cutting springs
05-02-09, 03:29 PM
#1
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cutting springs
can you cut the springs on a rx7 like you can with a honda? just wanting it to be lowered just a bit until i can afford a good set of tien coilovers.
05-02-09, 03:36 PM
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No. If you want a drop buy the Racing Beat strut mounts.
Don't ever cut the springs in a car ever, you ruin the specs for the spring by the heat you put on it and make them weaker in the process. Imagine going from lowered to completely slammed at speed when they break. Also they ride like ***
Don't ever cut the springs in a car ever, you ruin the specs for the spring by the heat you put on it and make them weaker in the process. Imagine going from lowered to completely slammed at speed when they break. Also they ride like ***
05-02-09, 03:48 PM
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just wait to buy the correct springs for lowering the car. Its not a civic or some other rice burner so dont treat it as such by going for looks instead of funtionality
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05-02-09, 05:04 PM
#8
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Yeha I agree...
But anyway, why would you settle for only half the battle? If you're going with TEIN coil-over sets, save up a little and deal with the, it's a little off for a bit.
If you want springs, +1 again for RB or perhaps get a cheap set of tein rear springs that I have...
Cutting your springs is like cutting the engine block... Hey it's smaller! Also much less durable!
But anyway, why would you settle for only half the battle? If you're going with TEIN coil-over sets, save up a little and deal with the, it's a little off for a bit.
If you want springs, +1 again for RB or perhaps get a cheap set of tein rear springs that I have...
Cutting your springs is like cutting the engine block... Hey it's smaller! Also much less durable!
05-02-09, 06:25 PM
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haha no i love the 7 im not gonna crush it im just not use to the supension settup. I looked at the springs just a minute ago and saw why i couldnt cut them my bad :P, and as for calling honda's lawnmowers my old one left several turbo 2's at the track and wasnt even on boost
05-02-09, 06:40 PM
#14
Just wait on the for sale section and snag some cheap low mileage springs. You will probably find a strut/spring combo for cheap.
I am sure your honda left them on the track because they wouldn't let a honda run.
J/K, the fact that you took your car to the track is doing more then any other honda owner I know.
I am sure your honda left them on the track because they wouldn't let a honda run.
J/K, the fact that you took your car to the track is doing more then any other honda owner I know.
05-02-09, 06:46 PM
#15
springs will not go low enough compared to the dump you get with a honda with springs.
You can cut like 1 coil off and be ok imo. Ive done it to a benz and all was well. Its the shocks/struts you have to worry about.
You gotta pay to play though, do it right.
You can cut like 1 coil off and be ok imo. Ive done it to a benz and all was well. Its the shocks/struts you have to worry about.
You gotta pay to play though, do it right.
05-02-09, 07:18 PM
#16
OK, now for a racer's input. You can cut the springs with an exhaust cut off wheel. What you have to keep in mind is as you cut the spring it gets stiffer so you can't just cut the amount you want to lower the car off and have it work out exactly. Making the top fit back in the perch will be the issue, you can't cut the bottom end, for obvious reasons. You can heat the end of the spring to re-box it because only the last quarter turn after it touches the perch is used in the spring equation as a 'free coil'.
With some measuring and some math you can get pretty close to the rate you want with the height you want.
Another option would be to shrink the springs in an oven. Get some 1/2" threaded rod and a couple 1/2" thick plates and compress the spring to coil bind(use cooking oil for thread lube). Throw the spring in the oven like that for 1 hr at 450-500F. Let it cool compressed and then take it out. You will probably lose about 3/4" of free height and the rate will be unchanged.
There is no magic in Mazda springs, they are just hunks of steel. The problem you may run into is bump travel. When the car gets lowered you've just given up bump travel, if your spring isn't stiff enough to control the chassis with the travel cut in half it will handle like crap when it hits the bump stops in turns all the time.
With some measuring and some math you can get pretty close to the rate you want with the height you want.
Another option would be to shrink the springs in an oven. Get some 1/2" threaded rod and a couple 1/2" thick plates and compress the spring to coil bind(use cooking oil for thread lube). Throw the spring in the oven like that for 1 hr at 450-500F. Let it cool compressed and then take it out. You will probably lose about 3/4" of free height and the rate will be unchanged.
There is no magic in Mazda springs, they are just hunks of steel. The problem you may run into is bump travel. When the car gets lowered you've just given up bump travel, if your spring isn't stiff enough to control the chassis with the travel cut in half it will handle like crap when it hits the bump stops in turns all the time.
05-02-09, 07:40 PM
#17
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yah i wasnt a street ricer i built them for the track but still able to be a dd it was fun but i got tired of people stealing them so i got a rx7 and a supra to build lol
and thanks to the comment above have you actually done this personally? i have actual spring compressors will they work?
and thanks to the comment above have you actually done this personally? i have actual spring compressors will they work?
05-02-09, 07:53 PM
#18
I've done it all. The first time I did the spring shrinking I was still in college. My mom came home and asked what I was cooking... Well, she turned on the oven light and saw a 5" diameter spring smashed down to about 4" tall. She knew exactly what it was after about 5 seconds and had a litter of kittens right there in the kitchen. Now, normally my mom wouldn't say '****' even if she had a mouthful of it, but that day I learned that she knew all the words that you can't say on TV!
I expained the cooking oil and that there was a really big rod holding it together but I was lucky I was on the second spring because it was the last one in her oven.
