Hi Morris,
I think it's a bit of an optical illusion with the pictures. The shock mount is as far out as I can get it whilst still maintaining enough clearance to the back of the wheel rim. For wheel rate the ratio is actually better now than the original lower arm setup. I'll have to do a bit of math and work out the difference to the original Ford arms.
Here's a pic of the standard Ford rear end with it's cast steel arms. You can get an idea of the length of the arms and the position of the lower shock mount in relation to the wheel hub. My new setup has the shock in about the same position but the Hub is 2" closer in now.
The lower arms are quite long. My current wheels have a 9.25" back space and 2.875" front space. The Classic Revival chassis doesn't allow for a traditional looking wheel as you can see from this pic.
The new rear wheels have a 7.25" back space and a 4.875" front space.
I hope to achieve 3 main things with these mods. * A huge reduction in unsprung weight. * Eliminating the rear bump steer * Less offset on the rear wheels.
A couple of bonuses are positioning the wheel offsets so the loads are more evenly distributed on the wheel bearing. A better sway bar setup. And the tubular arms look cool.
Cheers