lowering model cars

[aggie22]

im new to the forum and the hobby i bought a 55 chevy cameo and a 56 f100 i would like to know how to lower my pickups and give them a sporty look i seen some of the thing you guys are doing, i hope i can pick up some tricks

[southpier]

do a search in Q & A using "lowered suspension". there's 5 good replies, and you can get more searching other subforums.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Both trucks (assuming your '56 is the Revell 1/25 version) have similar suspension designs...parallel semi-elliptic leaf springs with beam front-axles and Hotchkiss-style rear axles (sometimes called 'live rear axle' ). The question is "how much lowering do you want?".

For just a little lowering, you can file away material from the springs where the axles attach. This would be analagous to removing a couple of spring leaves on the real thing.

For a little more lowering, if you want to do it kinda right, you'll have to either cut the spring-perches loose where they attach to the frame, and move them up (which will lower the chassis a corresponding amount) OR modify the spring shackles to let the springs fit closer to the frame rails (also lowering the chassis a like amount).

For LOTS of lowering...notice that when these models are sitting upright , the axles are BELOW the springs. If you rework the suspension so that you put the axles ABOVE the springs, you'll get a lot more drop...so much you may have to notch the frame a little in the rear to clear the axle (called 'C-notching' on real vehicles), or modify the brackets or shackles to raise the model up somewhat.

You'll have to decide on how you want your model to sit when completed, and experiment with these techniques to get the look you're after.

Edited January 23, 2013 by Ace-Garageguy