[hotrod fozzie]

How much of a lift are you guys putting on the front suspension of your gasser? , considering doing a non straight axle gasser because lift spindles/springs are really in expensive. not to mention may look better on my s10

 

[1937Austin]

I was mainly just interested in getting the front end higher than the rear. Didn't really have a number in mind, and a lot of it depended on where the rearend and tires were in relationship to the wheelwell opening. Once I got the rear height determined with the tires I would use, then I determined what frontend height would be to get it slightly higher.
For my car I didn't want the extreme nose high front, so I was shooting for no more than a couple inches difference max.

 

[hotrod fozzie]

that makes sense just trying to figure out what parts to look out for, I know some of the tri five chevy guys stayed with the stock front ends and used ball joint spacers up front for some lift.

 

[Marks63PontiacGasser]

Really have to watch your camber when you lift a-arms up. Some spacers will compensate for the camber tilt but some do not. Keep an eye as you go/build. Not saying it is a good idea but way back in the day some guys would cut off the lower and upper a-arm ends, weld on a plate that would drop ball joints down inches (not sure how much), dropping the whole spindle/ball joint assembly down. I remember seeing a '63 Chevy that way. From the side it had the gasser look but from the front it really brought out what they did and it did not look good. And if not welded well or correctly it could be a hazard?? But it worked for what it was intended for. I've probably mentioned this a lot but if you are lifting way up like a gasser, then the stock location of the front wheel starts looking a little funny the higher you go. It starts to look like the wheel is too far back in the wheelwell. That is why a beam or straight axle works nice. You can place it 1 to 2 inches forward to help that look. It's is not a big thing and should not stop you for doing what you are doing. Just a heads up. In this pic you can see that I had mine installed 2 inches forward and it is almost too much.

I will be trimming the front fender drop after the headlights probably even with the bottom of the lights so it will not be as pronounced. And may look better then. I thik I will be tilting my axle back about a degree yet once it is all at ride height. That will roll it back a little too. We'll see. Mark L

 

[1937Austin]

I tried moving mine forward, but didn't look right. I ended up leaving it centered in stock location. I did however move the rear back about 1"-1.5" to center it better in the opening and leave more front edge on my rear fenders when I radiused them.
Ball joint spacers can be an issue a Mark mentioned. A 3" raise is probably the limit and even that can run you out of upper control arm adjustment. Another issue is the spacer hitting the spring pocket once it's raised, and many Tri 5 guys have to cut the end off the frame there to avoid binding on the frame pocket extension. You'll also need longer or heavier springs to make the extensions really work, and they're a real pain to get into the old pocket and lower arm!
Raising a coil frontend is easier and cheaper, but rarely as simple as just jacking it up with coils and spacers. In my opinion it's not only easier, but sometimes almost as cheap to put a straight axle in, depending on what the axle costs and if you can do the fab work.

 

[Str8axle]

Also if you install a solid axle w/o cutting your frame, you can always go back to stock suspension later on (if need be).

 

[hotrod fozzie]

I have heard the s10 front engine cross member gets in the way of being able to mount a straight axle , thats why i was considering using lift coils or spindles since these parts are already made to for an s10 2wd lift

 

[1937Austin]

Not sure what would get in the way with the cross member, as a straight axle sits farther away usually, so clearance should be better. A straight axle is more money if you purchased a new axle kit, but if you purchase a used donor axle the cost will be lower than pieces to lift your stock suspension. I spent over $800 on my Speedway axle kit, but got my Econoline donor axle for $120 with all new drums, wheel cylinders, kingpins, and brake shoes/springs. In haind sight I wish I had purchased a donor axle for the Austin and narrowed it to fit the 52" wide body.

 

[hotrod fozzie]

I have been doing a little research I think I want to set the ride height kind of like some other gassers I have seen not sure wether you would call them show gassers, street freaks or ?? But I was thinking front up and rear up with front slighty higher. Does that make at sense???

 

[1937Austin]

Sounds pretty much like a vast majority of gassers. There is a point when a gasser stance gets high enough all around that it reaches "street freak" status. It's that old saying, "I know when I see it, but can't tell you what it is."
If you go high enough, you'll know when there's too much space between the tires and the body, and you've reached street freak status. I personally like gassers a little higher than some traditional gassers look. But just not so high that I need a step, or a handle to help me enter the car. Usually if the bottom of the rocker is a little above wheel center, or slightly higher than the center of the wheels, it looks good to my eye.
I've seen some where the wheelwells are so far above the tires that they look more like 4WD's than gassers. Handling can get pretty scary once they get that high, and body roll is a real problem too.

 

[Timberline65]

Back in the early '70's there was a company in California that would take two front spindles and cut them in half and weld them back together giving you a higher front end stance. I'm sure the technology has come a long ways since then, but I can tell you those spindles really messed up the alignment. I believe they were a 5 1/2" lift on the front?

 

[ol blue]

I remember seeing a '63 or '64 Chevy years ago with some kind of home made spindles where the spindle was actually well below the lower ball joint. come to think about it, I just saw this one last spring at the Rust Revival.

 

[1937Austin]

I've seen those welded spindles back in the day, and few more recently. There was a guy on Ebay who was selling them again recently, but not sure how many he may have sold. They scare me personally, as the drop below the ball joint adds a lot of extra stress on a spindle, and then add in welding to a part that wasn't engineered to be welded.
I've got no problem with welding on a chassis or straight axle, but it depends on where and how it's welded.

 

[Road Angels]

Your spindles for that s10 will give 3 inchs of lift you can pick up 2 more with spring spacers, the problem lies with the fact that it will be dumping the back end of the truck and just wont look right, wont handle right and from the front wont look good,if you look at a lot of gassers the nose high look is from the gap in the wheel wheels most sit just slightly high in the front, most not all are raised all the way around adding to the High Look the big little tires also add to the gasser look, and I am betting that if you took a level to the frame you would find that most are only sightly high according to the level bubble, the frame on my ranger build with 7 inchs of lift in the front according to the level its only going to be 1" from level, the front lift compensates for the larger tires in the rear and the smaller ones in the front, take a floor jack and a block of wood raise the truck 5 inchs in the air and thats what it will look like

 

[1937Austin]

Don't want to get too far off topic, but body lines and style will often create illusions of an uphill stance. Two nearly identical cars, with the exact same stance will look different depending on the body lines and styling. An example is the '55 and '56 Chevys. A '56 has the side chrome that slopes downward towards the rear, and if both cars were dead level, a '56 looks like it's higher in front.
Same thing for other designs that have lines that slope downwards towards the rear. Have to be careful how much difference you have in front/rear height, as body lines will exaggerate that look, and make them look even more nose up.

 

[Road Angels]

Good point and the 55-56 side by side is a great comparison on this illusion thing