You've hit the nail on the head...it all depends on the roads where you live. I'm in western New York, right in the middle of the snow belt. The cold weather, combined with mid-winter thaws and re-freezes, really plays havoc with the roads. In this area, you don't really want rod-ended suspension pieces and super stiff springs.

 

lowering a 82 corvette is a good idea or not? I dont want to damage the bottom of my car but i like the look of a lowered sport car. I live in Washington state and our roads are not to bad. My acura rsx is lowered.

 

Lowering the rear of the car is dead easy. You need to install longer than stock (say, 8 " long) HIGH STRENGTH bolts on the outboard ends of your spring. Most of the repro houses sell them, as well as guys like Vette Brakes in Florida.
To lower the front, the best way is to get a shorter spring. If you cut a coil off a spring, you will also increase it's rate, or stiffness.. Don't use a torch to cut it -you will ruin the heat treat and the spring will break. The spring is designed to fit into the spring perch, top and bottom, just so. Look at a good service manual to see how it fits.
Don't make drastic changes. You will be crashing into the bump stops on the frame all the time otherwise. If you are in a corner when the control arm hits the frame, the wheel rate will go sky high at that moment, and the car will certainly feel squirrely. To regain some suspension travel on a lowered suspension, you can take the tops of the bump stop rubbers off, carefully. The parabolic shape of the factory pieces has a purpose. However, cutting this will destroy the progressive nature of the snubbing action. Look at an old "Chevy Power" book that discusses exactly that.
Reset the wheel alignment when you are done.

 

Cutting a 1/4 turn off each end of the spring will not keep the spring indexed on both ends so it would be a waste of time pulling the spring to attempt this. The only time a cut spring will still index on both ends is by cutting a full turn off it. And in that case, you can cut the turn off one end.

Peter

 

[QUOTE=gcusmano74;1579178754]Lowering the rear of the car is dead easy. You need to install longer than stock (say, 8 " long) HIGH STRENGTH bolts on the outboard ends of your spring. Most of the repro houses sell them, as well as guys like Vette Brakes in Florida.
To lower the front, the best way is to get a shorter spring. If you cut a coil off a spring, you will also increase it's rate, or stiffness.. Don't use a torch to cut it -you will ruin the heat treat and the spring will break. The spring is designed to fit into the spring perch, top and bottom, just so. Look at a good service manual to see how it fits.
Don't make drastic changes. You will be crashing into the bump stops on the frame all the time otherwise. If you are in a corner when the control arm hits the

Using a 8" bolt for the rear, to lower d rear how much do i thread up the nut on the 8" bolt ?

 

You are going to have to play with it. Measure the bolt length you have now, and add however much you might like to lower the car. If you add an inch to the bolt length, it will drop the rear of the car almost that much. The specialty houses sell bolts that have lots of threading on them, just for that purposre.

 

Does anyone make lowering spring for the front?

 

Yes. Check at VBP or search 550lb spring

 

I'd like to lower my 75 almost 2 full inches.

Will that remove to much travel?

I was thinking about the Front Springs. 327,350 - 460# from Willcox.

I'd remove about 3/4" in height from the new springs.

Any thoughts on this?

Ralph

 

Here's a MUCH better way of correctly lowering your front-


http://www.vansteel.com/index.cfm?fu...&SubGroup=1913

AND in I just happen to have a BRAND NEW set for sale-I've decided to go w/ fullfront coilovers and tubular a arms.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-p...k-springs.html

Richard

 

Dude: Lowering the Car makes it look agressive. Everybody's pretty much told you how to do it. BUT, if you really want a lowered car:



Bagg It !

 

how much did it cost you to bagg yours? It looks good. How do drive over bumps and rough road

 

Cost? Not really sure, as my kid got 'Air-Lift' to sponser the car.

We had PMA in Lapeer do the actual installation & all of the fabrication work. Wouldn't know what the cost would be now.

As for 'Ride' ..... let's put it too you this way, it rides a lot better than 'lowering the car' the way people are suggesting on this thread.

My vette has 10" of lift. And, At 'ride-height' rear bags are @ 40 psi & fronts are @ 50 psi. If you know anything about 'air management systems', at this rating, the car rides like a 'caddy' One nice thing about 'air suspension', 'ya can lower & lift it as needed. But, it's not recommended to drive a C3 vette any other way, but at ride height. Too high or too low will put undo 'strain' & 'stress' on the half shaft yokes & can damage them over time & also ruin the rear end as a 'whole'. The front really does not matter. But, the rear IRS of a C3 vette is real 'delicate'. People that 'drag-race' near-stock' corvette suspensions, will contest to that. Some Drag-Strips will not allow Vettes, with 'stock' IRS suspensions, to run down the track.

If you're really interested in doing an air management system to your Vette, I can ask my 'kid' to give me a 'ball-park' fugure of it's cost, as he's the 'know-it-all', when it comes to that stuff.

Cruisin' Davey G !

 

 

I assume that as your car sits in the pic is not ride height.
It does look good standing still though.

 

Actually, I'm not real sure what ride height will be until we get the rear aligned & set up correctly. And, you're right, the picture is NOT ride height. BUT, taking a car to a show, or a Car Cruise Night & 'dropping' it on the ground, really 'turns-heads' & get 'ya noticed

AND, driving a C3 Vette too low or too high, will put undue 'stress' on the IRS & eventually 'ruin' parts of it. That could get 'costly'. So, although air suspension will improve the overall ride, and it's 'tempting' to want to drive it 'laid-out' or even raised up a bit, it's not practical.

The car does roll fully 'laid-out', BUT it can only go straight. It's not practical to drive it that low. Roads where I live are left to be desired. early C3 corvettes ride bad enough as it is. Air Suspension will help that, as long as it's done right & you got the proper 'bags' & all.

My son & I wanted to do something different this time around. Although I like 'Pure Stock' Classic Corvettes, there's way too many of them & when you go to a Corvette Show, so many of them look the same, & near 'perfect' or in 'perfect' condition, it tends to get 'boring', if you know what I Mean.

There are certain year 'Vettes', one should never alter them, or stray from 'stock condition'. Then there's the 'less desirable' ones that I guess, if you're 'bored' with the 'pure stock' thing, you can always 'improve' on those.


Cruisin' Davey G !

 

WHOOPS ! Looks like I 'Hyjacked' another post.

Getting back to the OP. Lowering your Vette certainlly will change the way it looks & will give the car 'Personality'. But, just make sure you do it right & use 'Good' components in doing so. Good Luck

Cruisin' Davey G !

 

I'd like to see pics of the bags on the back of that C3. The front really isn't that big a deal to get bags under but the back sure is more difficult.

Peter

 

Here is a question....

How much can you lower a 75 with out dragging every time you pull into a commercial driveway?

The guys where I'm getting my Vette painted gave a stern warning about lowering my Vette.

I want to lower 2" in the front and 1" in the rear.
Am I just asking for trouble?

Thanks

Ralph

 

Hey, Ralph:

OK .... if you're gonna lower your car. Here's a good rule of the thumb. Make the 'stance' to where the top of the tires are just even with the top of the fender opening. What ever inches that entails, I don't know, because I don't know how high your car is. But, I have seen many C3 Vettes that low around here & the guys say they don't have any real trouble driving them, but do say they occassionaly do 'bottom out'. But the roads around here are left to be desired.

Besides you don't wanna go too low & cause the half shafts to be out of specs too much. Again, too low can cause damage to the half shaft yokes & the whole rear, for that matter.

Cruisin Davey G !