When part of the spring is removed and the spring goes back onto the car there is less spring there to carry the same amount of weight. Smokey
yup, makes them stiffer the shorter you make them. we dropped a whole lot of cars in high school and for a few years after cutting coils with a metal cutting blade in a circular saw, not kidding! the other problem is the tendency to go too far and really slam the crap out of it. you want it to look cool right away, but they still settle a bit afterwards. i like stuff really low or way up like a gasser or a street freak. last car i cut the coils on was my '49 Plymouth and i'll probably cut them in my '64 Lemans too. Dave
my coils were broken so i cut them so they would fit proper and now my handleing is all messed up :-/
if your springs were broken you had problems before you even cut them. get a replacement set and work from there with either stock ones, cut stock ones or a set made how you want them. if your front suspension and steering is toast too you are just exaggerating the problem. what kind of car and what condition? Dave
OK SO cutting coils increases spring rate, how safe is it to drill the A-arm rivits and put 1 inch spacers. I would assume that the ride quality would reamain the same but if you cut the sprng 1 coil to lower 2-3 inches it wouldnt have such a nasty rough ride. I also saw a thread on here about cutting the A arms on a 49-54 chevy and moving the upright mount up 2 inches and fish plating it, an interesting idea but I cant find the thread.
I just did the a arm mod a couple weeks ago, just left the computer on, and kept checking back to the thread. worked great. here is the thread you were looking for: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=317696
Cutting the number of coils down, raises the spring constant n is the number of coils, and since it is in the denominator of the formula, less coils, higher k factor. Engineering calculation aside. I have used both a cut-off wheel and a torch to cut a coil. In both cases, I keep the springs in a bucket of water and cut at the water line. No heating of the spring (other than a small section at the end). However I now use this chart for the GM metric chassis components for my IFS kits. http://jeffd.50megs.com/Moog_Spring_Page.htm There will most likely be a similar chart for other spring diameters and lenghts out there somewhere. After using cut springs, then getting a different wound spring to use, I simply now match the spring rate and height needed and use new springs. Easy and cheap.
Hey, in most older cars, increasing the spring rate is a GOOD thing, so cutting a coil or so, isn't that bad. Most of the old cars I've had wallowed in corners like a whale on roller skates. The ride was too soft. So cutting a coil was actually beneficial. Problems occur when you cut too much and have bottoming out problems, or suspension geometry problems. That's the advantage to using dropped spindles.
As mentioned above the way you cut the spring will also effect the spring rate. If you put a bunch of heat into the spring while cutting it will screw up the spring. The best way is to use a cut-off saw, or another method I have heard about is to but the spring in a bucket of water (covering the spring just below where you want to cut) then use a tourch. Also adjust (cut, replace whatever) your bump stops.
I cut 1 coil off on each side with a cut off wheel. It rides stiffer, but I like it. The interesting thing is that the car sat about 1/4" higher at first, then it settled into about a 3/4" drop.
I cut a coil on my 68 Impala Wagon first. It still rode too high so I cut a half coil out of it. That was 9 years ago and it still sits great.
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