Since I will heading down to my dads house this weekend, he has more tools than "Tim the Tool Man Taylor", I may cut my rears. Since I put my new rims/tires on, the rear gap is bugging me more and more. The front I think is fine. I will be using an air-powered carbide cut-off wheel so it won't take long to cut at all, but, I'll put them in water while cutting just to be safe.
If I do this, I'll take plenty of pics of the whole process and post my results and impressions next week.
jeff

 

COOL!

 

You should be able to cut the spring with a carbide bit in about 10-15 seconds. I'd still take a break or two in between and dunk the spring... can never be too careful. But the quicker you cut them (i.e. with a stronger cut-off heel) the less hot they'll get. Good luck and can't wait to see some pics.

 

Thanks again for all of your input.

I was wondering if a bump-steer kit is needed if your car is only lowered a little. I do want to lower the front along with the back, so I am just making sure I get everything needed order at the same time.

 

Sorry guys,
Things didn't work-out as planned. I didn't even get to drive my car from sat until coming to work this am! Wife and family had other plans for the week-end :bang:
Hopefully, later this week or this coming weekend, but I will be doing it.
jeff

 

Well, I finally got around to cutting mine (I actually bought some of Ebay for $40 and cut them). After reading the boards here, it was actually a very simple procedure. Here are some pics for those interested.

I did notice it is a little stiffer, but that was expected. I was experiencing the popping prior to mod, but that is gone now.

 

How much did you cut? Was it 1 full coil? how much did it drop?

 

I cut exactly 1 coil off the fronts, and exactly 2 off the back.

It lowered it just under 1" in the front and 1.5" in the back. Now the gaps between the tires and the fenders are equal all the way around. The whole procedure was actually quite simple, took my around 3 hours, but I did a lot of cleaning and looking while I was under there.

 

I picked up a spare set of springs on Ebay and cut just the rears this weekend. Leveled the car out perfectly. Thanks to all here that offered advice and assistance, the project went very smooth. My neighbor came over to see why my stang was up on jack stands... he wants to do his too!

 

I just want to chime in with my update. I cut my REAR springs a while ago (you can search for the post), and I've had no problems. (I have no idea where the pics are, probably lost forever.)

I used an air powered cut off tool, and poured water over the coil a couple times while cutting, but it only took about 10 seconds to cut through. I also painted the end of the coil to avoid rust. I removed one coil and it dropped 3/4".

I actually have before and after alignment specs:

FRONT
Before -- Toe: 0 degrees
Camber: -.8 degrees
Caster: 6.8 degrees

After -- Toe: .11 degrees (WTF? This should not have changed that way!
I'm not sure what happened, sensor was mounted
wrong perhaps, but the steering does seem different)
Camber: -.8 degrees (no change)
Caster: 7.1 degrees (.3 change, still within specs)

REAR
Only change was in "thrust angle." The rear is pointing slightly more off center than it was. This also seems to have moved the steering wheel ever so slightly off center. The measurement may be inaccurate however, either way, I will be installing an adjustable panard bar in a week or two to center the rear end.

 

This may be a stupid question but, here goes. When replace the fronts where is the best place to set the jack stand? I used the little tab on the control arm when I painted the calipers. I thought that position might not allow the spindle to move while doing the fronts.

Never mind had a brain fart figured it out.

 

Wow ... I see this post has been going on for a while. For those interested in some technical comments that follow, read on, else go to another topic.

cutting coils - even when done with a torch, the effect is very localized and limited to the cut. This area is hardly stressed at all because of where it is in the seat pocket. I would not get to worried about it.

clamps - these pull the car down to get the effect. Creates a non linear (and not progressive) spring rate. Not recommended ... but alright if you do not care about the other aspects of a tuned suspension.

spring rate - the coil spring rate is indirectly related to the number active coils (i.e. those that are not touching each other). As an example, assume there are 10 active coils with the spring installed and loaded (rubber on the ground). If one coil is cut, then the approximate spring rate will be (10 / (10-1)) -1) x 100 = 11% stiffer. (25% stiffer for two coils less).

alignment - has been pretty well covered - caster impact is minimal and probably improves turning camber of the outside wheel. toe should be looked at and possibly corrected ... it will change.

bump steer kit - probably needed with or without a lowering job, but requirements to reduce bump steer will be different if car is lowered than not. The Steeda kit is with their spring kit and with their repositioned lower a-arm pivot kit I would bet.

car balance - for those who appreciate this, if the front rate and rear rate are not proportionally changed (rough rule of thumb here), roll stiffness will shift forward or backward depending on the spring stiffness distribution front to rear (front roll center movement affects the front roll stiffness of the suspension and moves when you lower the car ... front McPhearson strut setups tend to front lower roll center when you lower chassis and reduce the front roll stifness component provided by the suspension) ... this will all collectively either increase or reduce understeer. An engineered spring kit, though more expensive, is more likely to take that into account and help maintain better balance. Having not looked at the number of coils on the front and rear springs of this car, I can't comment right now what the impact of cutting one off the front and two off the rear ... but you now have a tool (formula above) to examine that to see where that puts you.

 

Just looking around, ..... I see a lot of mention of pictures ..... but not a single picture in this thread?

Guess pictures die after awhile?

 

After 8 years or so I would imagine.

 

Yeah, I guess .... but .... ALL of them?

 

I think they lost a lot of info when the site crashed years ago. Someone may be able to explain better.

 

OH, it crashed once huh?

I'm good though, I really don't need pics. I was just browsing and found it curious that all the pics were dead.