Lowering my ride

[VAMP3D]

Hey folks! I am about to put rims on my ride (88 Chevy Caprice Eureka), and I am gonna lower it a couple inches front and rear. I am havin a hard time finding parts to lower it, so...any suggestions. It is my daily driver, so I'm trying to keep the comfort as much as I can.

Thanks in advance.

[Chace]

About 10 years ago I had an 84 caddy sedan deville and I put rims on it and lowered it. I only lowered mine in the front for the slant effect (plus the rims themselves lowered the car as well...remember this is "back in the day" when deep dish 14"s were the shizzle)

Anyway I lowered the front by heating the springs with a torch and collapsing them. Over a long period of time this will cause the springs to make a creaking sound while turning, however it didn't have any effect on the ride.

You can also cut the springs in the front, or in come cases get pre-fab cut springs for it, both of which of course cost more than heating the springs.

The suspension should be the same as that on a regular caprice, so I'd also ask any local caprice/impala lowrider people who did theirs and how it was done.

Good luck!

[BIGEVIL]

I ended up cutting my front springs. The ride quality only stiffened slightly.

[spastic_chicken]

How much do you cut off of it when you do cut??

Lowering kits for the caprices ought to be cheap, nowadays. Doesn't seem like anyone wants them.

Retarded:

[BIGEVIL]

I cut 2 coils off. No one makes a kit for a '70 fleetwwod.

[Morella]

Two people can ride in a car and give you three different opinions. Some people don't need a boat. I don't need a truck. If you cut the springs, it will stiffen up. How much? Subjective. I have read that cutting springs is not a wise thing to do, but since I would never do that, I didn't look into why.

If you do this right, you can pick your ride. You can go with a spring with the same circle, the height you want, and a slightly smaller wire diameter. There are spring shops that will sell anything you want, customized for you. There are also online spring rate calculators, so you can decide what you want. If you can't get the original spring rate, maybe interpolate from the Fleetwood rate? If I were allowed to alter anymore, I would actually use the Fleetwood rate, no matter who told me I was nuts, and I would go with a softer rear spring as well.

-denise