I cut down my stock springs

[thinksound_mike]

When you remove the spacers, you should cover the top coil with rubber/plastic hose. You can buy clear hose in rolls from the hardware store and just slide it over the top coil instead of running metal on metal. I did that for a bit and then ended up putting rear spacers in because my rear end was sitting low. (talking about the car

['76mintgrün'02]

 

 

1 hour ago, thinksound_mike said:

When you remove the spacers, you should cover the top coil with rubber/plastic hose.

 

I think he is referring to the aluminum spacers that came on top of the strut mounts, as opposed to the rubber spring pads.

 

Spacers in the rear affect the ride height at around two times their thickness.

Someone may chime in with the exact ratio.  I've read it, but forgotten it.

 

Spacers half as thick as the aluminum ones might look nice... sort of a happy medium.

 

My three quarter inch thick aluminum spacers would lift the rear an inch and a half, I think; which is a big jump.

Some of the aluminum spacers are closer to half an inch thick.

 

I made some half inch thick spacers a while back, to put above the upper spring pads, but got lazy when I realized I'd have to unbolt the axle to lower it enough to get them in.  I can just barely get the H&R springs in and out by undoing the bottom of the shocks.

 

I'd rather have a little less camber back there and have read that the rear should ideally sit slightly higher than the front.

Mine sits level now.

[Spyke]

On 10/5/2019 at 8:05 AM, '76mintgrün'02 said:

Spacers half as thick as the aluminum ones might look nice... sort of a happy medium.

 

This.

 

I do like a little bit of rake myself, but probably not on these cars...

 

I think the 1st pic makes the car look better, but a spacer half as thick would be absolutely the ideal way to go, as far as tire gap.

[Lorin]

My 2 cents.

 

Measuring the rocker panel trim at the front and rear, a forward rake of 1/2 - 5/8 inch looks right to me.

 

I have great success cutting out thin rubber rings to act as shims between the upper spring pad and the body in the rear for fine tuning. A tractor trailer mud flap is thin, super tough reinforced rubber that works a treat.

 

The rear in particular will settle a bit after you cut springs if you didn't recreate the flattened coil.

[Tdh]

In the spirit of providing an update here, after cutting down my stock springs, installing Bil Sports and ST sway bars, the car handles...like a totally different car.  The change was dramatic to so the least.  I recently took the car on a road rally where a bunch of dumbasses (me at the top of the list) drive way too fast on public roads.  The car corners nice and flat, very little body roll.  Cornering, low and high speed, is extremely predictable.  Best mod I've done to the car.  Ride is not overly harsh, at least in my opinion. 

[jrhone]

I would bet your handling improvement is mostly due to the swat bars.  I had Stage II strings and Bilstein shocks and it was an improvement over stock, but the BIG improvement was when I did the Ireland Sway Bars.  That was a bigger improvement.  Congrats.  Car looks good.  Once it settles...I would maybe do 1/4 coil more off the front.  

[zinz]

Cut stock springs, Billy Sports, ST bars... Just like my ‘71

 

It is a lot of fun in the tight stuff. 
 

Ed

 

[zinz]

By the way. You should safety wire your springs to their perches, so when you jack the car up to remove wheels, etc... the springs will stay in place. Otherwise, you are constantly re-positioning them as you settle the car. I used a conduit clamp in the rears... there are pictures somewhere, I’ll have to dig them up. 

[2002Scoob]

@zinz 

 

I'm perpetually jealous of anyone with a clean set of Borranis. 

 

Especially if they're widened.

 

Buh.

[1/2 hemi2002]

No spacers looks gangsta...

[Oldtimerfahrer]

I kind of like the nose to be a bit higher with more squat in the rear...most 02s looked like that in the early 80s when I wanted to buy my first 02. It's a burned in image of what a slightly modified 02 looks like. E30s look better as well when the tail is lower than the nose imho....

Andrew

[Mike A]

Something looks “unbalanced” on that car Tdh . I call it the “Cheech and Chong” look . I’d start over 

[RichenFamous]

Do you have any pictures of how much and how you cut the springs?  Did you cut the front and the back springs?
 


Yeah, [emoji1369]what he said.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[rstclark]

An old timer told me 1 and a half coils will give the results shown here.

[Pablo M]

On 10/4/2019 at 8:09 AM, Tdh said:

I cut down my stock springs, and put in a set of Billy Sports I bought a while back.  The first photo is no spacers in the rear, the second photo is spacers in the rear.  And my spacers, I mean I used the aluminum strut spacers used up front in the rear.  I like the "no spacers" ride height, but hey, what do I know?  

I was just doing some research on this. I installed IE stage 1 and not happy at all. 
I assume you cut one full spring turn? Can you confirm? 
Are Bilstein Sports shorter than stock? 
yhisnis the exact look and ride I was after, and a fellow Riviera owner too (72 tii). 
I’m going to do this first chance I get.