I put a straight edge on the bottom edge of the body across the rear wheelwell and it goes through the center point of the wheel.


Is the body sitting too high for a 63 2-door Valiant?

By too high I mean two things:

1) Is it too high to look stock, original?

2) Is it too high to have decent cornering and stable ride on the freeway?

The car's suspension is being rebuilt.
I replaced the rear springs and am contemplating fabricating hangers that raise the front mounts for the springs (< 1 inch) as in Tom Condran's book.

The front suspension will be rebuilt with rubber, the offset moog UCA bushings for extra caster, and no sway bar

The tires will be 195 70 R14 on 14 x 5.5 rims.

Body height has nothing to do with the rocker in relation to the wheel. It is set by the difference of the adjusting blade to the lowest part of the steering knuckle. This is outlined in the FSM. Using the factory setting will give the car's side appearance an uphill rake which is opposite of the popular downhill rake. If you look at the old factory ads, you'll notice moost pics show the cars with what looks like the front higher than the back.

_________________
Slant Cecil

I have a factory service manual.
It gives 2 1/8" as the standard ride height and 2 3/8" for HD suspension (+/- 1/8").
(Why was there a HD Suspension option in 63, before V8s were put into A-bodies?)
If I set the front to 2 1/8" between the points on the blade and the LBJ, then should the car have a wind-catching uphill rake?

When I installed new leaf springs, it raised the height of the rear alarmingly.

It is possible I ordered the wrong springs.
My old ones were 6-leaf and I ordered 5-leaf.
If the HD springs I ordered are intended for a heavier car, then I would like to fabricate new front hangers instead of lowering blocks.

I need new tires and I am waiting until I have four good 14 x 5.5 wheels before I buy the tires. (so far I have 3 and one bent one for a spare).

The plan is to drive to the tire store and have them install 14" wheels with new rubber.
Then I'll drive straight home, put it on blocks and start disassembling the front end.
I'll drive about a mile to the alignment shop after the new front end parts are installed.
If I wait until then before I decide if the rear is too high, then this adds at least day that the car will be on blocks and delays the front end rebuild.
If I could determine now that I need to adjust the rear height, then I could work on that project now while the tires and front end kit are on hold.

Once I get the new tires, I need to resist the temptation to drive it and I should have all the parts and tools I need already because I don't have a second car.

Currently there are 185 80 R13 on the rear and the front has 165 80 R13 (the spare plus a used tire to match)
This throws off everything visually.

If I put 1/2" plywood under the front tires and set the front to 2 1/8"
it still has a slight downhill rake.

There are "adjustable" two-position rear spring brackets available. They One of the sets of holes is about stock and the other lowers the rear a bit. I see them on ebay now and then, and I'm sure some of the mopar-friendly sellers elsewhere have them.

_________________
"When you find a big kettle of crazy, it's best not to stir it." - Pointy-haired Boss

1964 Valiant V200, 225/Pushbutton 904
BBD, CAI, HEI, LBP, AC, AM/FM/USB, EIEIO