I recently had Ed Miller build me a set of C$ brakes onto some 2" lowering spindles (steering knuckles) i stumbled upon about 4 years ago online

the brake setup is all on, and the car looks awesome with the front lowered

my question and observations are:

what is a good way to fit a jack under the car now? roll the car up on some "stepped" blocks of wood? buy "low angle ramps" from QUARTER-MAX Chassis & Racing Components - You Can Afford The Best! Pit Ramps (part number 219838 )

- how often is it that the car will scrape... not the air dam, but the car 9oil pan, sway bar, trans pan..etc)

what will most likley scrape?

what are some techniques you all use to aviod harsh angles of roadway, steep driveways, etc?

how much damage could ever be done to the car if i were to accidentally really scrape bad, or hit hard? could it tear the oil pan off? trans? shock the car so hard the driveshaft or trans will tear out the bottom?

-i dont plan on giving up these drop spindles, im just looking for ways to drive safely with the front of the iroc 2" lower to the ground.... any ideas, comments, whatever wil be much appreciated... i'll post some pics up after this weekend

 

I had my Iroc lowered 1.5" and all I can say is AVOID speed bumps, or go over them at a fierce angle. I have ramps but forget about using them, I got a jack that basically sits on the floor (like a floor jack) My muffler always scraped on bumps. Just be careful on bumps, every other paved road should be fine.

 

when I got my 84 TA it was lowered. not to crazy low but low(picture of how low it was is in my vBgarage). it had 235 tires on it and I scraped on everything. I put 255 tires on it with the same springs and I'm pretty good. I don't bottom out on regular roads...but now the clearance between the tire and the fender flare sucks! and I rub that. when I was at the tire shop getting the 255's put on they went to drive my car off the lift and because the car was so low my oil pan caught the hydraulic cylinder of the lift and got punctured. So I'm putting stock height springs in it. in my opinion low is not good. lol. but that's just my opinion based on some bad experiences.
aslo...I had to forget abaout jacking the car up altogether when it was that low...couldn't get a jack under it. have those big GFX didn't help much either.

 

if you have stock springs on there have fun they are a lil to soft for a 2 inch drop. but my car is dropped about 2.5 or 3 inches and i drive it up a stepped 4x4 block of wood to get a jack under it. if you dont have problems with the tires bottoming out on the highway i wouldnt worry about what i said about the stock springs but i think it is a lil to soft, i would look at a custom spring with a stiffer rate just dont lower it any more.

 

I'm running a set of Beltech 2 inch drop spindles on my 91 Z28 along with with weight jacks and custom length springs. I've played with the ride height to the point where the car is streetable in the sense that nothing bottoms out while normally driving, but you are correct that some speed bumps and driveways can pose a problem.

When I run into these problems I usually try to come at them at a slight angle. Alot of times the reason people have problems bottoming out over speedbumps is they take the car in straight and go a little too fast. Both wheels go over the bump at the same time, unless you go very very slow and control the brakes well this might cause some ammount of suspension travel when finally making it over. At a slight angle one of the front wheels will clear the bump while the other is still partly on the bump, causing less suspension travel while clearing the bump. But you know it really depends on the suspension setup and how fast you're going. Slower is better, but the people behind you might not appreciate it. Consider that after going over a speedbump and the front wheels clear the next thing in line is the transmission crossmember and exhaust piping, those two things are what really affect chassis clearance. As I've found Spohn crossmembers are built very well but really take away from the clearance. And exhaust that isn't tucked well will also cause problems. For inclines and driveways I also take the slight angle approach.

But at some point you might have to accept that you just don't drive the car some places. This is something I've accepted after owning a few lowered rides, certain places I just don't go. Or I've found certain routes I can go to get to certain places that are much more lowered friendly. Might take a little longer to get places but its a compromise you make. Also might wanna be carefull when parking because the front lip might be too low to fit over the parking block. So no more rolling forward until the tire bumps the block and park, gotta stop before the lip hits the block. But all depends on the ride height and what GFX you're using. Another thing I would really watch out for are roads that have abnormal bumps in the center of the lane. Like you said the crossmember, oil pan, and y-pipe are all much closer to the ground now. On most bumps you're OK because the wheels will go over the bump thus raising the rest of the chassis too. But some roads with abnormal bumps in the middle of the road might be a major problem because the wheels would not be going over anything and the chassis will remain at the same height. There's a few spots like that here, where someone had re-paved a road and a city bus or something drove over the new pavement and deformed it causing bumps in the middle of the road only.

The easiest way I've found to jack the car up is to park it on a flat surface, turn the wheels full lock one way, place a floorjack under one of the a-arm's (whichever one is exposed better, depends which way you turn), then jack the car up under one of the a-arms, place a helper jackstand under one of the frame rails (I use a OEM jack as a helper), then when the car is sitting on the helper jackstand move the floorjack jacking point to the center of the crossmember like normal.

 

Whenever I play with the idea of lowering my car (and I do), I search for articles like the above and immediately come to my senses .

JamesC

 

knocked one of my mufflers off - swung around a corner and came across a manhole that was a good 3-4" above the rest of the pavement......
I still like the looks of a lowered car. They just sit more proportionate - wheel well height, ground height, etc.... - I'm putting my new chassis on the ground. Going for about 4-6" @ the gfx, but everything will be tucked under so it'll all be good for 4-6".....after that it's avoid or scrape......

 

James where in Kansas do you live? What city?

 

Belleville (but I'm not sure it's large enough to be called a city).

JamesC

 

That is the key, you just have to be careful sometimes.

You really haven't lived, until you have gotten your car stuck on the driveway at Radio-Shack, and had to have the employees come sit on the back of the car, to get enough weight to get the rear wheels in contact with the ground.

 

awesome guys thanks

thats pretty much the answers i was expecting..

that i'll have to take some speed bumps and driveways at an angle, and go slowly.. also that ill have to be EXTRA careful and know which roads i should aviod.. it was just my first day driving with the car setup that low, and i was a little nervous about what "could happen"


---i definately am going to be getting new springs and struts, probably the stock ride height one, definately.. because hte ones that are on my car now (struts AND springs) are stock.. from 1987, so they are saggy and loose

*** DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY RECOMENDATIONS ON A BRAND, TYPE< or EXACT SET of springs, struts, etc to get for the front (just the front for now) that will be equivalent or BEtter (stiffer) than stock..

- i really love the stance of the lowered car, it makes things look soooo much better, and i will never go back to having 3.5" of open space betweent the fender and front wheels

if anyone has any recomendations on the stiff springs, where tog et em, cost, etc, that would be excellent .. (and i will post pics up around monday when i get back from a short vacation)

 

Install some weld in subframe connectors, and then jack up one side a little using the new subframe connector, put a stand under it near the front, and then you will be able to fit the jack under the k-member.

That or get a lower jack!

 

while my car was dropped I couldn't get into autozones driveway. lol.