Marc 85Z28

iTrader: (3)

Should I cut a half coil from the top or the bottom of the spring? And once cut, do they need to be heated and bent back into original shape or can I just stick them back in?

REVLIMIT

Cut them from the top of the spring. If you cut them from the bottom the spring wont go back into the car and you would have to buy new springs. So again CUT FROM THE TOP and it would be best to heat them and bend them back. For safety reasons and also for performance reasons. But its not nessesary and can be put back in without bending the top back down.

Marc 85Z28

iTrader: (3)

That's what I needed to know - thanks

Steve89GTA

How much do you cut?...say...to get a eibach pro-kit like drop?

REVLIMIT

every coil is usually about a 1" drop. So about one coil should be good for a prokit look.

Marc 85Z28

iTrader: (3)

Cut one half coil off the front and rear. Ride height (measured at wheel well lip) before - front: 27.25" rear: 28.25" After it measured 26" front and 27" rear. A little more than 1" drop.

Steve89GTA

Marc, you cut half a coil from the top? Did you have to bend or massage the spring in any way after that or simply cut and drop them back in?

FIRECHICKEN

iTrader: (3)

Do not heat the spring it will change spring rate.

Nasty_Bird_'90

I cut a full coil off of the fronts and a coil plus 2" of the second coil off of the rear. It lowered it about an inch all the way around. Very nice. Easy job. Only thing is i did it without a spring compressor so seating the front springs in the upper perch was a little tricky.

Steve89GTA

Nasty, how did you get the front springs out without the spring compressor? I was thinknig of putting a jack under the arm near the ball joint and undoing the top strut bolt and let it come down a bit. Will this give enough play to wedge it out?

Nasty_Bird_'90

The first time i tried, i tried to take the control arm bolts out and drop it that way b/c thats how a friend told me to. Uh uh. Won't work. It's alot easier to do it the way you said. Get the car on some Jackstands, put a jack under the balljoint and remove the upper retaining nut on the shock. SLOWLY lower the jack. You'll also have to remove the little bracket that holds the brake line to the inner fender well. You'll know what im talking about when you look under there. If you dont take that off, you'll snap your brake line. Once you get the control arm all the way down, the spring shoud be loose enough to pull out. I had to roatate mine a little bit and give them a good firm tug for the to come out, but it's not hard. The hard part is seating them in the upper spring perch. Take your time. Put the spring on the control arm and jack it up little by little. Like an inch at a time. In between jacking it up, check the spring to make sure it's still aligned. It's alot easier with two people.

****Important: Make sure you chain the spring to the car so when you lower the control arm, it doesn't shoot out at you! This is why most ppl will tell you to use a spring compressor. It's safer. But just be careful and take your time. ******

Hope this helps. If not, email or IM me if you get into trouble.

FIRECHICKEN

iTrader: (3)

Here is how you do it. Put a jack under the lower control arm. Undo the castle nut retaining the ball joint. Smack the spindle with a hammer to loosen the ball joint. Lower the jack slowly while smacking the spindle. If this doesn't work you will have to get a ball joint seperator in there. Lower the jack all the way down slowly until it's free. There will be very little pressure on the spring now. You should be able to pull it out now. * STILL BE CAREFUL* it has a little twang still.

Later

Nasty_Bird_'90

You could do it that way, but if you do it the way i said, you won't have to mess with the ball joint.....at all. I don't know about you, but thats something i don't like to mess with. Either way you do it, if you lower the control arm, the spring will almost fall out.

Steve89GTA

Cool, thanks.
Is there anything I need to know about aligning the spring? I'm guessing it has to go in a certain way?
Also, I have the WS6 springs...should I cut a half or one full coil???
Once again, looking for about a 1.2 or so drop in the front and 1 inch for the rear.

Will I be able to cut the spring with a cutoff disc on an airgrinder??

Nasty_Bird_'90

I dont' know if the ws6 springs will be different. As for cutting them, i used a big *** grinder because thats all i could find in the garage that had the right kind of wheel. I would assume you could use just about anything, as long as it has a wheel made for cutting steel.

Marc 85Z28

iTrader: (3)

Steve89GTA - you can get the springs OUT by removing the tie rod end, brake caliper and strut and slowly lower the arm with a jack. THEY WILL NOT GO BACK IN!!! Even cut! Tried a triangle compressor - NOPE. Tried kamikazi sticks - NOPE. As soon as I lined up the bottom it came out of the top. Wasted nearly an hour on just that LF spring. Reconnected the strut and removed the bolts for the control arm and it went in so easy it was ridiculous. RF side took me less than 10 minutes. Just removed the tie rod, sway bar end link, and 2 control arm bolts. No compressor needed and is real easy to line up. No rigged chains either. That's just dangerous.

Cut the springs with a cut-off wheel and heated them up and bended them flat. I cut 1/2 coil off the front and 3/4 coil on the rear. Gave me a 1" drop all around on my stock (not sagging) Z28 springs. Ride harshness/handling/steering did not change at all. Rides just like before, only lower.

Aligning is easy. There is a notch in the top rubber and lower control arm that must have the ends of the spring line up. Self explanatory once removed.

And don't worry about heating up the springs. As long as you let them air cool (NO WATER), you will not distemper them.

Nasty_Bird_'90

Mark, not to be a d!ck, but you don't have to remove all that stuff to get them off and even after you cut them, you can put them back in without a compressor. I don't know why you had such a tough time. I did it just as i outlined the project in the above posts and had no problem.

BTW, where in severn do you live??We should meet up. I'll PM you

Marc 85Z28

iTrader: (3)

My parents live in Severn. Severn Meadows to be exact, just off Severn road. I come here for computer usage. I live in Millersville.

The work was done at the dealership I work at. I had our front end man help me since I was having so much trouble with the front springs. He suggested the control arm bolts. He said the IROC/WS6 cars are easier due to difference in springs.

Nasty_Bird_'90

hey thats cool. i can prolly see you from here. i live on Disney Rd.

fakezcar

i hate to be the outsider butting in.....but control arms bolts work best on perf. susp springs.....My RS equipped with the pef susp. had sprigs 1-2" longer than an '86 iroc did...the easiest way to put those in was with the control arm connected to the ball joint and the rear side hanging(crossmember side). When iput the iroc springs in i broke down and use the compressor. so much easier. I've been tempted to cut them but i've just been to lazy so...good luck...which ever way you choose be careful. when the springs uload they have a tendency to find something soft to tear up. like people. good luck

chris