pjb

iTrader: (2)

I understand, but if you have the same car and the same springs, the amount of drop by removing the isolator should always be the same (the thickness of the isolator minus the thickness of the hose). Assuming the isolators are molded the same it should be a consistant size. I get 1/2" of drop by doing the hose mod.

hitmanws6

iTrader: (20)

i didnt measure my drop but as you can tell there definitely was one. as for the amount of drop that i said you would get, i was going off of what i had read from everyone that did it. the most i read was a 3/4" drop, the least was 1/4"

jrob56

iTrader: (39)

wow this is that easy, ill be doing this when i go to throw my new wheels and DRs on in the spring. ill try to remember and measure from the ground to the center of the wheel well and report back.

in response to why you get different drops, i could hand 5 people a board and tell them to measure it and there is a chance id get more than one answer...not the case with everyone but some people dont pay that close attention...

Bad_Karma

anyone have some good pics of this before and after drop on a car with 315s?

my cuz has some ws6 springs and i was thinking of doing this and leaving the eibachs on the front and doing the hose mod on the rear...just want an idea if its going to look decent or not

my car is a 2000 ss btw i see the trans am in the first post but was kinda looking for a camaro pic

hitmanws6

iTrader: (20)

it also has to do with springs. LS1 springs are taller than LT1/V6 springs

hitmanws6

iTrader: (20)

search on here for it, i know there are pics of a camaro with this mod done to it

pjb

iTrader: (2)

it has nothing to do with the springs, if you're putting the SAME springs back on the car. the ONLY change is the removal of the rubber isolator and adding the hose. if all the isolators are molded the same and heater hose has the same thickness, it should be a consistent drop everytime. of course there could be slight variances in manufacturing, and if the coil spring is not positioned properly inside the isolator from the factory it could sit much higher from the start. I've found that you can rotate the position of the rear spring, even with the hose mod, and cause a change in ride height.

hitmanws6

iTrader: (20)

right. i guess i worded it wrong. what i mean is that a lot of times when LS1 owners do this the results arent exactly what they want. the drop from car to car will be consistent but the level the car sits at will always be higher on LS1s vs LT1s/V6s. this is due to the springs being taller.

lil-bit

this may be a dumb question but when you buy front springs and stay with the stock shocks you have to have someone install the shock inside the spring? i would assume since the spring is not compressed??

KurtRardin

iTrader: (11)

To replace the front springs you're going to have to remove the front shocks completely. The springs will be compressed around the shock... sort of. If you're lucky and the shock bolt didn't rust so bad that you have to completely mangle/destroy the shock just to remove the spring then all you're looking at is a simple "compress spring - remove nut - decompress spring" type of job. Then reverse the process.

To be honest with you though, if your experience with removing the front shocks goes anything like mine then there is pretty much no way that you could go about re-using the stock shocks. They were so badly rusted that NASA scientists couldn't have removed the spring without damaging the shock. My car had about 135k miles without any extreme weather events in its life. The rust was so severe that I had to wonder how it was all still functioning. The only way that I could even remove the spring was to hack it in half with a saw, because the nut on top was done. I spent about an hour with a vice/hammer/chissel and finally got the nut to give up the ghost. Needless to say the stock shocks saw more air than the General Lee ever did after I retrieved the coil spring.

Good luck...

Red Orange 96

iTrader: (2)

my two cents: Just completed this mod today. Car sits on stock springs w/koni SA 4/4's.

I was happy the way the front stance appeared but the rear seemed jacked up. After the hose mod, (used this thread & a haynes manual for reference) car sits dead even w/my measurements. I couldnt be happier & it took barely over an hour to do.

Def. use penetrating oil to help coil the hose
Have extra hose as i cut 1 too short
I had to remove the bottom shock nut to get the springs out (DO NOT remove 1 shock out of its mount before loosening the other side) i found out the hard way
UPDATE: my rear was not centered after this mod; could have been that way from the factory or from the drop, but the double adjustable panhard took care of it easily. btw it was off almost three quarters of an inch.

On a side note....I had a pair of ws6/1le rear springs laying around. Figured i'd throw them in to see how they handled. Well the stock springs are back in. I have a 22mm rear bar & adding the stiffer, variable rate spring ruined the handling imo.

SURPRYZ

Great article, I will have to see about doing this mod as well. Thanks OP.

hitmanws6

iTrader: (20)

glad to see you had similar results to me, mine sits dead even as well

hitmanws6

iTrader: (20)

do it, you wont regret it

hlaalu

iTrader: (3)

anyone ever try this but kept the isolators in as well? I'm putting new springs/shocks in and want to keep the rear a little bit higher than the front.

hitmanws6

iTrader: (20)

if you do that then you do not do the heater hose mod, you just wrap the top of the spring in rubber hose. the point of this mod is to lower the car.

Stuinkuwait

iTrader: (3)

adding the hose to the spring with the isolator would add the 1/8 inch or maybe a 1/4 inch. I dont know that it would be worth the effort to get that minimal of a raise of the back of the car. It would definately raise the rear at least a little bit. Perhaps thats all you need.

hlaalu

iTrader: (3)

Well I was thinking of adding the hose to the bottom of the spring, where it sits on the rear end, good or bad idea? The springs I'm going to put on are a 1.2" drop all around, but I would like the rear to sit slightly higher than the front.

Red Orange 96

iTrader: (2)

hey just want to add in here. i completed this mod about a month ago. formula has koni 4/4's on stock springs. the front shock coil spring perch was on the upper notch.

First time out on the highway the car felt very unstable and pretty loose. This same car i took to 140mph last year & wanted to go faster. I had a tire balancing issue w/the summer wheels&tires, so i had them rebalanced. nope still there. Are my front shocks dialed in the same setting? Yup.

Looked at some pictures of the ride height from the isolater in/koni set up from before & there is a slight rake downward, rear to front.

ok. Stared at ride height w/just the isolators removed & its dead even like i mentioned in an earlier post. hmm that Can't be right.?

did some searching around here &didnt really find much. Figured it was a good chance the front shocks not being on the lower perch was causing my problem. Well, I'm convinced it was the problem. They sit on the lower perch today w/a new alignment to b safe, &its confidence is very well back. Maybe im the dummy for not thinking of this when i dropped the rear but i assumed the drop wouldn't be enough to change anything. Can't say what would happen on stock shocks but maybe koni's pronounce it more.?

UPDATE: although this action did *seem* to improve handling, the underlying problem was a defective front shock. Regardless, look's wise the car stands much better with koni's on the lower perch & the hose mod out back. I now think that the rear drop only will not degrade handling much.

RrCoX22

iTrader: (6)

any particular negatives to this suspension geometry wise or change with pinion angle. I figure 1/2" isn't enough to cause problems, I'm taking it's more of a "looks" thing but in a sense, slightly helping lower the rear's center of gravity.