C3 Drop Spindles
 

I have a 1978 corvette pace car and i am looking to lower the front ed about 2 inches. I dont want to cut my springs and the price of coil-overs is a little steep. I have heard mention of some drop spindles being interchangeable with the c3. can anyone confirm this, and or give me any other ideas on how to get the front end down. Any input is very appreciated.

Ive never seen a drop spindle for a c3, which doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

I did drop a c3 spindle on my foot once. Take it from me, it hurt.

how about a new set of springs and only 1"
https://willcoxcorvette.com/corvette...formance-63-82

i don't really want 550 springs because I don't want the ride to be to rough

I replaced my original FE7 front coils with the equivalent 550s. It's not harsh at all, love it, rides like a sports car.

I installed the 550's They ride nice.

You can lower it or have a nice ride. But not both. Lets say you start out with 6" of suspension travel and you want to remove 1/3 of that. Unless you use stiffer springs its just going to bounce out on the Rubber stops. Just look at a so called tunner car with massive negative camber bouncing its way down the road. The easiest way to lower it is to just heat up the coil spring until it sags.

so what you are saying is if i get a 550 spring that lowers the car it will handle better and be more comfortable than a 460 or 330 spring

Ride quality is far more a function of the shocks than the springs. Springs hold up the car, shocks dampen the bounce.

Vansteel at one time looked into doing 2" drop spindles- but ran into too many issues...

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ndle-poll.html

Sure you can. All you need to do is find old saggy springs.

No demand for dropped spindles. 550# coils work great or get 460# coils and cut 1/2 to 1 coil off.

The bigger question would be, if you drop the front two inches, what are you going to do with the rear suspension to get the proper stance and do it safely?

I owned both at one point - the 460# and 550# aftermarket springs sold by the vendors these days look to be the same wire size and coil diameter. In other words - if you cut enough coil off of a 460 you'll end up with a 550 anyhow - without the protective powdercoating.
In a well-calibrated package, the softer spring will be more compliant over bumps. But if the shocks are mismatched, ride quality will definitely suffer.

I've driven cars with aftermarket 550s, aftermarket 460s, and the late 70's base suspension. The base suspension rides amazingly smoothly compared to the 460/550s.

It is a sports car, but in stock trim with stock wheels it's frankly not a very invigorating one anymore. If you don't drive it like that, and just cruise around - the stock springs may be the optimal ride choice for you. Like others have said though - cutting springs removes suspension travel which is certainly a component of ride compliance.

Good luck!

550's and Bilstein HD's up front and you'll have the best of both worlds.

Hey friend....been awhile......hope all is well.


What did you do out back? Fiberglass or steel? HD's as well?

:canadaflag:

Hey Brother,

great to see you here. Thought you might have sold by now. Things are good. Irma kicked my ass a little at our place down in Turks.....but nothing that insurance can't fix, gonna fly down on the 6th.

I installed a TRW 360 and went with the HD's also in back. Only issue was the typical ride height adjustment, which I did with the 10" C4 bolt. I used nylocks and cut about an inch off the bolts once i had it where I wanted. If I'd been buying from a vendor I'd have requested the spring be shortened just for piece of mind......but I picked it up from a forum member in Texas, so I played the cards I was dealt.

Hope all is well with the family, it would be great to see you maybe on the final fall cruise up into the Muskokas. :cheers:

The rear end is already at a ride height i like I just want the front end to match.

VB&P 460s, with a half coil removed............

On my modded 66, i just cut one coil from the springs, free,
It then looked right to me, this was a daily driver and i dont recall any bottoming out or bouncing on the bump stop,