Ride height/spring cutting

Right now my rear end sits at 26 1/2 inches from ground to wheel well lip trim and my front stands at 27 inches from ground to lip trim, i was thinking of cutting the coil a bit to get the front down to 25 1/2 inches, if i do that how much of the coil will i need to cut? Also my car has longtube headers on it so i dont want to cut to much off so i dont scrap the headers to bad but im thinking even at 25 1/2 inches tall i will still scrape.

 

How many coils do your springs have on them right now? Are they stock V8 springs?

 

You pretty much cannot safely answer that question like that. All springs will have various spring rates due to age, and initial spring rate. So if you count the coils and someone says "I cut one full coil off mine" yours may sit too low or if you are lucky, still a bit high (so you can still cut some off and not be SOL). The weight of your car and accessories will also affect how much it drops.

The only safe way to do it is to cut 1/4 coil off each side first, see how much it drops, and then another 1/4 or 1/2 if you are brave. Repeat as necessary.

That way, if you screw up and end up dragging your headers, you cannot blame anyone but yourself for becoming too aggressive and cutting too much off.

 

I agree with Scott. You can always cut more off but you cant put it back. I cut 3/4 of a coil and my front end dropped nearly 3 and half inches. 1/4 coil increments is good advice.

 

I have 6 cylinder springs in it and I've cut 1\4 coil off already, cutting a 1\4 at a time sounds like the best way

 

It's trial & error, however on a set of springs that are not new, 1/2 coil should yield approximately 3/4-inch drop.

 

I concur with what has been said. I have stock 200i6 springs that I cut 1/4 coil out of and it dropped the car to a perfect height with an aluminum head 347.

 

look into doing the shelby drop. you put new upper control arm mounting holes 1" lower in the shock tower. this should result in about 1" of drop and better handling at the same time.

 

Bryant, the Shelby drop does not generate as much drop as you move the upper control arm .... it is a fraction, 1/2 or less. It does generate a much better camber curve, and much better handling as a result, and is an excellent starting point.

In chopping front springs, I have found that doing a mathematical ratio will deliver some fairly accurate results. This only applies to standard coils, not progressively wound springs. This involves comparing the spring heights in both loaded and unloaded states and referencing that to the final loaded height that you want. It is expressed as final loaded height divided by starting loaded height gives you a percentage. Then multiply that percentage by the unloaded height, and that should give you the total unloaded height after the cut.

If all that math makes your head explode ... just know that cutting one coil from my original V8/AC front coils dropped my car a bit over an inch.

 

Various springs will no doubt react differently, the new(but several years old) TRW 6 cyl spring I installed dropped mine approx 1.25" vs the orig V8 A/C springs... After I installed the left and had removed right spring, I checked ride height on left by supporting right with jack and adjusting till each side was same(26 1/4")... I then decided to go ahead and cut a 1/4 coil from right spring and that's how it still is... So how's it set with shorter spring??? Right is at 26 1/4" and left that isn't cut is 26 1/8"... I was planning on cutting the left but since it's slightly lower may just leave it as is...

As Red Skelton used to say, I just tellem' don't explain them...

BTW the TRW 6cyl are half coil shorter than orig with same wire diameter(Checked with my best crescent wrench), the orig 6cyl springs in the parts GT have slightly smaller wire... Those are still installed, no idea of length...

 

If you have A/C and P/S that may account for the difference between sides. They don't necessarily balance cars side-to-side when they build them. You could also have a leaf out back that is stronger than the other due to use and age, and the stronger one would make the opposite side of the front end sit higher. That may seem counter-intuitive, but it works that way because all four corners are on springs.

My daily driver is an older Explorer Sport, and they are notorious for being heavier on the driver side .... the driver is there all the time, and the gas tank is on that side. After they get some age, it is a common practice to swap the leaf springs side-to-side to level them back out because they get a pronounced lean. I swapped 4 door Explorer multi-leaf springs into mine. The originals for Sports were mono-leafs, and mine was off by a couple inches on the driver side. It also has torsion bars for the front (I thought only Mopars had those, until I bought this). Those are good to help level it also, because you can crank one tighter than the other.

 

My car has power steering, it was originaly ac but thats been long gone, both driver and passenger rear sit at 26 1/2 and both driver and passenger front sit at 27 inches, so for the most part the car is pretty level, also the coils i have on it now are from my old 75 comet and that car was fully loaded, it had everything but a v8

 

I have P/S but A/C is yet to be reinstalled... Prob go with a late alu compressor when I do...

Out back is at 27" on both sides, was dragging it's tail over dips so I tossed a set of air shocks under it... I need to let it down to around 26", I'm thinking that's approx the sweet spot for ride and still have a fairly decent stance... No doubt 25" would be killer, but I don't see it happening for myself...

 

This is how she sits now

 

'Was talking to a Maverick owner buddy of mine who cut his front springs. He said that cutting one full coil from his old 30+ year-old V-8 springs dropped the front 1-5/8 of an inch. If these had been new springs, it is unlikely that the drop would have been that much. As I mentioned earlier, it's a trial & error procedure, but a good starting point is 1 coil or less, depending on how much drop you're looking for. If the car sits super high in front (like higher than the rear), then a minimum of 1-1/2 coil may be necessary.