jer4251

iTrader: (6)

I'm looking to lower my 91 RS vert as much as possible without using bags yet. It has a 305 for now so it's kinda heavy. it doesnt sit high right now but i want it as low as possible. It came equiped with the full Z suspension and wheels and all the good stuff, Its pretty much a Z28 with a tbi 305.

what springs should i be looking at? I have the sportlines on my 97 SS and it sits pretty low. do they make them for 91's?

QuickStyle

please dont put airbags on a thirdgen... it will take the pride out of owning a thirdgen

Sickness91Z28

iTrader: (1)

sorry....but I disagree. With air bags, you can adjust your hide height....you can have it high or low...the best of both worlds. I think there is nothing wrong with air bags. Just my opinion

Anyhow, to answer your question, Yes, Eibach Sportlines are what you want. I have a set on my 91 Z and it's the best move I've made. The only thing...is that I can no longer get a jack underneath my car to change the oil...so..I have to roll it up on something to make it sit higher in the front to put a jack underneath of it.

Also, with air bags....you can change your oil...cause you can set your height.

You might try a search...there are tons and tons of threads about the Eibach Sportlines.

406TPI

iTrader: (1)

Don't you just love it when people post on here just to throw out an opinion and have no technical knowledge to add? Last time I checked this was a "Tech Board"...not an opinion board.
Quickstyle...do you have anything relevant to say or did you just feel it necessary to belittle another memeber here?

Back to topic....sportlines are a nice drop....however, if you are planning on doing bags in the near future, you could simply cut your stock springs to find the drop you like. Might save some money in the long run.

jer4251

iTrader: (6)

how does this sound.... thunder racing has a kit, sportlines, bmr relo brackets and adj panhardbar for 360. sound good??

Sickness91Z28

iTrader: (1)

I agree

Meatman

iTrader: (4)

If you do cut your stock springs just make sure you do not get them very hot however you cut them.

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

lol...... i love it, your a funny one!


:lala:

check out phr and hotrod tv as well as superchevy, chevy high performance and a few others which have and will be doing many in depth features on the reasons why air ride is the new performance suspension mod and why many of the earlier ideals behind air being bad is wrong.

chevy high performance just did a quick review on the roadcourse as well which has some interesting data but be on the lookout in newstands for some real indepth answers to all of your questions which will break the stigma many have about air ride.

as to answer your question:
personally if i didn't want to go with air i would go with sportlines and bilstein sport strut/shocks as you'll get the best you can out of your setup that way. the only other way would be to have a custom set of springs made for you which is possible through many various companies. i would recomend eaton but only because they are here in michigan and i know what they can do. good luck with your choice, just remember that your ridequality demands proper matched parts so with your replacement of springs you'll need to do the same with other parts in order to have a decent ride. if your worried about getting a jack under the car just keep a set of 2x4's around the garage although this will not help with any roadside emergencies or possible problems with tow trucks so if this is a daily driver i would advise against going lower then a 2" sportline drop.

QuickStyle

im not trying to belittle anyone, i was simply trying to point him in the correct direction of a thirdgen being a sports car, not a jumping car, if he is doing it in a performance way, fine. but if he wanted to hop this car a foot off the ground, i would disagree about puting airbags on it. and if not installed correctly, it would cause the car not to handle as well as it was intended too.

Sickness91Z28

iTrader: (1)

don't take this the wrong way...but are you sure your referring to airbags?

