Hey guys I had recently had bought some sport lines from a buddy of mine and put the front ones on last night. once I put the car back down on the tires it seems like the car actually became lifted. My question is could I have put them on wrong? I know that the thicker ones go up front and the the spring is supposed to sit in a pocket in the control arm. I just feel like there's something I'm doing wrong for the sport lines to be so high

 

This happens all the time.

"Lower"ing is a comparative concept. Which is to say, you are COMPARING what the new springs do, to SOMETHING else. They are "lower" than .... SOMETHING.

Question of course is, what is that SOMETHING.

In this case, it would be, what stock springs were like WHEN NEW. Not, whatever YOUR particular destroyed used-up old smoked ones might happen to however be at the moment.

See the pics in this link for what "lower"ing springs are COMPARING THEMSELVES TO.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/hist...od-1986-a.html

Whether these alleged "lower"ing springs will make the car any "lower" than some old wore-out, sagging, crushed to death, no-rate-left, garbage stockers, with Lord only knows how many miles on em and how many of those were with bad shocks making em bend back and forth 50 times more than they're supposed to (go bend a coat hanger wire back and forth a half-million times and see what effect that has on it, for a point of reference), 20-some maybe 30 years after they were made, is anybody's guess.

Bottom line is, at this point, they are what they are. Make sure they're indexed right and from there it's just a matter of how trashed your old ones were compared to how .... new ... these new ones are.

 

Double check to see if they are indexed correctly. That info is in a lot of threads on here. Your old springs would really have to be saggin' for sportlines to raise your car but it's not impossible. Old springs may have been cut down, hard to tell whats been done in an old cars life. I always thought the front of my 69 sat high, one day i met the previous-previous owner and he told me that it has big block springs in it.

 

Tell us how high the car is from ground to the center of the wheel well.

 

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I'm reading that you jacked up the car and then set it down again? Roll the car around a little to settle the suspension. Tire scrub is keeping it from settling.

 

I made sure they were indexed correctly twice. The original springs werent cut either, my father had owned it since 85 but never put aftermarket parts on it. When I took the old ones out the sportlines were noticeably shorter than the stock ones. Almost about two inches

 

Sounds like your old wore-out stockers were even weeeeeker than usual... as usual.

SOmetimes that's just the way the cookie crumbles. "Lower"ing springs aren't necessarily "lower" than every possible alternative.

But, being shorter when unloaded and yet longer when loaded, they obviously have a MUCH higher rate (force required to compress them a given distance, as in lbs/inch) than the trashed-out smoked wasted stock junk that was in there before. Should ride ALOT better. Like, not hit the bump stops so much.

 

I replaced my front springs with Moogs. It lifted the car abnormally 3-4". This was because the top of the spring wasnt in the K-member all the way.

Look under the car with a flash light in order to make sure the top of the spring is sitting in the K-member corrrectly. If it sits in there funny it can possibly lift the car a little, or alot.

 

^^He speaks the truth. Report back after the car has been driven. I bet it will have settled by then.