Cut strut or spring

[O2guy]

My '73 2002 purchase last week came lowered and wanting a 100% stock '02, I want it a bit higher. I was told the struts were cut. Not thinking that was possible, how do I tell if it was the springs or struts that were cut? Struts are easy to do, but how about spring replacement? Are they readly available?

As always...many thanks

Jim

[BarryA]

lowered car and swap suspension components.

If your front end could use rebuilding, a second option might be to pick up a pair of stock struts and springs from someone who's parting a car out, refurb the struts with new inserts, etc, then install the struts with new lower control arms, ball joints and steering linkage.....

[Harv]

Many people get the struts shortened so they ca use lower (or cut) springs. The reason for this is so there is still some wheel travel.

You can tell that the strut has been shortened by looking for a weld mark about half way up. The people that do this are usually good at it and the weld might be hard to see if there is a lot of dirt and road grime on them.

It was sorta fashionable to cut the stock springs back in the day to get a lower ride height. Many people swear by and others swear at this mod. My car used to have cut stock springs and Billy HD's and I liked it very much. However I might not have known what I was missing with other springs such as IE stage 1's. Cut stock springs will be missing the tighter coil on one end.

John

[Mike Self]

shorter than the stock springs on 73-76 cars. This due to Federal bumper height requirements that kicked in for the '73 model year.

I confirmed this when I had my '69's front suspension apart; I set the stock original '69 spring alongside the stock '73 spring I had removed last year. Sure enough, there was about an inch difference in the two.

If you find that you have shortened springs, I have a set from a '74 that I'd be glad to swap with you. These springs have been sitting on my shelf for 10-15 years; I was originally gonna cut 'em but decided to get H&R springs instead.

cheers

mike

[O2guy]

I have a couple of pic's. Can someone offer a suggestion on how I post it'll be done asap.

[scoyote]

Hi---If you want stock 02 struts with clean spindles--stock springs --straight control arms---tons of 02 parts but in Canada (west coast) If you can't find things locally i'm sure we can work out a reasonable deal. Just email scoyote@shaw.ca

[O2guy]

Swap is a cool option. Lets see what we can work out.

jimstacey@sbcglobla.net

Jim