From what I've learned about an airbag system..you can't jump any car...yes...you can make it go up and down a bit faster with different tanks/valves and things...but..I really don't think you can hop with air bags. Are you sure your not thinking "Hydraulics"

jer4251

iTrader: (6)

I'm not looking for performance i'm looking for looks, i want to have the car sit as low as possible, without killing my wallet. I have sportlines on my 97 SS and full ground effects, i know all about ride quality and not being able to get a jack under the car, i cant get it past my ground effects. my car just had all the shopcks and struts replaced before i bought it, My SS still has it;s origional shocks, havent gotten around to buying better ones yet. I just dont want a lot of work to go into lowering my car,

what would a airbag system cost me? after knowing what it will run, i think the sportlines will look like a pretty good investment.

my car sits low as it is, i dont know if springs will make a big difference. mkne are 14 years old already so i think either way they should be replaced.

when i had my 95 mustang gt convt i bought a cheap set of springs off ebay and it dropped it a lot, i was almost ridiong on the fenders, looked sweet and i only spent 100 bucks shipped. when i went to put them in, i had a rusted and seperated spring on the mustang, dont know how it broke.

does anyone have the drop zone springs from ebay? their really cheap if they will drop me at least 2" ill get them.

QuickStyle

i am sure i am not talking about hydraulics, i have seen vehicles jump off the ground with airbags, not as high as hydraulics but it does come off the ground.

now if you are wanting to be able to adjust the suspension... i would just get some air shocks. IMO air bags are overpriced useless pieces. if you want to just have it lowered and stay that way, just get some lowering springs, and remember that you get what you pay for. and if you were to do airbags, you would have to be exact on how to do it, or you will go through tires in no time.

Sickness91Z28

iTrader: (1)

go ahead and tell Kandied that He'll set you straight

QuickStyle

please make sense

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

jer4251 if this is just a car that your not worried about damaging then yes throwing the cheapest drop springs is your best option, hell cutting coils is even cheaper so why not go that route. to lower the car properly to the height you are aiming for it will cost some money. so much that in fact you could have air ride for very little more. stick to the springs, you'll be fine.

air ride can work well in a performance oriented way, but it also steps the level up a notch by giveing the driver complete control over the suspensions characteristics. of course with anything you can go overboard and spend more money then intended, but the bare essentials to do what many really want to do with air ride much more expensive then a proper spring setup when you add everything up. however, if your only looking to spend 1-200 dollars then springs alone are the right choice for you. just remember that with any lowered vehicle there are other parts that need to be changed to work properly otherwise you'll still wear out your tires, front steering, etc. just like one could with improperly inflated bags.


84customZ28, QuickStyle is right.... with the right size bags, valves and amount of air necessary air can hop just like most hydraulic setups. most use nitrogen for these setups rather then regular air but it is being done all around the world. hydraulics are still the choice of top builders who plan to hop their cars though. reguardless anyone planning on building such a car would most certainly not look to a thirdgen. air ride is best suited for the jaw dropping stance and great ride so many of us are after that don't want to deal with the hassles such lowering springs alone can bring.

CrazyHawaiian

Not everyone that bags their car intends to hop it. If I bagged my Camaro I sure wouldnt be hopping it. Airbags, and more specifically the new AirStruts are great. You can change the ride height on the fly and maintain a comfortable ride (as opposed to hydros which ride really hard). Well worth the money IMO, especially the AirStruts. I've already creamed my front lip. I really wish I could raise the car up for the occasional driveway or speedbump.

I prefer to have the stock style spring/dampener setup. Call me cheap. The lowest setup that I know of is the short linear spring and weight jack setup. The best part is that you can choose the height and spring rate, and still be able to adjust the height. So if you get the right spec springs and good dampeners you can get the ride height that you want that still rides decent and does not bottom out. Ground control is popular but other companies also make weight jacks (and custom springs) for cheaper. I'm running this setup on my 91Z and soon on the 89 IROC. Both 2" or lower ...

jer4251

iTrader: (6)

CrazyHawaiian

I like the way your car sits, i want mine to sit right above the wheel wells, just enough to get a finger between the tire and the fender, if the front wheels tuck a little underneath thats fine, I think it would be cool to have it sitting on the ground for show but I'm not ready to invest in those parts first, i need other things before i can do that.

I'm just looking for the best springs to lower my car as much as possible. for now. and so far it seems to be the sportlines correct? I know all about the other parts i need to go with lowering my car, i already have a dropped 97 SS, I've set it aside for now and i'm looking to make my 91 into a nice street ride that can possibly win something at a show.