I have not tried with just a spring compressor, an engineer friend told me how to do it and he had the plates and everything all made up to do it. I just followed his directions, I suppoese you could try it though.
I expained the cooking oil and that there was a really big rod holding it together but I was lucky I was on the second spring because it was the last one in her oven.
I have not tried with just a spring compressor, an engineer friend told me how to do it and he had the plates and everything all made up to do it. I just followed his directions, I suppoese you could try it though.
05-02-09, 08:31 PM
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cutting springs to Lower the car?
HMMM..I want a Convertible..Should I just get a pair of Tin snips and Cut the roof off?.I can secure it with Dust Tape if it rains!
(so the answer to your question is NO..buy lowering springs ya Cheap BassFISH!).
HMMM..I want a Convertible..Should I just get a pair of Tin snips and Cut the roof off?.I can secure it with Dust Tape if it rains!
(so the answer to your question is NO..buy lowering springs ya Cheap BassFISH!).
05-02-09, 09:12 PM
#22
Some of you guys really need to shut the hell up. Don't act like everyone is building their cars to impress you, answer the question or leave the thread.
Now for some technical stuff (if jgrewe hasn't already mentioned it). Cutting springs increases spring rate (stiffness). This is good (up to a point), except your shocks aren't valved (designed) to handle springs as stiff as yours will be when they are cut and the shocks will probably blow and ride like those riced out Hondas that bounce a lot.
So yes you can do it, just upgrade the shocks or only cut a little bit off. If you're doing it just for looks you can cut them and wait till the shocks blow and upgrade them afterwards. The reason performance-minded enthusiasts don't cut springs is because it would be hard for you to cut them enough to achieve the ride height AND the spring rate you want. If you just want the look though by all means go ahead and enjoy.
Now for some technical stuff (if jgrewe hasn't already mentioned it). Cutting springs increases spring rate (stiffness). This is good (up to a point), except your shocks aren't valved (designed) to handle springs as stiff as yours will be when they are cut and the shocks will probably blow and ride like those riced out Hondas that bounce a lot.
So yes you can do it, just upgrade the shocks or only cut a little bit off. If you're doing it just for looks you can cut them and wait till the shocks blow and upgrade them afterwards. The reason performance-minded enthusiasts don't cut springs is because it would be hard for you to cut them enough to achieve the ride height AND the spring rate you want. If you just want the look though by all means go ahead and enjoy.
05-02-09, 11:02 PM
#23
Also, if you really don't understand how a spring works, don't assume that nobody else does.
Now, to get the rate and the height you want you can use this trick. If you get the free height you want from shrinking the spring, or even cutting it say one coil, then you can still increase the rate by effectively 'removing' a coil from the equation. This can be done with scraps of another spring and some hose clamps. Just cut some coil sections that you can put in between the gaps in the spring. I've done quarter and half coils, it really depends on how much of the spring you want to just be a spacer and not compress. Hold the sections in the spring with a bunch of hose clamps.
To get this right you need to work with the equation to figure spring rates, you should be able to find it out on the web, if not, I can post something up here. You also need to have a pretty good idea of what the car weighs at each corner so you can know how much the spring will compress from your free height and you can get it close enough for the street the first time.
Now, shocks were mentioned and they are a concern if you end up going from a 250lb/in to a 400lb/in spring rate. The valving needed in compression won't be much different, its mainly to control the unsprung weight which you have not changed. Rebound is what will kill you, that's controlling the spring. You can probably go up about 15-20% on your spring rates with out ending up with the bouncy Honda effect. Those bouncy Hondas are all riding on the bumpstops, they really don't even need springs.
I guess all these tricks can be called ghetto if you want, if you get passed the "If you cut a Mazda spring the magic will leak out and it won't work" mentality you can have some temporary springs for the price of about 16 hose clamps or less. When I started racing you couldn't always find the springs you needed so you had to get creative.
As for my compressor, just picture 2- 6" round plates with a hole drilled in the middle. In the hole goes a 20" piece of 1/2" all-thread. Double nut one end, or better, weld the nuts on that end. Put the spring in the sandwhich of steel and run the other plate down on the spring with the other nut.
Last edited by jgrewe; 05-02-09 at 11:08 PM.
05-03-09, 12:55 AM
#24
I've done it all. The first time I did the spring shrinking I was still in college. My mom came home and asked what I was cooking... Well, she turned on the oven light and saw a 5" diameter spring smashed down to about 4" tall. She knew exactly what it was after about 5 seconds and had a litter of kittens right there in the kitchen. Now, normally my mom wouldn't say '****' even if she had a mouthful of it, but that day I learned that she knew all the words that you can't say on TV!
I expained the cooking oil and that there was a really big rod holding it together but I was lucky I was on the second spring because it was the last one in her oven.
I have not tried with just a spring compressor, an engineer friend told me how to do it and he had the plates and everything all made up to do it. I just followed his directions, I suppoese you could try it though.
I expained the cooking oil and that there was a really big rod holding it together but I was lucky I was on the second spring because it was the last one in her oven.
I have not tried with just a spring compressor, an engineer friend told me how to do it and he had the plates and everything all made up to do it. I just followed his directions, I suppoese you could try it though.
05-03-09, 01:43 AM
#25
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yah i never had one of those bouncy hondas i always bought decent suspenion pieces, but i had more money then and have a lot more things to fix on this car lol but i cant stand the excessive wheel gap.
thanks jgrewe for the help
thanks jgrewe for the help