S-Pac suspension

Can anyone tell me what the suspension settings are for spac falcons.
i.e. how much lower and stiffer is it than standard?
is my LTD more softly sprung than standard?
thanks.

BTW, my mate scored a worked 250 xflow the other day (high comp, roller rockers, head work etc.) for $100 after sum chick wrote of the car it was in after 1 week of ownership, lucky for some, unlucky for others hehe
(girl is fine so u can laugh without feeling sadistic)

lol, I only worry about being sadistic if she is hot.

But I actually drive a spac falcon, and havent really noticed a difference in the suspension. In fact I am pretty sure that it's just got standard (xf in my case) suspension.

What you get with an s-pac is usually a snazzy pin stripe, and revised dash, console, instrument cluster and trim.

Man I cant focus on the screen (just got off the road after a 9 hour solid drive)

Cheers,
Dylan

i have a feeling (may be wrong ) the torsion bars and sway bars on the
spacs may have been thicker, ie 22 instead of 18mm or something i think, i should go check the manual and then my car cos its a spac but have just finished a long day at work (on a bloody sunday)

edit : springs and all that are the same i think, although the dick that owned my xe previously either had aspirations of a bent motor or it had a huge bastard bull bar cos the front suspenion is fairly high and very hard

cheers fellas

LTD are awesome! The rules about suspension is, unless you have shopping trolley casters fixed to the tow bar, shares in Midas, and a kidney belt from a dump truck driver, don't lower it any more than 38 mm( 1.5 inches )! Shame, 'cause Herrods XG XR8 ute looked kick ass tough, and it was lowered 4.5 inches at the back with 18 inch rims!

What LTD and Fairlanes have is a bare minimum spring rate increase to hold them up out of the weeds! They were not much different to the XF Fairmont Ghia.

I'd suggest duplicating the XE ESP spring set-up, and use a similar (cheeper!) shockie with the same bump and rebound settings as the Bilsten shockies the coil sprung ESP's used. LTD's were not super heavy...there's well over 250-350 kgs of weight extra in a V8, 9 inched, FMX'd, cast iron 351 Fairlane/LTD. From memory some early six cylinder LTD's didn't even trip the 1600 kg barrier! Only 50-100 kgs heavier than an XE Fairmont Ghia!

ESP's sit about an inch oops, 25 mm lower than stock Falcons, so yours should sit about 30 mm lower. They are firm springs which allow the suspension to soak bumps, but keep wallow in check. They used 24 mm front stabiliser bars, yours may be 24 any way, but 22 mm was standard on Falcons on the front. Another option is the front XR8/6 springs, sway bar and shocks from an XH/XG.

As for the rear springs, you could use EB or later springs off an XR8/6 or something. I think the suspension was a carry over, it was just the ratio's and fittings that differed.

I've seen good original V8 front springs from Pre-1979 barge LTD's "cut" half a coil, used on the fronts with some success, but it has to be engineer approved and tested. Cut springs can work loose from the spring pearch, as they are supposed to have a 25 mm straight bit on the bottom. People are no longer with us who have dabbled with springs. I don't give a sh*t about impatient people, I use the right tools, and rip the springs out while my neighbours wonder what the heck I've been doing for the last 3 hours!

I used to work at a materials testing lab, and my mate was selling his Ford and wanted a good trade in, so he told me to rip out his Lovells front coils. I did, and replaced them with cut 1978 LTD V8 coils to get the stock 425 mm ride height (as measured from the centre of the wheel to the bottom of the centre of the guard). Then I got 120 ping for them!. It used to sit at 358 mm, which was too low for his 1980 beast on 14X8's. They had a wild rate on them... at full compression on our 10 tonne load tester they needed 800 kg to bring the coils together...twice as much as the 78 springs! The machine looked awesome though, lowered 2.5 inches, mags, 245's. Rode like a billy cart, too!

thanks 4 the responses fellas

No worries,

Did anyone answer your question?...heh heh heh

well yeh xecute kinda wrote an essay for me, thanks heaps (ill keep an eye out for an ESP thats getting wreked)
and i know not to bother wasting my time trying the springs out of the Spac thats sitting in my mates paddock.

good luck finding an ESP, they are pretty rare.

It might be worth your while to go down to a suspension shop, and just enquire about a new set of springs. They are not too badly priced.

Good point. ESP's are nearly 20 years old. $120 or so for a pair of front coils - maybe a tad more for K-Mac...

You answered the question, Silver Bullet S-pac. Your a BS free zone mate!

Just don't shot me with that snazzy gun. I know from relatives and friends in Perth how wild the west is!

Oh, my mate Martin has a silver 4.1 carby 1982 XE ESP( in bits), and there are two red ESP 5.8 auto's in Dunedin. Can't get enough of these tough old Aussie grunters. Kiwis couldn't get manual XD onwards V8's, they were never assembled here, and so we seemed to get losts of Aussie import ESP's to make up for it. I remember seeing my first one in late 1983 in my home town. They old codger driving it got the third degree from me... the last proper Clevo with an FMX and the best looks in my opinion. Like 2V Falcons, a good deal of Southerners down here got into them.

seats Seats SEATS Has he still got the seats????

failing that (its be exxy as to get them here!) the red dash light panel and electronic clock, with red LEDs??

lol, ESPs are Very Rare over here. I've only seen one true ESP, and oh man, that Interior is to Die For!!

ESP interior package included Scheel seats, like the sort used in an Escort RS2000, but Falcon sized, moulded head rests for the rear passengers, with 6" speakers integrated into them, and a unique Onkaparinga seat trim pattern. Fairmont Ghia ESP specced vehicles also got a premium 100wRMS Pioneer stereo as standard. European Sports Pack indeed!

Marty wanted $NZ 600 for the silver trimed scheel seats...front and back. Falcon Cobras had them too. Poor old beast is in his shed. I've got kids, which have toffee apples, Moritz and Flakes rah rah rah, and they won't make good friends! I guess I'll be sticking with my old XB bench seats for some time. Gotta go. My Kids need a bath!

You could always get those thick plastic seat covers...lol.

"You've got two types of people, those who go for cloth, and those who go for leather. Now you should always go for leather, as leather is eaisier to keep clean!"....lol, Ford Factory Clearance Ads. All I need now is the blue coat, beer gut, and bald patch.

Vinyl is the go... I plan to buy a whole bunch of leather scraps and stuff them up under the seats of my wagon. The toughness of plastic, the smell of leather...

Leather needs more maintenance than most people give it, is thin on cheaper cars, and non-contact faces of the seat (sides, edges) are often in colour matched vinyl that becomes a mismatch with age.

Cloth is nice for non-authentic retrims and mild custom work. Cheap and cheerful. OEM 60s vinyl is a wallet buster.

Regards, Adam.

yeh i had a look at a website on ESp's after i posted that and kind of figured i wouldnt be finding one soon.

The S-pacs sat 15mm lower than GL's from factory. I think they also received slightly stiffer springs and firmer shocks. I am pretty sure the swaybars are the same diameter as the GL but I could be wrong
Check out www.eafalcon.com for more