Have a 89 GTA i want to lower without dumping a bunch of coin into. Wondering what people's opinions are of this method. Have heard to do it "right" i'd be looking @ over a grand just for parts.

 

IMO You'll have to put stronger shocks on it eather way to keep the car from bouncing. Might as well spend the extra $300 or so on springs that you know will drop the car X". Less work too since you'll put them in once instead of pulling out and back in repeatedly cutting the spring bit by bit to get the right hight. But I guess that depends on how low you want to go. AFIK the most drop available from an off the shelf spring is 2".

 

I cut a 1/2 coil from the stock front springs on my 91 Z28 and 1/3 coil on the rear springs to get the stance I wanted. I didn't measure before and after but I would estimate about a 1 1/2in drop. Enough to be noticable but not enough that its bottoming out all the time. I also removed the rear isolators and replaced them with a piece of heater hose. Be sure not to heat the spring when cutting(no cutting torch), I used a pneumatic cut off wheel.

Its always a good idea to upgrade to a high quality shock/struts when lowered and get an adjustable panhard bar to center the rear end. I'm still running what ever struts were on the car when I bought it, but I do plan on upgrading to a better shock/struts later. I don't have any problems bottoming out but I don't normally drive it hard. I did have to adjust my panhard bar slightly to get the rear perfectly centered.

 

Thanx. A lot of good info there. Didn't think about the rear axle needing to be centered.

 

^ Great advice. Drop in springs are only like $200 plus shipping... the money is in upgrading struts and shocks, solid strut mounts, bump stops, adjustable panhard bar, and LCARB's to get the geometry back to how it should be and making everything work smoothly. If you don't get the spring hot and don't mind taking it apart and putting it back together until you get it right, cutting is a decent method. However, cutting a linear spring does not make the rate go up, whereas some aftermarket springs will have better rates to back up the drop... and aftermarket springs also have predetermined estimates for drop heights so all you have to do is search to get a rough idea of the stance your car will have.

If you do cut them, make sure you cut the exact same amount on each side and index them properly so you don't make things uneven and throw your x-weights or end up with one side slightly off. At the end of the day though, your rear geometry will still need fixed and your handling may suffer from being underdamped at those ride heights unless you ante up the coin to fix all of it.

 

I cut the springs on my 89 trans am, very close to a GTA. I think I cut Off 1 1/2 coils off the soft side of the spring. Ride height is nice and it still rides nice. I still have the stock panhard bar on so the rear sits a lil bit to one side. still cant tell. Suspension is still all stock for that matter except shocks. people are gonna flame this, But I look at it like this, If chop Foose will cut a spring to get the stance right, I'm gonna do it too. So in short I like it, made it ride a lil bit more stiff, but I like that.

 

Thanx. 1 1/2 coils is what some other folks were talkin also. Haven't noticed any unusual tire wear have ya? Also, who is chop Foose?

 

I think that's Chip's evil twin brother

 

Lol. Yeah. Just Googled who he is. Talk about a dream career.

 

chip foose is one of the most talented people I've ever seen , weather its drawering cars to building a car completly from scratch , ever heard of the show overhaulin? and he loves to lower cars by cutting springs.

 

I got new Moog HD springs, cut 1/2 coil off front, rears were new hd and were progressive rate, cut 2 coils off the tops of them, and removed the isolator.

225/45/17 front, 26"x10.5/17 rear tires in this pic.

 

Nice ride! Luv that paint. That height is just what i'm lookin for.

 

I'd be interested to know what the part numbers were on the springs. I have the 5664's and have cut a whole coil off and mine is nowhere near that low. What accessories do you have up front?

 

5662s front
635v rear

 

In that pic, the car had a L98 engine with a Stealth Ram, headers, no smog pump, but with complete AC system.
Fiberglass hood.

 

nice.

 

you use any other parts to lower your car besides the springs?? Adj Panhard?? lca's?

 

In the rear I have adjustable control arms and panhard, with rod ends.

Poly bushings in front, and trimmed to fit poly bumpstops.

 

So you did away with the isolator all together and the heater hose slides over the spring so you don't have metal on metal? How much hose do i need? Im hoping for a two inch drop. Will cutting a full coil and removing the isolator get me there?

 

Yes, no isolators, about 6" of hose.

What springs are you cutting? The original ones?

 

Yes. Cutting the original stock springs. Just removed them today. Thanx.

 

The way those isolators are notched to hold the spring makes me wonder what's to keep the spring from moving around after the isolator is removed?

 

What shocks did you go with?

 

Started with kyb gr-2, just got some bilstiens for the rear, and will be getting some for the front soon.

 

The A-arm and K-member are both notched to a degree, you won't have any problems. For cutting I have heard that cutting a coil by thirds is the best way to do it. so you would cut 1/3 or 2/3 or one whole coil.

 

Howd the kyb' hold up? Found some gr2s on the summit site for just $23 each. Sound like the same ones?

 

I never put much mikes on them, but seemed fine. Fronts have less then 50 Mikes on them.
Price sounds right for rears.
I'll be selling my fronts in a couple weeks.

they are decent for the money, IMO.

 

I might be interested if they would fit a 89 gta. Send me the part# if you have it and how much you want for them.