hey,
here's the problemo - i live in TN which is, compared to most places, hilly. i also have to live with the tn dot who seem to like putting ditches in the middle of the road and at the end of driveways just for their simple amusement of watching lower cars struggle around them. and as i'm sure we all know, f-body cars are low to begin with, but i've got it into my head that i want to lower my car another inch for the sake of cornering harder. however, i drag my air dam on a lot of things around here as it is. is there any semi-easy system that i can use to adjust the front ride height from inside the car, while i'm driving, so i can at least pull out of shoney's parking lot without scraping my body kit across hw 153, all while still being able to corner harder? aka, doesn't affect performance when the front is back down where it should be. heh heh, this is gonna be expensive... but i'm just looking for ideas right now! thanks!

doc

 

air bags. are the only way i can think of to adjust from inside the car, without ruining the handling.

ground-control make an adjustable spring kit, but it is not adjustable from inside the car.

the hardest thing will be that, as soon as you even slightly adjust the front end, you alignment will be off.

 

yup air bags is pretty much the only way you can do it from inside the car. I mean you could use the GC and have it adjustible from inside. But the fabrication and what not that you would have to do would be a bitch.

 

rev, you have the GC kit on the rear of your car don't you?

 

thanks guys! i was thinking about air bags before, but i've never really looked into it to see what all would be involved with it - and i really just wanted to make sure that i wasn't missing something. do ya'll know of any kits that you would recomend should i decide to be crazy and try it? also, about the alignment, would it be knocked off track until i had it realigned in the shop or just until i lowered the car again? thanks again! :hail::hail:

doc

 

Rev has them on the front and rear. Awesome stance!! Drsmithson, when you align the car, it will be set for whatever height it was aligned at. If you change the height then the alignment will be off, but returning it back to the height it was aligned at will bring it back to the correct alignment specs. When people do air adjustable suspension, they choose a 'daily driving' ride height and have the car aligned at that height. When they lower or raise the car, they throw the alignment off, but only while the height is changed. So raising the car to clear a speedbump is no problem. Just lower it back down after you cleared the bump and you're good to go. Very easy with air suspension. If you're not going with the GC weight jack setup, it will be a little more of a PITA to adjust. But still the best choice I've seen so far that will work for racing (I plan to install GC parts on both my cars pretty soon here). With the weld in front weight jack kit (requires removal of k-member and fab welding work) you can adjust the height from under the hood. With the non weld in weight jack kit you'll have to lower the car with a height adjustment tool from under/side the car. Either way will require you stop the car, get out, and make adjustments. So you'll never get the peace of mind the air suspension people get, however your weight jack setup will work great for racing (where air suspension would flex alot). So its a give and take situation.

When it comes down to it, having a car that is setup to race, but also needs to be adjusted to accomidate daily driving is a loose loose situation. Nomatter what you do, there will always be a question as to what height you should align the car at. Unless you realign it every time you race, you'll either have bad alignment on the track (alignment set for highter daily driving setting) or bad alignment on the street (alignment set for lower racing setting). It really sucks. Thats why people put it in the middle, or get two cars (one for street, one for track).

 

If you had good tie rod ends (aftermarket) and a fresh front end you could just remember what the alignment specs were for a different stance. Example, there are only 2 things you adjust for our front end alignment, tie rod ends and the upper strut mount. Just mark where the strut was and then remember how many turns it took to get the toe adjusted. Seriously though, that's a LOT of work and an alignment is only really needed if you adjust the front end.
I'd like to get that GW rear height kit for the track. It's like having LCA relocation brackets. Just have to be careful if you've got a stock torque arm because the rear pinion angle will change and not for the better. I guess it's a trade off.

 

thanks guys! i've been thinking about it and i've pretty much decided: to heck with the air dam, i'll just drag it occasionaly! i'd rather have the extra "sport" and sacrifice a little luxury. plus, it'd be a lot easier and cheaper for me, and i don't want to lose my handling due to airbag flex.

besides, if you're gonna drive a sports car, drive a sports car! that's one thing i don't like about ford, they're too corporate minded and have lost touch with the enthusiasts out here. (of course, the same could be said of some of gm's recent decisions as well...) for example, the newer mustangs were designed to be half sports car, half "luxury" car just so they would sell to a bigger demographic. at least that's what i've heard. i'm just feelin' that the true sports car nuts, the guys who start fixing up their cars as soon as they get them, are being sold out by the auto industry. and i have no idea how i got from airbags to this, so i'm gonna shut up!

doc