CrazyHawaiian

The custom length spring and weight jack will allow you to go lower than the Sportlines (if the spring is short enough). I changed from Sportlines to this setup because I was unhappy with the fenderwell gap in the rear with the Sportlines. The major benifit of the weight jacks is that you can adjust the ride height after the fact. So instead of being stuck with whatever height the spring rides at, you can choose the height you want. The only problem at this point is retaining dampener travel and suspension geometry. At full lock down (for shows) the fenderwells rest on the wheels, but it still dosnt tuck as much as I'd like. I'm considering removing the inner fenderwells but I dunno about that one since I drive the car on the street alot. The picture in my sig is actually Sportlines in the front and custom spring / weight jack in the rear. Nowadays its custom spring / weight jack on all 4 and drop spindles in the front.

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

if i were not to use air i would follow crazy in his ideals. it seems to work out very nicely.

jer4251

iTrader: (6)

do you think you can write me an email with all the things i would need to do what you have done? possibly where i can find the parts, and any other info that might be usefull, i dont quite understand exactly how the setup works.

my email is Jer4251@aol.com

thanks, If and when i do complete the job, i'll be happy to post pics. i think my convertible would look sick sitting closer to the ground.

CrazyHawaiian

You can drive your mouse over to the and give it a whirl. Start off with 'weight jacks.' Have fun!

Kandied91z

iTrader: (7)

lol... sad but true. all the ideas and thoughts you are interested in have already been discussed countless times. i'm sure between crazy and myself we've answered more emails and pm's then we care to answer.

if you just take 10 min out of your day you'll find your answers by searching. then if you really have a specific question that hasn't been answered your more likely to recieve an answer.

bluepastu

CrazyHawaiian, can U tell me about your rim/tire size?

I LOVE'm!

H-BOMB

Yes. please tell us!

CrazyHawaiian

They are Boyd Coddington 'Tuned' 18x8 front w/ 4.5" BS and 245/40/18 S-03 tires and 18x9.5 rear w/ 5.5 BS and 275/35/18 S-03 tires. Dont tell anyone but I got them through www.sportruck.com hehe Thanks!

DRIVE2FAST

IVE LOWERED A FEW CARS AND TRUCKS BUT THIS MY FIRST CAMARO DROP
.ANYBODY GOT A RECO FOR A SET UP THAT IS GOING IN A CAR THAT IS BEING CONFIG'D FOR A TOP SPEED RUN ON A GOOD ROAD ?
ARE LCARBS AND A ADJ PAN HARD BAR ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY ON A LOWERED 3RD GEN ? ??
*ITS NOT A DAILY DRIVER SO I WANT IT LOW AS I CAN GET IT.

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

TURN OFF THE CAPS, ITS REALLY ANNOYING AND IS "YELLING"

anyway, if you drop the car a lot, you will most likely need a adjustable panhard, and probably a relocation mount got the axle side of the mount if you go really low. You want to try and keep the panhard level.

again with the lca brackets, if you go really low, you may need them.

lowest s[rings are the inatrax ones, or use the weight jacks from ground control, they are adjustable, can get you lower, and you can use the spring rate of your choice.

DRIVE2FAST

MY CAPS BUTTON IS STUK. THATS WHY ALL CAPS.
SR-71 SCHOOLED ME ON THE F-BODY SUSPENSION OPERATION.
THIS IS GETTING BETTER BY THE MINUTE. EVERYTIME I CHANGE ONE THING I GOTTA CHANGE A FEW MORE TO COMPENSATE.
GETTING EXPENSIVE.
HI - SPEED = HI - MONEY.

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

that happens

JamesC

iTrader: (5)

Hey, Drive2, if you could keep the same general question to one forum or one thread, your effort would be much appreciated.

JamesC

DRIVE2FAST

SOMETIMES I GO OFF IN ALL DIRECTIONS