Hi!!

I’ve a corvette’84, and I want to low the front side of my “darling”.

I have the two small pieces of rubber, and I’ve looking for some information about lowering my car, but now I have some questions:

What could I do with the 2 front spring retainer?
Should I cut and weld??? Is there any other way to do it?
Could be valid for my model (1984) these parts (front spring retainer) of models 1988-96, which are being built in aluminum and have different design??
Must I buy the new parts??

Thanks!

regards from Spain!

Roberto.

 

Don't do it!

but if you do, you can remove the front leaf spring and:

1) trim the rubber mount and replace with a shorter "lowering wedge" that is commonly sold to lower C4 Corvettes.

2) and/or remove the spring shims that sit on top of the spring bracket that push the spring center closer to the ground. when you raise the spring position up a few mm, the tension is reduced and the car drops a little. This will effectively reduce your spring rate and the car will ride as little soft. this is why I say not to do it. You need more stiffness if you lower the car as it will hit everything on the road.

you can buy an aftermarket spring that is stiffer and will sit lower without having to modify your spring, because once you cut your spring rubber, you can't really put it back.

 

You have to use the newer alum. spring retainers 88-96. That's because you have to cut them shorter the same amount as of shims you remove[just stack the shims outside the retainer later so possibly you won't have to replace the bolt length] and the amount you cut out of the center rubbers. Be sure to measure before cutting the center rubbers.I didn't and had to guess on amount. Between guessing and not cutting alum retainers very straight I ruined one set and had to buy anther set of retainers. I suggest having a machine shop mill them instead of grinding them with a hand grinder like I tryied. I have yet to find a good glue to glue the center wedges in with. They tell you to use windsheild adheasive, I've heard that doesn't work well. I tried a special contact cement made for rubber. They were still in there when I took it apart but they were starting to come apart. Next time I'm going to try a permatex two part epoxy. You need the wedges to keep the spring from bottoming out between spring tunnel when on ground. Some debate this and say you can run with no wedges for more lowering. I think you do to prevent spring damage. I would replace the shocks with something better at the same time as lowering it. That will help some with bottoming. I bought Qa1's but haven't tryied them yet. Between cutting the center rubbers, taking out any shims there and glueing in center wedges that will drop it about an inch. Cutting the rubber on ends of spring will gain anther 1/2" drop. I wanted mine lower than that it didn't look like enough. Be aware tires have to roll for supension to drop. The rear is easy to drop I would do that first. Instead of buying epensive lowering bolts I used `1/2" grade 8 theaded rod. I cut it to 12" long and welded a frame type locking nut[and paint it after] on one end. I bought a new poly spring mount kit from, vette brakes and products and drilled the center hole to 1/2". This is so close to stock metric size you are not making it much bigger than stock. I bought 1/2" nyloc locking nuts and heavy washers for bottom. If you do this you'll have all the adjustment you need, It's cheaper and you don't have to wait for bolts to come. As far as bottoming out there is a lot you can do to prevent damage. First check your front spoiler is it bent down from hitting things? I heated mine with a heat gun and bent it back up,using heavy gloves I held it in place till it cooled and locked back in place. You can also cut apx a inch off the whole spoiler. I cut mine and sanded bottom with a sanding block to make it look straight after. Anther thing is the radiator to k menber skid frame. This normally drags. I'm trying to instail rollers in the center of mine but you could pop rivet thin plastic strips there easier also. That would protect the skid frame, mine was almost worn through from being just being at stock height. As long as you use care with driving it, you should not have too many problems bottoming out. Just come at parking lot bumps at a slight angle to help get over them and go slow at approaching driveways. Just do a search there are many posts showing pictures on how to drop a corvette step by step. Also try www.digitalcorvettes.com and www.smokencorvettes.com. A more expensive way to drop the front would be to go to coil over shocks, but that requires frame welding.It does let you change it to whatever height you want it too though. This is getting too long, I wish you luck on this.Don't let them talk you out of doing it!

 

Hi!

Thanks for your advice “mike100”, and thanks for encourage me “turbotim23”

I changed the front spring 1 year ago because it was cracked and it crunched when I drove. It sounded like an old bed!! Besides, on last may I put a new Bilstein shocks. Since that moment, I see my car like a motorbike doing a wheelie

Now I wanna get down the front side. This is my reason.
You can see that I’ve said in the next photo:





The difference is 15 – 20 mm between the front & the rear side, but when I go to ride my car I only think that I’m driving a car which is like a plane before take off!

Yesterday, I bought the aluminum retainer (the new parts for last C4 models) for the rubber on the front spring. I hope to do it correctly. When I finish, I’ll upload some photos.

Best regards!

Roberto.

P.D. Sorry for my poor English!