I think if you would have cut off the stock spring to that height...you would have. It truly is a trial and error kind of thing from car to car and spring to spring. Unfortunately....it is a lot of work.
now go try to hop a set of railroad tracks while driving like a teenager and listen for the springs movement in the perch just before you slam down and hit the bumpstops due to lack of load support. Of course, I just kid to make a point. IMHO, excessively cut up stock-type springs(2 full coils is at the borderline and 3 is downright dangerous in my experience so far) are only good for the "low and slow" types. Which is perfectly fine if that's you're style.. but many still like the "low and fast" scheme too.. myself included. Just need to keep in mind that "looks cool" will only get you so far when you hit the twisties though. Especially the bumpy high speed corners. Right about then.. looks be damned.. you wish you had that sawed off spring rate back in the front suspension again. PS.. and I have to wnder why many here in the forum aren't using better quality stiffer/lower sport springs? I've done tons of Ford spring swaps(with the prerequisite cutting of coils to get proper ride height) between various models to get lower budget bang for the buck and many seem to be interchangable. Now it makes no sense though with such a HUGE aftermarket offering. Are Maverick/Comet springs oddball sized or something?
remember, its easier to cut more off the spring than to try to put it back on. i ended up with 1.5 off of my car. i would suggest starting some where between .5 and 1 coil and see where it sits. drive the car around the block once or twice the see how it sit. if its still too high you will now have a reference amount of coil for how much it will lower.
I cut the stock V8 springs in mine 1 coil and it came out well. It is the green car in the sig pic below. One item in this thread that is presented incorrectly is about spring rate. Cut a coil spring and the rate actually increases a bit. It has to carry the same weight but has less travel available after being cut. That will stiffen the spring up a bit. This is not to be confused with total load carrying ability ... that decreases.
groberts101 - I assure you I didn't just jump in and whacked the coils blindly…I did my homework and lost sleep thinking about re-cutting more than one coil. With my setup I’m happy with the end results. With the increase of spring rate that came with cutting the free height the car handles great on twisting bumpy roads and the coils are still tight with the car on a lift. Matter of fact…I had to really squeeze the spring to get it installed to the point it had me wondering if the spring compressor was about at its limit. As far as the hearing the spring perch moving it’s not going to happen because I have early Falcon perches that are designed to roll with the punches unlike the ’64 and later rubber injected later style perch.
You may or may not know.. Good idea to tighten things down when at ride height. I seen stuff wear out prematurally when thightened up while the suspension is suspended. Some people like the car sitting low and some like it high.. I like them both ways but mine will be high .. Maybe my headers will last just a little longer. Once my car is running of course
on my 72 I went to pick up the car after the drum to disc... it looked like a Cesna 150 ready for take off. I was way pissed off. The doofus suggested I raise the rear end to match. I took it to another place and had them cut one full coil of each and it gave it the perfect stance. I am very pleased... you will want to align afterwards. I had extra leaf spring added each side aft and rearched as well..
Since we're talking about coil springs... My car was a 6 cylinder car. I'm swapping in a 302 & top loader. The springs are in pretty good shape as it's a low mileage car. I was wondering; having put a V8 in this car, should I replace the springs with V8 springs? If not, can I still cut a coil out of the 6 cal. springs and have a reasonable ride height? Thanks
John - I'd wait and see after you drove the V8 for 2 or 3 months. If the V8 has aftermarket intake and exhaust it will weigh the same, if not less, as the 6 cylinder.There's only 40 pounds different between a factory 250 and 302 and maybe 70 lbs if you have a 200. The miles doesn't much matter...its the age of the springs.
