Can I chop my front stock springs??? Figured you guys know your stuff......


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Already redoing the whole front suspensioin: Control Arm bushings, KYBGR2's, End link bolts/bushings, sway bar bracket bushings and new ball joints..... Can I Chop the front STOCK springs?

 

Sure....I've done it on stock springs & gone autocrossing with no problems. What do you think think people did before aftermarket lowering springs came out?

 

Cut at the top or bottom of the spring? How will it seat? Forgive me I am ****-retentive and know you guys know what's best. My Previous post shows she's stripped and ready! How to get the best seat?

 

I'm going to be doing this to the rears when the 2" drop spindles go in... It's safe if you take your time and very importantly DO NOT heat up the spring too much or you will weaken it.

 

2" drop Personally this is the lowest I would go in terms of springs.

 

Anytime you cut that much off a spring it's going to change the spring rate and make it more stiff. If you're concerned at all about ride quality, I wouldn't cut anymore than a 1/2 to 3/4 of a coil.

When I first drove it down the road after lowering it, I thought hmmmm.......that feels a little more stiff than I expected. But, after driving it around for another 10 minutes, I realized it wasn't as bad as I thought. I was just so use to way it rode before that it took me a few minutes to get use to it. Not only that, I have air shocks in the back with ALL the air let out of them. I believe as soon as I install some regular shocks, it won't be that bad at all.

Cut the bottom of the spring. When you go to reinstall them, make sure you put the tapered (non cut) end up into the K-member, and the cut end down in the A-arm pocket.

Now, when it comes to indexing the bottom of the spring down into the pocket, I think "most" people will tell you to point the cut end towards the back of the A-arm and line it up between the two drain holes. (I'm not one of those people)

Here's the the reason why,......when I did it that way, it did NOT lower my car AT ALL, even after cutting 3/4's of a coil off my springs. But, as soon as I turned it around and pointed the cut end towards the outside of the car, it dropped it down about 3/4 of an inch. I ended up cutting another 3/4 of a coil off to get a full 2" drop.

I think he's referring to "not letting your springs get hot while cutting them". I wouldn't recommend using a torch to cut them unless you have a plasma cutter. Regardless, I would use a bucket of water and only have a couple coils sticking out if you do use a torch. I actually put my springs in a vice and used my compressor with a 4" cut off wheel. I cut halfway through then waited about 2 minutes, then I cut the other half.

 

Oops, sorry I was not clear! That is what i meant, while cutting, do little by little as to not overheat the coil too much while cutting!

 

24 3/4" front fender lip height. 26 " rear fender lip height.
16x8 factory IROC wheels and 245-50/16 tires
The front wheel wheels still hav ethe factory plastic liners and the wheel on the drivers side has barely scraped the plastic in all the hard street driving I have done and road course playing I have done in this car in the 6 years I built it and drove it.

As low as this car is, you can pound it on the street, drive it fairly normal over speed bumps, and it pulled 1.07g's on a skidpad on street tires.

 

Front springs are clamped for now and rears had 1.5 coils cut off. Getting a tubular k-member and coilover kit from BMR soon.

 

That's a nice ride! Just out of curiosity, did you have to cut the rear lip off or roll it under in order for your tires not to rub?

 

I rolled it old school style with a heat gun, dead blow hammer, masking tape and a 2x4

 

This was original stance, but it was just to low, lower air dam was hitting everything, put a taller front tire on and solved the problem

 

WOW, three major improvements on your car........the taller front tires, the Convo Pros, and getting rid of the 3pc rear window louvers. (Just never been a fan of the louvers)

That thing is simply badass!!!. The fact it's tubbed and has Convo Pros makes it my second favorite car on this site. If it had a blower sticking out of the hood it would definitely be my favorite.

 

here is my project befor and after



it has the hotchkis springs, hotchkis strut tower brace, hotchkis tie rod and center link set and the hotchkis adjustable pan hard bar with kyb shocks and struts...
the tires are much wider now then in this pic

 

My car has always sat high since I put the IROC springs in it. When I redid my ball joints and went with poly a-arm bushings I cut my IROC springs and it sits a good bit lower, but it just looks stock. Cut half a coil in the front, 1/4 coil in the rear and removed the rear isolator.

I think I may just need real lowering springs. And yeah, I had them indexed properly.

 

"HOLY WHEEL GAP" Batman, that thing sat up high!!! My car sat lower than that before I cut 2 coils off the back, and 1-1/2 coils off the front.

 

Actually my car settled down a bit after those last pictures I posted. Here's what it looks like now:

 

eibach sport line. soon will be sporting konis sports. my kybs are shot !

 

Damn that purple 91 RS is a bit too low for my taste! must bottom out on everything no?

 

Pro kit:

 

VERY nice, IROCThe5.7, but why in the world don't you shine that car up a bit .

JamesC

 

you cut your sportlines? it sits really nice.

 

Spohn coil over kit (275 lb springs 12") and cut nnl springs in the rear.. Since the pic I've raised the front just a hair to make the car more level. That and I needed the clearance for the mufflex 3" y pipe that goes around the spohn torque arm and x-member.

 

Here is mine... Intrax springs with KYBs all the way around. Coilovers go on this upcoming winter, 19s go on in one month. Will repost pics after the rims arrive.

 

Dropzones here and they get the job done

 

My latest one, it has Eibach Sport Lines. Needs a little meatier tiers, especialy on the back.

