darth fc3s

here's the deal. recently i put a master bushing kit(incuding delrin sub frame and toe eliminator bushings), kyb shocks, struts and racingbeat lowering springs on my 86n/a. Now bear in mind that I did all of this in one shot so its hard to gauge what difference each part made to the handiling , just the "upgraded package".Any when i set her on the ground and to my dismay she sat 1/2 to 3/4 higher on the passenger side in the rear. So I figured that maybe that spring has one coil to many (defective) and to cut one out.

billzrx7

never cut a spring, give it a day to "settle" back in place and see where it sits

darth fc3s

yeah, I thought the same thing too but dude it's had almost a year ta settle.

KompressorLOgic

iTrader: (6)

no DONNTTT CUT any coils off the springs,

that will ruin your handling, the end of a coil on a spring is harder/stiffer then the rest of the coils, if u cut the end coil off the spring,it will get very bouncy, and your car will bounce up and down really bad.

thats why u see all thsoe hondas with cut springs bouncing up and down!!!!

one thing you could do, is swap the rear spring on the passenger with the one on the driver side, that way it will be 1/2 " higher on the driverside, then when you sit in the car! it will bring it close to the correct height.

darth fc3s

would that just make the drivers side sit higher than the other side

Archangels

dont be an idiot, never cut springs, EVER....

if it's defective just get it exchanged...?

ilike2eatricers

IIRC eibach pro kit springs have a dead coil which can be cut not affecting handling at all. So it's not true that you should never cut springs.

darth fc3s

defective? has anybody come across this with the r/b springs i allways figured ther stuff was pretty good.

KompressorLOgic

iTrader: (6)

well most springs arnt designed to be "cut",

if u swap it, so the driver side is higher, when you sit in the car your weight will lower the car a tad on the driver side , making the car sit closer to level..

scathcart

There is soo much ignorance in this thread it amazes me.

pengarufoo

it's true.

darth fc3s

well scathcart please my man, take us too school i'm here to learn i've posted my problem might u make any suggestions

pengarufoo

measure the length of the springs for starters, don't cut anything based on a suspicion.

make sure you installed everything correctly

scathcart

"Bouncing" is a combination of inadequate spring rate and blown shocks.

For ALL steel springs, the equation for determining spring rate is:
Spring Rate= (Gd^4)/(8ND^3)
where G is the tosional modulus for steel, 11.25x 10^6,
d is the wire diameter in inches
N is the number of ACTIVE coils
D is the mean coil diameter in inches

The end coils on most springs are flattened... they are not "hardened" or any "stiffer", they are merely inactive coils.

When you cut the springs, according to the above equation, the spring rate increases.


Maybe next time you post, you might want to actually know something on the subject.

scathcart

Gimme a couple seconds, geez.

pengarufoo

the reason those cars with cut springs bounce up and down is because cutting the spring increases the spring rate - which is likely the intended goal. It doesnt just lower the ride height.

Most these people put the cut spring back on the same stock shocks/struts, which do not provide enough damping for the uprated springs - thus you get a constantly bouncing ride.

cutting springs works fine when done correctly.

scathcart

How do you alter steel to change its acceptability to being cut?

MARTIN

you can heat up the spring to lower it.. Are you sure you installed them right? Many sets drop more on the back than the front, so you mightta put 2 rear coils on one side...

Anyways, the bouncy ride is bad shocks... I've seen many people( especially in highschool) drop their ride with the stock shocks and bounce around all day. When you increase the rate you need to increase the shock..

pengarufoo

I wouldnt recommend heating the spring to cause a plastic deformation changing it's length, you will change the metallurgy of the steel which has most likely been heat treated to a specific hardness well suited to being a spring in the suspension of the car.

scathcart

First, make sure nothing is binding in the suspensions... your new bushings, your rubber springs mounts, etc.

After that, take a measurement of the length of the springs wtih the suspension compressed. Then figure out how much you want to lower the car, and measure from one end of the springs (with the suspension compressed that amount and mark on the springwhere that position occurs... as the length of which you cut off of a compressed spring will equal the drop in ride height.

Now, take out the springs, and cut them at the point you marked, plus + half coil. Once done, heat up that half coil with acetylene, and then place the heated coil against the ground while you apply pressure to the top in order to give the srping a new seat. Then wirewheel the spring where you torched it, repaint the spring to prevent rust, and reinstall.

The problem with cutting springs occurs when the amount of coils cut off the spring gives the spring a free length of less that the total maximum suspension travel, and the severely increased spring rates being mismatched to the shocks.

I've cut aftermarket springs on FC's to get my desired ridew height with no adverse affects.

Maybe it just comes down to a person undertsnading what they are doing...

darth fc3s

well thanx bitches I guess the first thing is get off my *** and and actually measure the coil springs in the rear (unsprung?) and make sure they are the same height, and believe me u i have been all over the suspension looking for any signs of binding.

pengarufoo

http://www.insideracingtechnology.com/eibach2.htm

note, the springs are cold formed, then heat treated in their final shape. I strongly recommend not heating the springs unless you are ok with compromising the spring. It may work well enough but you have definitely altered the spring in more ways than you intended, in a rather uncontrolled fashion.

You can usually get away with just cutting off a dead coil to lower the car, if there is a slight angle on the end remaining you can sometimes grind it flat. If you must bend the end coil to get it to seat and use heat to do it - just be aware you are changing the properties of the steel (just like any time you heat something up to that level)

scathcart

Measure the suspension loaded, not unloaded. Put the car, level, on ramps or blocks.

darth fc3s

first off the suspension is loaded when it's sitting on level ground correct? If this is the case and the car is not sitting level while on level ground why would i want to measure the coils like that ? instead off taking the springs off the shocks and measuring them like that.

darth fc3s

oh yeah and if i determine that one spring is longer than the other is it better to take a coil of the top or bottom ?