CSX Ride Height and Ground Clearance

[frankym]

Hello CC! I have a CSX 4000 car. I replaced my 4 coilovers on CSX4147. I ordered ProShocks after speaking with Shelby American and asking what the new CSX cars are using. I wanted to get the ride height to sit a bit more crouched the way my ERA was perched. Well, I kept the 12 inch springs in the rear and went with 8 inch springs in the front (down from 10 inch). By the way the rear shocks are large body aluminum units and the fronts are small body shocks. Now the car looks the way I want it, but when I measure the ground clearance from the center of the front cross fame tube, it's only about 2.2 inches above the ground. The new CSX cars are closer to 4 inches of ground clearance (but most of the CSX cars I see are sitting way too high). I'm curious if there are other adjustments that can be made to give me the proper visual ride height but gain a little more ground clearance in the front. I'm getting a 4 wheel alignment this week so perhaps the camber and toe adjustments can play a role in this but not sure.

[feadam]

The proshocks you ordered from is it the one in Indiana

[twobjshelbys]

You probably know this, but 2 inches is inviting disaster with any speed bumps... Even drainage sluices will probably cause you to nose out.

[feadam]

Hey frank
Where did you order the proshocks from?
Adam

[frankym]

It is proshocks.com based in Indiana, they are part of Afco racing. Yah I might need to raise the height a little in front. Many CSX cars I've seen appear a bit higher in the front e.g. more space between top of tire and fender as compared to the rear.

[feadam]

You don’t happen to remember the part numbers for the shocks do you?

[bkozlow]

What are your spring rates?

Bill K

[feadam]

Need the whole coil over no spring rates street driven only, sorry

[bkozlow]

I do not recommend getting your wheel alignment until you get your final ride height finalized. Ride height affects your other specs, ride height comes first.

Bill K

[feadam]

Going for csx 4000/6000 ride height

[1985 CCX]

Seems to me the spring rate is too high thus to get the ride height you need to roll it way down to compensate for the rate used.
Did they know it was a Shelby?

Also glass or alloy car, I’ve seen different glass car frames over the years.
If you have 15” wheels the frame is below your rim height at 2.2”.
No?

[frankym]

it's definitely questionable on the ride height. My ERA was floor to top of fender arches distance 25.75 inches. I know it's proper to measure from the center of the wheel hub but I have the same exact wheels / tires on the CSX 295/50/15 in rear 235/60/15. So tire heigh. I'm at 26.00 inches all around floor to top of fender lip. I like the way it looks but frame rails are close to ground. I suppose I could go 26.5 in front and 26.25 in rear. I don't think it would ever be obvious from looking.

[frankym]

As to spring rates, Shelby recommended 500 in the rear and 600 in the front. I went with 500 in the rear and 550 in the front because I have a small block. I don’t think the spring rates have anything to do with the issue I’m trying to solve.

[Snake2998]

I look at it this way - for regular street driving 3" to 4" clearance under front scoop to avoid hitting speed bumps etc. then raise chassis 1" at the rear over the front to get stance.

I personally think 4" is better that 3" for street driving.

[Snake2998]

Another aspect is to get your lower front A arm as close to parallel to the road surface as possible without compromising clearance of road obstacles.

[1985 CCX]

If I remember correct this was a topic many times and the user resulst were more
Front Springs at 200-220
Rear Springs 275-300

I think NOS were like F180/250R in the 60's

[frankym]

I think I've found a good place to resolve this. I put a call into a couple of speedshops in Connecticut that work on race car chassiss and they have the skills and analytics to properly corner balance and align the toe and camber as needed. They state that they will approximate the weight of the driver and then put a scale on each wheel and then add weight where necessary to get the car perfectly balanced left to right and front to back. By doing this the car will achieve optimal handling, braking, accelerating. Properly setting up a performance car's suspension is something you need expertise and equipment to handle properly. I'll share my solution once completed. I've never done this. My last ERA was so superiorly set up for handling bumps and corners and just stuck to the pavement no matter what you did with the brakes or the throttle. I'm sure I'll get the best out of CSX 4147 once they complete their adjustments.

[strictlypersonl]

"My last ERA was so superiorly set up for handling bumps and corners and just stuck to the pavement no matter what you did with the brakes or the throttle."

Many hours spent (and parts search for) to make bump-steer near zero from full rebound to full jounce.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by frankym

I... and then add weight where necessary to get the car perfectly balanced left to right and front to back.

Well Franky, you might want to ask them to make sure that when they add weight to one wheel they subtract the same weight from another wheel.

[1985 CCX]

https://youtu.be/2CGnqob3Q0M

This is a great tool