUNNY!!! :lol:
From Pintony
As for smaller wheels/tires. I'm running 195/60-14's on th front. the rear has 195/65 14's
I had seen some lowered spindles for Mustang II somewhere out there. You can then keep the stock spring rates and increase your sway bar to get you better handling on typical pavement your cat will see.
Making cosmetic changes is fine, but don't assume that a car that has been 'lowered' will automatically handle better.
Spring rates, suspension geometry's, sway bars, roll centers, spring rates, weight balance, chassis stiffness, and a host of other things will determine how well a car will handle for a specific application.
Pintos have a horribly low roll center that can only be corrected by 'surgery'. The easiest is by relocating the lower control arm crossmember mounts. Stiffer springs and front sway bar can 'help' the handling issues that the poor roll center creates, but they can cause other issues.
A friend of mine sold his (my old) race winning circle track car to a guy, and the first thing he did was lower it. The second thing he did was put it into the wall.
Bill
No, lower is not necessarily better. A suspension is a "system". If you address one part of it, not taking it as a whole, you're taking a risk.
My suspension consists of stock springs, Koni adjustable shocks, and factory sway bars front & rear. I added 14" wheels so I could use 60 series tires. Not much in the way of mods, but it's effective. Believe it or not, each of my Koni's are set differently, to get the balance I was after. Those settings change with the tires too.
My car turns in hard, rolls a little, then bites down. When pushed, it's TOTALLY neutral. This allows me to place the car with either the brake or the throttle. If I turn in too early, a brush of the brake takes me back out. If I'm wide I can squeeze the throttle & rotate the car into the apex. Granted these things occur at a lower speed than most any "modern" cars.
It's all about making the car suit your personal driving style.