Modoba

If I may be so bold to make a suggestion: Add about 1.5" or 2" of height in the rear suspension -- really makes the car looks substantially more aggressive. I had air shocks on mine, and besides changing the angle of the car, it stiffened the ride which I really liked. A little height goes a long way, overdo it, and it looks silly.
 
Air shocks are never a good idea, nor are coil-overs a.k.a. "load levelers". The shock mounts were never designed to carry weight, since normal oil or gas shocks don't carry weight. You'll pound the upper shock mounts out of the car sooner or later. I learned this the hard way when I discovered the "mystery rattle" in my otherwise-tight rear suspension.

If you want some rake, you can raise the rear a little with $20 bolt-on helper leaves or more with new springs (cheap around here, about $140/pr. for 5-leaf). Ideally, though, to not look "goofy" you should split the difference between lowering the front and raising the rear. Lowering the front is a matter of turning two bolts, and you'll probably need an alignment. It's less-expensive and easier than air shocks, and you won't need to learn the tricky intricacies of welding large-by-huge washers to a torn rear shock crossmember to fix what's left of it. It's really not fun.
 
NoCar340 said:
Air shocks are never a good idea, nor are coil-overs a.k.a. "load levelers". The shock mounts were never designed to carry weight, since normal oil or gas shocks don't carry weight. You'll pound the upper shock mounts out of the car sooner or later. I learned this the hard way when I discovered the "mystery rattle" in my otherwise-tight rear suspension.

If you want some rake, you can raise the rear a little with $20 bolt-on helper leaves or more with new springs (cheap around here, about $140/pr. for 5-leaf). Ideally, though, to not look "goofy" you should split the difference between lowering the front and raising the rear. Lowering the front is a matter of turning two bolts, and you'll probably need an alignment. It's less-expensive and easier than air shocks, and you won't need to learn the tricky intricacies of welding large-by-huge washers to a torn rear shock crossmember to fix what's left of it. It's really not fun.
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That's interesting, I never thought about the fact that the shocks don't carry the load -- and by expanding an air shock, suddenly you are carrying part of the load. I've used them on several M, J, and Late-B bodies and personally never had any trouble with them. I once used shackles at the rear of the spring to lift a Late-B (77 Cordoba), but they look a little low-rent to my eye.

As far as cost goes, though, I've been buying air-shock kits from my local parts guy for $70, so it's a pretty cheap option. I will look into the helper-spring option next time as I imagine that /really/ stiffens the rear.
 
Cordoba1 said:
That's interesting, I never thought about the fact that the shocks don't carry the load -- and by expanding an air shock, suddenly you are carrying part of the load. I've used them on several M, J, and Late-B bodies and personally never had any trouble with them. I once used shackles at the rear of the spring to lift a Late-B (77 Cordoba), but they look a little low-rent to my eye.

As far as cost goes, though, I've been buying air-shock kits from my local parts guy for $70, so it's a pretty cheap option. I will look into the helper-spring option next time as I imagine that /really/ stiffens the rear.
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I've read a few horror stories on the same subject.
One peek at the shock mounts and you quickly see why it's not a good idea...
 
For maximum "lift" effect, the best way to install the helper springs is to jack the car up and set it on stands under the frame so the axle is at full droop. When the weight of the car tries to compress the arch of the original spring against the preloaded helper spring, it has to push harder and therefore the car sits higher than if you install them with the weight of the car sitting on the wheels. Yes, it does stiffen up the handling and ride, and it does it the correct way: by increasing the spring rate.

I had a Trans Am on which the previous owner had installed air shocks. I took them off the day I got it (a story unto itself) because of the damage to my prior car, and the thing sat like a squirrel with a broken back. I installed the helper springs the same day, after which it merely sat like a squirrel with a badly-dislocated pelvis. It was just about level, but credit where due: the springs were so shot they quite literally arched the wrong way. :eusa_doh: Broken main leaves suck.
 
Update on the Cordoba/Mirada wing prototype. You can start to see the profile shaping up.

modoba wing prototype.jpg
 
Hey Adam, I don't mind suggestions, but my car is too high in the rear for my taste anyway. When I had the springs redone last year, it sits about 1.5 " higher than I want. I'll fix that this spring. I Don't like to use air shocks though. On another note, I sold the drag radials and mag. 500's this fall. I just didn't like the look as much as the factory wheels.
 
This MAY be what I am looking for in a rear spoiler. I can't tell yet, but looking forward to seeing the completed project. Otherwise, I'm probably going to end up buying the late model Challenger spoiler and making it work.
 
jasperjacko said:
Not much to look at, but you can see the basic shape. It will have a gentle duck tail shape. I didn't have long enough pcs. to do the full length.The second pic is a shelby charger wing that I may still mod to fit, and I think would look very good.
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Pick it up & rotate it so that ends & third brake light are touching the deck lid. I know the mounts would be visible, but the profile might look cool, similar to a 3000 GT VR-4. I'm sure it'd need mod.'d, but might be interesting.
 
I have challenger wing also. It has a little to much radius as is and would have to be cut in half and the angle changed. It is a nice style though. Who knows, I may hack it up too!
 
Prototype wing getting closer. I like the idea of the wing extending to the top of the 1/4 panel, but I'm just not sure about the space under the end because of the shape of the deck lid. Should this type of wing end on the raised part of the deck lid? Maybe only a pedestal wing looks right going to the 1/4's? Thoughts?

100_5146.jpg


100_5151.jpg


100_5158.jpg
 
I think it would look great if you contoured the bottom edge of the spoiler to follow the depression in the edge of the trunklid & quarter panel. For it to look right, the front surface would have to extend forward & down at the same time into the "gutter" between the trunk lid & quarter, while the tail side would dip down accordingly. You'd probably want to reprofile the outer vertical flats & corners so it looks more "geometrically correct" with the gutter extensions. The front edge of the spoiler really needs to come to a point, though, rather than that flat edge you currently have.

What the heck am I talking about? I apologize for the shoddy Photoshop work, but it'll do for a few minutes' work to help you visualize what I mean.

wing1.jpg


wing3.jpg


wing2.jpg


Obviously, much like 1-piece spoilers used on other makes or models that overlap the trunk joint, you'd want to leave "slam clearance" between the bottom edge of the spoiler extensions I added; it would only be attached where you've currently got it laid out. That's how it was done on the ducktail spoilers used on the AAR/TA cars and the F-body 1-piece spoilers.

wing1.jpg


wing3.jpg


wing2.jpg
 
That's kind of like a pattern I did a year and a half ago, and I think you may be right, it kind of works like that. I thought about that profile on the edge also. I used the late challenger wing as the basic design for mine...same thickness on front edge, but I do think thinner would be better. We'll see where it goes from here.
 
NoCar's rendition would look good, but I'd also consider just ending it at the edge of the trunk, like the NASCAR Magnums were. See Buddy Arrington's Magnum for example. There is some '80s street car that has a factory spoiler like that too, but for the life of me, I can't think of what it is right now. It isn't the Monte Carlo or Grand National, but some other car that has a shape similar to a J-body.
 
Any of you guys notice the quarter ext. on the cordoba is longer than the mirada? About and inch.
 
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