Technical Cutting Coil Springs

I've been thinking about cutting a little bit of my coil springs to drop the front end about 2 inches. I realize that's going to make the springs stiffer but is that really a bad thing in a car that drove like a marshmallow originally?

 

Whack em
Never had an issue

 

The beauty of torsion bars, with a wrench you can set your height where you want.
Dan

 

Looks like no glass in the car yet? Anything else missing?

I learned long ago, not to mess with ride height until it's all put together and driving. Sucks having to replace springs you cut to get it to sit right before it was loaded down with everything.

 

I've cut springs on a couple of my cars over the years with no problem.

 

Cut don't heat.

 

The glass is in the car but right now it's sitting in the passenger compartment floor. The only thing that's missing on the front end is the radiator and filling it with water and I'm going to put it in and fill cooling system before I do anything with the springs.

 

I even cut coils from NEW springs. It makes them easier to install, plus if left as is, the cars often sit too high.

 

Put a spacer between control arm and spring plate to lower effective height. Cut spring a bit, if you need more.

 

The other thing to do is to sneak up on it....don't cut all out the first go. Start with 3/4 or 1 coil, and see what happens. And the first coil won't have as much effect as the next, so go maybe 1/2 coil at a time after that. And drive it around a while after each cut, let it settle down, and try out various roads to make sure it could handle more lowering.

I expect anthony will say I'm full of crap, it's not low enough unless it's on the bump stops, but I haven't seen him driving his junk to AZ yet

 

Also remember that the spring bucket is about in the middle in the control arm, so you only have to cut approximately 1/2 of your intended drop off the length of the spring.

 

I cut 1 1/2 coils off of a 58 Buick Super several years ago. Made the car ride much better, except for my driveway and speed bumps.

 

Cut em!

 

Dragging sheet metal is a great sound

 

Yeh ,NO
Dan

 

One of my favorite car sounds

 

True story
Back in early 80s I street raced a custom early 60 Ford low rider I thought beautiful car All show no go. Off we go I pulled a hole shot on him but soon I could see his tail lights Ahead was a slight dip, I knew about it but I don’t think he did. He hit it and a god awful sound was made along with some sparks, he let off and I blew by him. I won by default. That scrapping made my stomach churn. We pulled over and checked his car no major damage but his beautiful rear bumper was scarred for life. I couldn’t accept the win. I learned two things Low riders aren’t necessarily all show no go and I would never be able to own one. That noise haunts me to this day.
Dan

 

Mine sounds like the titanic hitting the iceberg just about every time I pull in or out of a parking lot.
Mmmmmmmmmmmm

 

You’re a sick puppy aren’t you.
Dan

 

Cutting the springs may have an adverse reaction on the lever action shocks, as it changes the travel range of the internal piston. Going slow by cutting off a little at a time is sound advice. You could also add spacers between the shock and frame to compensate.

 

Probably a long shot but maybe worth a look. I had a '57 Pontiac that I was going to cut the springs on. Looking under the car I notices a hole in each lower A arm right next to where the spring sits. Hmmmm! So I got 2 J bolts about 6" long or so, loop them over a spring coil and run them through the hole, put a flat washer and nut on it and tighten it down. Cut off the excess with a hack saw. Instant lowering job. Came in real handy when I traded the car in and the dealer said they wouldn't take it until I raised it up to stock height.

 

Raising back up??
Blasphemy!!!!!

 

Spring clamps or J bolts ... there's a mistake everybody made just once ....

 

I’ve done lots of coil cutting in the past. I highly recommend doing a half coil and trying it out before going further. You need to drive it a day before it fully settles. Thinking the car needs to lower an inch, and you see the coils are an inch apart….major mistake to think about cutting a full coil. Doesn’t work like that.

I had a buddy who wanted to lower his Malibu a bit and jacked up the front. Took the torch to cut the coil, still in the car. He didn’t see the other loop curling down in the A arm. Car sat way lower than he expected. But it looked good.

When I was a teen I wanted to lower my high school car. On my own ‘67 Chevelle the rear coils neck down to pigtails on top and bottom. Can’t just cut off the ends. I took some of those spring extension clamps and turned them around to clamp a few loops together in the middle of the spring. I think I had three clamps on each spring. Worked fine and they are still there.

 

Years ago I "helped" a friend lower his El Camino by cutting the coils. We jacked the car up and cut a coil then lowered it back down. Hummmm, not enough so we cut off some more. About that time we discovered that the jack stands were still under the frame.
The next day I got to find some new springs to use on the next attempt.

 

Make sure you dont tighten up the suspension until you put the weight on it and bounce it a few times. It's stunning how high a car sits when a drooped suspension is clamped tight.

-rick

 

Late '70s I had a V8, 3spd '69 Chevy stepside short box.
One drunken afternoon me and a buddy lowered it.
He layed under it heating the springs with torches while I bounced the front end up and down. lowered it until the fender came down to the label on the Genesee Cream Ale beer can we put on the tire...used that same method on all 4 springs.
45 years later, that truck (with those same springs) is still driven and shown by my nephew.

 

Lowered a bunch of old cars by judicial use of a torch and slowly walking heat on the lowest coil and bouncing it as I went.

One I did mid 80's was an early 60's Chevy, car is still around and see it on rare occasions, still sits pretty much where I heated the coils and dropped it to.

I will admit heating and dropping coil springs is an art form and you must be real careful and know what your doing.

The gent that taught me had been doing it since the late 50's. Used to tell me stories of all the cool cars he had lowered and how he missed that side of car ownership. The fact that everyone's car was unique in certain ways and that many cars had their own exhaust sound and you could identify your buddies car just by exhaust notes...

...

 

Saw, cutoff wheel, or torch. I've only cut coils once, many moons ago. A good buddy/co-worker had a torch, so that's the route I took on a newish OT car.
I don't know if it matters, but I think I 'clocked' the cut-off stubs at the same angles that the factory did the deed.