ride height
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 6,712
Likes: 174
From: Chatham NY
St. Jude Donor '13, '15-'16,'18 thru '25
ride height
I recently bought a 96 LT1 that seems to sit about an inch lower than it should. Is there anything I can look for that would tell me right away that it was lowered by choice, I don't see any obvious sign of anything being broken, it rides fine and only has 52 K. Tires are 275 45 17 up front but I am replacing them with 255's. The rear looks fine only an issue up front.
Safety Car
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 4,290
Likes: 6
From: St Marys GA
Unfortunately, to my knowledge, there's no easy way to see if the front has been lowered. If it doesn't look like a dump truck, it probably has been though...
Lowering the front consists of removing the spring, cutting off the rubber spring-to-chassis mounts, and gluing on thinner mounts.
One easy thing to look for is in the rear; just inboard of the wheels, look at the ~10" long bolt that goes from the end of the spring to the knuckle. On the bottom, there will be a castle nut with a cotter pin if it's the stock bolt. If aftermarket, it will be a nylock nut. If someone lowered the front, odds are they lowered the rear also (which is easy and adjustable), so that's what I would look for.
Lowering the front consists of removing the spring, cutting off the rubber spring-to-chassis mounts, and gluing on thinner mounts.
One easy thing to look for is in the rear; just inboard of the wheels, look at the ~10" long bolt that goes from the end of the spring to the knuckle. On the bottom, there will be a castle nut with a cotter pin if it's the stock bolt. If aftermarket, it will be a nylock nut. If someone lowered the front, odds are they lowered the rear also (which is easy and adjustable), so that's what I would look for.
Drifting
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,853
Likes: 8
From: Westerly RI
The FSM should have a chart showing "trim height" measurements so you can check to see if the car is at stock ride height. I have the '92 book, probably is the same, but maybe someone can post the page from the '96 FSM.
