How to lower the front?Without springs?
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How to lower the front?Without springs?
Is there any way I can lower my front just a little a cheap way without changing the springs and shocks. I know you can do the rubber hose trick on the back.
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Originally Posted by 99Transamls1
Is there any way I can lower my front just a little a cheap way without changing the springs and shocks. I know you can do the rubber hose trick on the back.
I'm totally kidding by the way, please don't do that...
After recently doing my own suspension, short of cutting your springs or torching them, I'm fairly sure there is no trick to lower the front end on the cheap.
Someone feel free to correct me if wrong.
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Keeping with Bobo's theme... Some of these lead bricks should do the trick! 50lbs each!
But seriously, the only thing that I could possibly think of, without changing the springs or shocks, would be to *somehow* modify the lower spring pearch, but I've never heard of anyone doing that. But now that I think of it, maybe it could be flipped upside-down, cut & welded... That'd be a lot of effort for something that'd probably turn out to be too low & unsafe.
But seriously, the only thing that I could possibly think of, without changing the springs or shocks, would be to *somehow* modify the lower spring pearch, but I've never heard of anyone doing that. But now that I think of it, maybe it could be flipped upside-down, cut & welded... That'd be a lot of effort for something that'd probably turn out to be too low & unsafe.
#4
There is no real way to do it on the stock shock and spring setup that will work correctly.
If you want to keep the stock springs the Koni single adjustable shocks have a dual spring perch built into them that allows you to lower the car 3/4" of a inch. That is the only way other than lowersprings.
If you want to keep the stock springs the Koni single adjustable shocks have a dual spring perch built into them that allows you to lower the car 3/4" of a inch. That is the only way other than lowersprings.
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Put a lot of weight on the front and torch em til they're red, then keep the weight on there until they cool completely. And NO spraying them with water to cool them faster, you'll ruin them for sure. You might need new shocks after doing this lol. Just in case.....I'm kidding also.
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Originally Posted by 99Transamls1
It would be cheaper to just get shocks and springs because then I would have to feed them
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lol @ the torch.
Obviously you know about the perch mod on Koni S/A...1/2" lower.
You can *experiment* cutting coils, but it's risky unless you pick up a spare set of springs to try it out on. Who knows how much you would have to cut for how much drop.
Obviously you know about the perch mod on Koni S/A...1/2" lower.
You can *experiment* cutting coils, but it's risky unless you pick up a spare set of springs to try it out on. Who knows how much you would have to cut for how much drop.
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You can do it on the car. Just extend the suspension and get a spring compressor to take the tension off. Then I would take a cutoff wheel and trim 1/4 coil off the bottom of the front spring. Then rotate the hard plastic cup on the bottom to the new position. Take the spring compressor off and lower the car to see how it looks. Just cut a little at a time if you need to cut more.
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If you want a real answer to your question there are a few ways without changing the springs. I just have to think outside the box.
1 fabricate your own drop spindles
2 alter the upper shock/spring mount
3 alter the lower control arm shock mount
4 this is the most likely way. Remove the shock and have a new notch cut in the body slightly lower to hold the snap ring. This is how Koni and the DeCarbon shocks do it. You would probably need to have the shocks mounted in a lathe. A machine shop could do this work for you. The black spring cup is a very tight fit over the clip that keeps it from expanding and the spring from sliding down. Here's what the stock clip looks like.
Here are my Koni SA's and the two notches they are famous for.
Keep in mind a notch 1" lower will actually lower the car 1 3/4" as they are not in perfect sync. There is whats called a motion ratio. The 4th gen F-body has a 1.7 motion ratio. So if you want a 1" drop you would need to have the new notch cut 0.6" or 5/8" lower.
Again, keep in mind the stock shocks are bloody horrible. If I were going to go through all the work of taking them apart a would just replace them with better units. It may be possible to compress the spring on the car and tap the spring cup up and then take a special cutting tool and slowly rotate it around the shock body cutting into it slowly each pass. I might have seen a tool like that, but I can't remember.
1 fabricate your own drop spindles
2 alter the upper shock/spring mount
3 alter the lower control arm shock mount
4 this is the most likely way. Remove the shock and have a new notch cut in the body slightly lower to hold the snap ring. This is how Koni and the DeCarbon shocks do it. You would probably need to have the shocks mounted in a lathe. A machine shop could do this work for you. The black spring cup is a very tight fit over the clip that keeps it from expanding and the spring from sliding down. Here's what the stock clip looks like.
Here are my Koni SA's and the two notches they are famous for.
Keep in mind a notch 1" lower will actually lower the car 1 3/4" as they are not in perfect sync. There is whats called a motion ratio. The 4th gen F-body has a 1.7 motion ratio. So if you want a 1" drop you would need to have the new notch cut 0.6" or 5/8" lower.
Again, keep in mind the stock shocks are bloody horrible. If I were going to go through all the work of taking them apart a would just replace them with better units. It may be possible to compress the spring on the car and tap the spring cup up and then take a special cutting tool and slowly rotate it around the shock body cutting into it slowly each pass. I might have seen a tool like that, but I can't remember.
Last edited by JasonWW; 04-15-2007 at 10:30 PM.