Cutting Springs to lower car...

Suspension related stuff goes in here.
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RoadRacer

Cutting Springs to lower car...

Post by RoadRacer »

Are there any tricks to cutting the springs so I can lower my car?

I just saw jfrawley's post on cutting the springs...... :oops:
narfire
Posts: 3959
Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2008 2:14 am
Your car is a: 1980 124 spider
Location: Naramata B.C.

Re: Cutting Springs to lower car...

Post by narfire »

The rears are straight forward. I used a 4 1/2" cut-off-wheel on the rears. Have to cut in two places to get them out from the shock. I believed I jacked the frame up kinda high and the spring came loose,then cut. I have IAP aftermarket and took one coil off the rear.
I did not do the fronts as I read a post/thread saying the car handles better when the lower arm is as close to parallel to the road. With 15" wheels and 205/50 tires the arm is already about 10 deg up,so I did not want to chop for the sake of looks. I don't know if you have stock springs. There was a post and thred some time ago that went into this in detail,couple of pages worth if I remember.
80 FI spider
72 work in progress
2017 Golf R ( APR Stg. 1)
2018 F350 crew long box
So Cal Mark

Re: Cutting Springs to lower car...

Post by So Cal Mark »

use the search feature in the top right corner and you'll find pages and pages about this subject
pope

Re: Cutting Springs to lower car...

Post by pope »

The angle of the lower control arm should not change because of the size of rim or tire you have installed.
RoadRacer

Re: Cutting Springs to lower car...

Post by RoadRacer »

Thanks for all the advise...... I cut my rear coils today, I took off 1.5 circle of coil. The back is 24" to fender and the front if 24.5... looks much better. I will take some off the front in the near future. :D
RoadRacer

Re: Cutting Springs to lower car...

Post by RoadRacer »

I had to cut another half coil off the rear springs to make two complete coils so they would fit in the top and bottom seats,
now the front looks kind of high. :shock: I will have to do the fronts sooner than I planned. :lol:
Any tips on doing the fronts?
htchevyii
Patron 2022
Patron 2022
Posts: 1807
Joined: Thu Jan 17, 2008 9:31 pm
Your car is a: 1982 Spider hers 1972 Spider his
Location: Hydesville, CA (NorCal)

Re: Cutting Springs to lower car...

Post by htchevyii »

you can rotate the upper mount to any position needed, the same goes for the front.
Trey
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1982 SPIDER 2000, 1964 CHEVYII, 1969 Chevy Nova, 2005 DODGE RAM, 1988 Jeep Comanche
1972 Spider, 78 Spider rat racer 57 f-100,
Daniel

Re: Cutting Springs to lower car...

Post by Daniel »

here is a link about lowering and cutting springs you should find the answers here !



http://fiatspider.com:16080/f08/viewtop ... &sk=t&sd=a



Daniel
RoadRacer

Re: Cutting Springs to lower car...

Post by RoadRacer »

htchevyii wrote:you can rotate the upper mount to any position needed, the same goes for the front.
Now you tell me :shock: But its good to know for the fronts.
RoadRacer

Re: Cutting Springs to lower car...

Post by RoadRacer »

Those links were not too helpful for the front coils..... I had to take out the plastic wheel well so I could get the top back bolt for the upper a arm off. I then had enough clearance to get in there with a 3 inch air cutting wheel. I cut two links off and put everything back together. The height looks perfect with two off the front and two off the back. I now need thicker wheel spacers on the front because the tire is slightly rubbing on my plastic wheel well when turning hard. :?
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