Shortening springs - Lowering the front

R

Rumblin_Ron

New Member
Ron is sagging at the back. The front looks higher than the back (I have emptied the boot). The problem is I like they way the rear arches hang low over the wheels, so rather than buy new rear springs and raise the back, I would like to lower the front.
Any ideas on how to lower the front ?. In my irrisponsible youth we compressed springs and bound a compressed coil up with wire, but apparently this is unsafe (!!?!). You could also buy spring compressor type devices that you left permanantly bolted to the coil (see Custom Car circa 1975), again I hav'nt seen any for years for some reason.

So, how can I drop the front about 1/2" or 1"
 
I thought I had seen the spring clamps, just can't remember where.... Try Larkspeed, Demon Tweaks that sort of thing.

You could also have a pair a springs shortened, just make sure the ends are re-shaped to fit the seats properly.

Other option, fit a dirty great supercharger, that should drop the front a bit !

Richard :D
 
I wouldn't advise shorttening or clamping the springs. There was a strory about a young lad who had his mate lower his orion. after they picked the piece of the car out of a wall the owner of the car was prosecuted for contravening the "construction and use" as well as dangerous driving etc.

So I would also say that the clamps would fall foul of the say rules.

You want to lower the front and raise the back. What about towing springs or these mussle kits that beef the suspension. cheap and easy to remove.

Arthuy
 
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Superchargers !!
I've been waiting for the moment to show these picture's !!

Its not Ron, but is off Her Ruedigers web site. Do they work for you ??

Thanks for the tips by the way.
 
Can't say it floats my boat Ron.

A friend of mine who runs a garage was talking about the customisation that used be carried out by boy racers in the late seventies/early eighties. He said that even then Anglias and Escorts with the back end jacked up in the air and flames down the side looked faintly ridiculous.

His exact words were: "You'd laugh your c**k off if you saw one coming down the road these days!"

As far as lowering the front end goes have you tried demon tweeks? They sell a large selection of springs in various diameters, lengths and rates. They only cost about £10-£15 each as far as I remember and they can advise on which to use if you know the standard rate and length.
 
While I had the haynes manual out today (struggling to remove the door glass) I looked at the suspension section out of interest. The don't give any spring rates but interestingly the front springs are listed as being nearly and inch longer on the power steering models (3500). Probably an irrelavent fact if you don't know what the spring rates are but I wonder why?
 
You could also try and source the oldest springs you can find.. Most likely to have sagged....

Not sure which engine option is the heaviest, but how about spring from the lightest....

To be done properly the springs should remain the same length when unloaded, this stops them jumping out of the seats when jacked up, or going over a "yump"

I remember my friends morris minor, we practically had it on the floor by adjusting the torsion bars, and fitting some leaf spring spacers, we lifted it back up an inch or so to make it practical, but boy did it handle. With some wider than normal rubber he could out corner golf gti's etc....

As for the flames and jacked rears, I personally am a fan of slightly more old-school customising, when many months of hard work were involved in creating something serious. Not just fitting what looks like a cheap plastic bath to each side of a Corsa.....

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Richard
 
Eureka !! I have found the thingies !


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The are a Dr Gasket part and sold through US Automotive, a UK firm on WWW.usauto.co.uk

I get the reasoning for getting some 2000 springs or whatever to lower the front, but this way is cheap and easy, and if it all goes wrong I can take them off again.
Are you building a yellow cruiser then Mr Webmaster ??, personally I like the "32 roadster", but I did see a powder blue chopped roof version last summer that looked very nice indeed. Have you been to the Leeds cruise yet ? (thats your part of the world, is'nt it ?)

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Ah, flames in the right context !
Yeh, I love 'em, wish I could afford to build one, I have to settle for cutting roofs off p6's, and driving old 800's....

I would love to build one of these....
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Just need a very big suitcase to bring the body back from the states !

Richard :D
 
Hi all, slightly depressed here, and I was daft enough to think all this would be easy.
Having got my luvly spring clamps, I jacked the car up (and chocked with with axle stands of course, don't we alway ?). It was then that I discovered that the coils of the springs are still so compressed that I cannot get the clamps through the gaps between the coils ! So it looks like I would have to disemble the front suspension and take the coils out anyway !
Should I give up and use them to jack the back up instead ? (easy access, large gaps between the coils).

Anyway this will now have to wait, because whilst I was under the car I started to scrape away some old underseal, we all know the rest don't we, oh if only I'd left it alone !!
 
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