well i would like to lower my mav a bit.. im thinkin between 2-3 inches.. can i buy mustang coil springs that are already lowered or not i know i could cut them, but i think theres a good chance i could screw them up as i am new to the workin on cars thing.. any opinions would be great
if you buy one inch mustang one your car won't lower much at all. i have a better way for you.... you have a PM
2" lowered spindles from Fatman Fabrications which are designed to use Granada/Maverick brake parts. I am placing an order for a pair this week. I want to see what kind of quality they are and what it does dor the car. Pricey though at $550 per pair list. Lets see if I can get that price down a bit.
Is your car a v8? I'm thinking that 6 cyl springs might do the trick. Just a thought as I've never tried myself.....
If the front of your car is the same height on both sides, just cut one full coil from your existing springs. Should give you what you want...
Agreed...... 1 coil will make it nice and raked remember to take it to the alignment shop after doing this.
Should use a cut-off wheel on a grinder and not a torch, to prevent any weakening of the spring steel etc.
I did one coil, then dropped another half a coil to get the desired effect. Like where it sits, but as I stated in a couple of other threads, I ended up with a lean, so not sure if the springs "seated" differently (I guess "settled" would be a better word) or what. the 6 cyl springs would probably too weak and give you a squishy and bouncy ride. I went for some unidentified springs that were much stiffer than stock, supposed to be from a 351 car (not stock, of course). Real stiff, and I like the ride, especially once I get the car level. Surprisingly, using a cutting wheel, it takes very little time to cut through those springs...I expected 10 minutes per spring being a hardened steel, but using a compressor and a cheap "pencil grinder" with a 4" disk, it cut through in about 60-90 seconds each.
I'm not a big fan of cutting springs. It makes the springs much stiffer and if you've ever tried to cut 4 table legs the exact same length you know what I'm talking about. You're dinner table will turn into a coffe table pretty quick. I like heating the springs better myself. Just put some bricks under the car and heat the top coil until she starts to settle.
The "coffee-table effect" is what I am worried about right now...trying to work out that lean. I can see taking a half off one side, then a quarter of the first side, then 1/8 off the other, then buying new springs to start over...
Heating springs is about the worst thing you can do, and should not be done. Cutting just one coil from stock Maverick springs will not make the ride stiff, and it took only 20 seconds per spring for mine, using a cut-off wheel. It is not difficult at all to cut both springs to the same length...
Pre-setteled springs Hey Maverick Man - On your web site, you talk about "PRE-SETTELED" 67-73 Mustang springs rated at 650 lbs. I'm not having any luck finding anything labelled as such so far. Can you offer any specific places that might have these? Thanks.
Why is it the worst thing? Heating the springs is better than cutting for a variety of reasons. One being that you dont' have to worry about getting the exact right amount of the spring cut off so the car sits right. Two cutting the springs leaves a transition coil at the top of the spring that doesn't seat right in the pocket. Three you don't know how high the car will sit once you cut the spring. By heating the top coil you keep a nice flat seating surface, you know exactly how far the car will drop, and there's no guess work. Yes, if you heat the whole spring, you'll kill it and the car will ride around on the oil pan, but if done correctly by keeping the heat in a localized area, it's much more effective than cutting. It's a simple stress relief operation that allows the spring to deform plastically. Once it cools it will retain the original elastic properties without significantly altering the spring rate. I understand that maverick springs are rather soft to begin with, so cutting won't increase the spring rate much. The elastic modulus of steel is fairly constant across the board, between 28 and 30 Msi regardless of chemical composition or heat treat. This says that heating the spring will not change its elasticity or make it "soft". It will plastically deform the spring, but once it cools, it will retain it's original "springiness."
