Cutting stock front springs....Revisited

[JaySHOguy]

I know we've been over this before, but here we go:
I am not happy with how high my '89 sits in the front. The back sits perfect with the Moog cargo coils, but I need to drop the front. It's even worse now since I installed a set of 18's

If you were to cut the stock front coils, you would have to take the coil off of the top as the base of the spring is much narrower to fit into the strut housing.
But, if you cut the spring, it no longer has the proper "flat" section to seat itself in the Upper strut mount. Would this cause a big problem, or would it just seat itself anyway?

I remember reading a site a long time ago about a guy cutting the front coils on all of his SHO's and not having a problem....

I just want to get rid of most of the 3" wheelgap I have, without buying a new set of springs. If I bought a new set, I would be wasting the rears as I don't want to lower the back at all.

Input would be appreciated, fellas.

 

[turbo2.3]

the thing to do is after you cut a coil off the top, heat the top of the remaining spring, then flip it over and push down on it to flatten it out. if you are going to just looks, cutting 1 coil out of your springs will not hurt anything.

 

[Mels]

Wouldn't the heat ruin the springs' temper in that area?

 

[Tmade]

HEHEHEHE I love the caption under your Avatar.
lol lol lol
I have that same issue on my front ones with my 17"s.
Hopefully mine will be gone by this weekend....having Performance Plus put on some Eibachs!!!
T

 

[SHOZ123]

I had some custom front springs made for my Gen 3 this summer. After all the hassle if I were to do it again I would just cut them instead.

The heat will ruin the temper in the flatten part of the spring but it is not offering any "spring" where it is at the bottom.

 

[turbo2.3]

It will change the characteristics of the spring a bit (like decreasing spring load) but as long as you are not going wild and cutting out 5 coils, you should be fine. I plan on cutting a coil out of mine instead of forking out the money for new springs, as my XR4Ti takes all my money right now.

 

[K-Dawg]

You'll want to install at least the KYBs with the cut springs.

You can get another 1/2" or so drop by raising the knuckle on the strut.

 

[JaySHOguy]

K-Dawg:
You'll want to install at least the KYBs with the cut springs.

You can get another 1/2" or so drop by raising the knuckle on the strut.

My KYB's are sitting in the garage, waiting to be installed. I may have a line on some used Eibachs, but we shall see. I DO have a spare set of stock springs I could practice on, though
Thanks for the input so far. Much better this time around than last headbang

 

[SHO92]

Why not just lower the strut in the knuckle? It will be a lot less work, and you don't have to worry about the crappy ride that the cut springs could give you.

 

[MOSHO92]

SHO92:
Why not just lower the strut in the knuckle? It will be a lot less work, and you don't have to worry about the crappy ride that the cut springs could give you.

How would one go about lowering the strut on the knuckle? I thought they bolt in and thats that. I would love to lower the front hight another .5 inch or so. It seems like the Eibachs did nothing to lower it at all.

 

[NotSoSlowSHO]

Im interested in the procedure as well.

Anyone have a write-up? What does it involve?

 

[K-Dawg]

Loosen the pinch bolt, cut off the tab, and slide it up as far as you want. Oh, and be sure to put on a new pinch bolt and tighten it. Just have to watch tire clearance on the spring perch and more importantly, clearance between the strut and CV axle. This will increase negative camber, so you might want to get an alignment (or do it yourself, if you are like Rick).

 

[NotSoSlowSHO]

thanks man thumb

I figured it was something simple, but I had to ask