To Steve...

That air shock thing never came in my mind.
I got too low car to go with traction bars and I allready have airshocks, so why not use unequal pressures. I just have to add second filling valve.

Thanks.


Hyvinkää, FI

Steve, That is a good Idea, never thought about that! However I have contacted Cal Tracs and was given two part #'s for shocks: #CR44116  12.5"compressed and 17.9" Extended  OR    #CR44130  14.5" Cmp. and 21.6" Ext.

Now my stock shocks have a measurement Extended Length = 20.75", Compressed length = 12.25". My car has 2" lowering blocks in the rear, so my thoughts are that I should use the shorter of the two CR44116 shocks as I would be more likely to bottom out on them as apposed to over extending them???  Any thoughts from anyone?  

I love the smell of burning rubber in the morning!

Steve, just another thought as per your comments on air ride, these drag shocks are adjustable. So with that being said, I should stiffen up the right rear even when running on the street? ( I like to stand on it quite a bit!) LOL  Anybody have any set point input for these shocks?  Frank or Gary??? 

I love the smell of burning rubber in the morning!

Rob, Should be easy to check.Jack it up with the axle, measure from the top of the axle to the bump stop. Subtract that from the shock dimension on the car and you'll know what you need. I'd want to see the shock compressed dimension be a half inch or so shorter than the compressed dimension. Make sense?

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

Thanks Frank, will give it a shot this weekend, then will order the shocks. I still think the shorter of the two will work better (at least in my head anyway!). LOL 

I love the smell of burning rubber in the morning!

Rob, I went through all this last year and I would add to buy double adjusting (extension and retraction). The cost might make you think twice but it beats paying twice to fix it. I have Caltracs, tried two new sets of springs, the cheap twist to adjust race shocks. Finally relocated the shocks to be vertical made two runs and adjusted the wheel hop out. I did not mention I have fought this for 50 years. Basically my factory shocks were mounted on too great of an angle.

  Vic Correnti

Rob: I gather your car is lowered, so a thing to keep in mind is clearance for a tire change. At least one shock supplier lists rear shocks for mid 50s Fords that are really to short on clearance, although in your case it's a question to keep in mind...   


Paul

Vic,  that is an interesting point, never thought of shock angle! I think I am going to buy the CalTrac shocks as they have to be an improvement over the stock ones! Plus now that I am making more HP & torque, I may find that I just spin the tires more (since I only run street radials)! 

Paul as per clearance, I don't think I will have a problem on the rear. When I lowered the rear of the car (2") I simply retained the stock rear shocks. I have never bottomed out on the rear of the car before. The front however is a different story! I am running gas, front shocks and on one return trip from Columbus I blew out BOTH front shocks! This was after hitting a CRATER (not a pot hole) in Detroit, on I-75!  I hit so hard that a chunk of asphalt was stuck in my front cross member.  To my surprise Napa warrantied the shocks, even after I told them what happened! 

I guess like Vic says, this may be a trial and error thing and I guess the drag shocks should be a good start! I am hoping that someday, if budget allows, the rear leafs will disappear and a nice four link will go in! 

I love the smell of burning rubber in the morning!

Rob, you brought it up not me. "Four Link". I am using Strange Engineering coil over shocks I bought without the springs. I can buy the springs if I have to go that way.

  Vic Correnti

Vic,

I wish I could go four link at this time, but I am afraid that is not going to happen (not yet LOL). I have blown the budget on my motor for now, so I have placed an order for Cal Trac shocks. Going to try this first as the "poor man's" solution. I will let you know how it works. Four link would be a hopeful, future consideration. Thanks for the offer though Vic! 

I love the smell of burning rubber in the morning!