 

 

I've had Eibachs on my other cars and I'm always a bit leary. The quality is always nice, but the spring rates can be way off. I had the ProKit on my '93 Beretta GTZ; The ride was still decent but the drop wasn't as much as I wanted. I bought Sportlines for my '04 SRT-4 and it was too low and bounced like crazy. I had to switch back to stock.

After that experience, I'm leaning more towards the ProKit, but don't want to be disappointed with the drop.

Who knows.

 

I don't necessarily think it looks Honda, but there is something about the look of the drop that can only be described (by me) as "uncomfortable". It looks like it'd scrape everywhere and bounce your fillings out.

Don't get me wrong, its a ThirdGen, so I dig it; just my $.02.

 

OK so as a new owner of a third gen with a stock stance this thread is great but USELESS Without everyones tire size!!! How am I suppose to know what my wheels will look like without knowing what size tire is on your car? LOL oh by the way all the lowerd cars look SICK!!

 

And all tat is why my Ground Control Weight Jacks are so nice. Ride height & spring stiffness are 2 separate things. I get the stiffness I want, then adjust the ride height to where *I* want it, not where the manufacturer decides where it will be.

And if I decide to go higher or lower? That is just a turn of a wrench away. If I want stiffer or softer springs? Only $55/each, so I can buy just fronts or rears & not a full set.

 

15x4 26 x 7.5-15 Sportsmans up front and 15x10 275/60/15 Mickey Thompsons in back.

 

Well I can see where dome
people don't want to make it into the 21st century I mean ok the 22's are pretty ghetto but not sure when the Kay time you were at a dealership but most sport cars now have 20's stock. I digress back to topic anyone lowered on 20's? Nevermind the 22's doh!

 

question, how low can you go before you need to buy struts/shocks/panhardbar ?

 

My 87 GTA coulda used an adjustable panhard bar at stock height.....Some people are fine lowered. A lot of that depends on how tight you want the wheels to fit....Like me stuffing 315s on 11s completely under the fenders. I HAD to get an adjustable panhard bar.

I'm lowered about 2" & my shocks & struts don't bottom out at all. I've never HAD to replace the shocks or struts after lowering.

You don't HAVE to replace any of that when lowering a 3rd gen.

 

Ok, I just bought cut springs (640lbs) and stock iroc springs i think are rated at 650lbs. the stockers im going to use for a higher rate later down the road and throwing on the cut ones that were on another guys autocross car. I have unknown Bilsteins in the back they are old lookin, and unknown struts in the front but they are pretty stiff, i should be ok with the cut ones right? they are not a huge drop. Im ordering koni yellows this week so its until i get them i wanna toss them on. Btw your car looks WICKED

 

Ground Control suspension setup at full drop.

 

That does not mean anything if their on newer cars, those cars are a different style and body then what our third gens are. Put 17/18's on them and watch them look out of place or plain out bad. Point is, the magic size for our cars are 15/16/17's. Some can pull it off with bigger wheels but that is going over the line of flashyness vs good design.

 

and the newer sportscars are freaking tanks that dwarf the 3rd gen, hence the larger wheels. the tires are usually 28"+ in diameter. 3rd gen uses 26" tires.

20's can be done and look fine, but it has a lot to do with the style wheel and what tire is used, never seen anything larger that looks right. the ride quality is pretty bad with a wheel that larger with such a thin tire

 

Anyway, my suspension is stock at the moment with cut springs, and my wheel/tire combo is below:

Wheels
15x8.5" (rear)
15x4" (front)

Tires
265/50/15 (rear)
165/R15 (front)

 

I agree

 

how does this car ride after this?? my 83 z28 has the iroc springs and its sets like a s10 pick up i could run 31's lol. i love the look of ur car.

 

Thanks for the compliment bud! Surprisingly enough it doesn't ride all that bad. It felt a little stiff at first, but I got use to it within minutes of driving it around. (I don't even notice it anymore)

If it was my only car I may not have gone that low,....but since it's not, I decided to go ahead and drop it. Basically I just go over speed bumbs a little slower and pull into driveways at an angle. I don't think that's too much of a sacrifice for having a bitchin lookin ride. Well, semi/bitchin lookin anyway.....I still need to paint it black after I put my cowl scoop on.

 

I dropped mine 2 inches from stock worn out springs.. It does have a little bit of a rake, aswell.. I gotta get some new pics..

 

ok so with a 27 inch tall tire to be exact how many coils are cut from the stock springs?

 

Also for all the old timers who are not sure what that purple car is heres an explanation. Once again an explanation not my taste or would I ever drive one. Those are called DONKS...They get the name from donkey kong as in "really big" they get big lifts and wheels. THe wheels int he pics I think are lexani's and they only come in 27's So those are presumably 27's with a monster ish 4 inch lift. They only lift the car to get the bigger wheels to fit. It defenitely looks silly but it is not cheap so dont mistake poor tase or bad looks for CHEAP lol.... Anyhow the original thread dudes car looks sick with 15's and I actually think its sorta hard looking. That is a good thing as for me I will be putting the 20 inch irocs on my new 3rd gen and lowering after I put the wheels on. I was hoping to get a meatier sidewall but price is envolved so a 35 series will have to do hence the 27 inch tall tire. THanks guys

 

r1, that pic of the blue convertible you posted does not have an LS1. Your thinking of a different blue convertible.

 

Are you ridin on stock struts and shocks??? panhard bar or anything? if not im tossing on my cut springs!!!!!

 

Sorry meant to reply to this one where its lower