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Originally Posted by kcg795
I'm a fuckin' idiot when it comes to suspensions. But even _I_ know that cutting springs is a bad idea.
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Actually it's not that bad. it's also not hard to figure out how much to cut, the increase in spring rate, and the new suspension travel.
On a car like this '69, a 1" drop will be about 10% of the compressed coil height, giving a 10% increase in spring rate (i.e. 10% stiffer). Considering how soft the stock springs are in that, the ride will be nowhere near harsh, if it even makes a noticeable change (which it probably won't). I've gone 4" down on some of these soft American springs without a noticeable change in ride. (though, at that much drop you have to make sure that the rest of your susepension is looked at. Shocks wil need to be either shorter or remounted, alignment ALWAYS has to be checked, and you have to look at travel of the suspension arms vs frame cleanace and binding issues).
I dropped my last '63 Falcon 4' in front and 3" in the rear using 3" lowering blocks for teh rear, cutting 4" of compressed height from teh front coils, cutting down teh front bumpstops, and remounting the top of the front shocks another inch higher. 2 years of daily driving all over western washington showed it to have a nearly stock ride, no alignment issues, and no bottoming out/banging around.
Most people that end uyp with problems have cut their springs too far, cut them unevenly (it's easy to pay attention to doing things teh same side to side, but they don't), and/or don't pay attention to the OTHER aspects. You CAN do it safely, easily, and inexpensively.