I have decided to drop the front end of my car 2 inches. Do you cut the top or bottom of the coil spring? Anything else to look out for when performing this operation?

I assume you have to have a front end alignment done after the cut.

Mike

If you can, cut one coil off at a time. Two coils off will probably be too much and literaly put your car on the ground.
I'd cut the bottom end. {correction- top end}

If you cut less than a coil it will be hard to make the spring stay put in the lower arm when pulling it up. And the way the spring sits in the pocket, if you cut less than the first coil off, you can see the first coil sets on the pocket most of the way around and cutting some of the spring off there would not do anything.
The second coil would make much more difference in height as it is not flattened as the first coil is.

Yes, do the alignment over. Use the Guldstrand specs on my page.
David

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Check my web page for suspension info:
David's Homepage (http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/David_Pozzi/)
67 RS 327
69 Camaro Vintage Racer
65 Lola T-70 Can Am Vintage Racer



[This message has been edited by davidpozzi (edited 07-22-2000).]

OK David, http://www.camaros.net/forum/wink.gif

If you cut the bottom of the spring it will not sit flush in the spring pocket if you align the spring in the upper pocket.

In other words: Cut the bottom, insert the spring into the upper pocket, the end of the bottom spring does not fit into it's recess.

If you cut a 1/2 coil off the bottom this would cause the end of the spring to rest 180 deg away from the normal recess that the spring end rests in.

Would this cause the ride height to actually increase? I found out the hard way. It did.

Guldstrand reccomended to cut the top of the spring and have the lower spring rest correctly in the recess.

Maybe the only really good way to deal with this issue is to use a spring with one side ground flat and use a Landrum adjuster. The whole enchilada is only $200 and you have infinate front ride height adjustment.

Carl

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Click here to see see my car and hear 5-speeds. http://www.geocities.com/casanoc

Carl,
You are absolutely right, I got it backwards. Put the cut end on the top.
Both pockets are pretty much the same but you can see the lower one better and keep it aligned.

You need to keep one end stock and seated where the register hole is located. The other end is up for grabs.

I like the landrum adjuster with shorter spring setup. I'm going to try it on my Camaro and I'll let you know how it works.

I'm trying to figure out a way that I can make it adjustable when it's still in the car so I don't have to break the ball joint to adjust it.
David

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Check my web page for suspension info:
David's Homepage (http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/David_Pozzi/)
67 RS 327
69 Camaro Vintage Racer
65 Lola T-70 Can Am Vintage Racer

Guys'

When I was installing my front springs and got wore out doing it due to the heat, I noticed that the front coil springs have to be cut so that they register in their correct "pockets" top & bottom or they won't sit right. Of course, you can grind one end tapered but that would be alot of grinding.

This means cutting a coil at a time if the springs do indeed sit correctly in the pockets new. I figure that when I cut mine after my Big block is installed that if I need to, I will use spring pocket rubber shims to adjust ride height if I cut too much off because of having to cut a coil at a time. pdq67

pdq67,
My friend tried to cut part of a coil off and did it, but put a plastic spacer under the cut end and split the spacer.
Try the spacer under the good end.

It's really hard to cut less than a full coil and make it work. I'd rather cut a full coil off and bend the end a little.

I think the adjustable spacer is cool, but I'd like to be able to adjust it by just jacking the car up and somehow turning it.
I'm still scratching my head over it.

I wouldn't mind doing a nascar type adjuster through the shock hole but I'd have to move the shock and There is no room.
David

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Check my web page for suspension info:
David's Homepage (http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/David_Pozzi/)
67 RS 327
69 Camaro Vintage Racer
65 Lola T-70 Can Am Vintage Racer

I cut one full coil off stock replacements - they fit right back in and dropped the car 2". Two coils is way too much.

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Scott
'69 400SB, Richmond 5-speed; '99 HD Road King Classic
www.geocities.com/sdenning1 (http://www.geocities.com/sdenning1)

Have you guys considered that by cutting coils you are also increasing the spring rate thereby also increasing roll stiffness, i.e. a harsher ride. If I remember correctly with all things being equal, each coil cut adds ~25% to your spring rate in addition to lowering the ride height.
I have used the coil spring adjusters before and are a pain in the @$$ setting them up since you have to break the lower ball loose each time you have to adjust it.
An alternative as Mr. Pozzi had mentioned would be to convert to a weight jack otherwise known as the "NASCAR" Style. True relocating the shock is mandatory but its a small price to pay.
In my humble opinion, the best and in the long run cheapest way to go is to buy new springs. AFCO (http://www.afcoracing.com/), IMO, has the best coil springs out there. Check out their line of hobby stock springs and I'm sure your find something that will fit your application.

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Robert Yates for President!!

To get an approximation of how much a coil spring will change in "spring rate" try;

Coil spring rate (K) =WxWxWxWxG/8xNxDxDxD

Where W = Wire diameter, G = 12,000,000, N = Number of active coils and D = Inside diameter of the spring + wire diameter (i.e. the mean diameter of the spring)

I calculate backwards first to find out what N is for a given spring rate (K), then start subtracting cut coils from N and solving for (K) by setting it as my unknown value.

This just an approximation and you must be accurate on the W and D measurements. pdq67

what about using adjustable coil overs? i have heard its expensive, but a good way to get infinite ride height adjustment??? anyone here use those? im about to redo my 68 conv front susp, and i want it low!

I cut mine last winter, one full coil. I then clamped the spring in a vise, heated it up, and beat the cut end flat, like it used to be. No, the heat didn't hurt the spring, got all soaked up in the vise, the rest of the spring didn't get hot. The nose fell a little over 2 inches. The 235-60-15's are just inside the fender lip. Definitely no more, it would be too low.