Lowering springs

[nillabu]

Thanks Chevy! Yeah, they are alittle pricey for sure! Did you put both the front and rear in or just the rears? My rear is pretty good right now but will prob. change once I get the front squared away.

If you could, along with a few pics, measure your frame to ground height right behind the front/rear wheel (at the back of the large hole in the frame) I'd greatly appreciate it. My front is at 5-3/4" now (slammed ](*,) ) My rear is at 14". Also, how much room between the frame and the front lower control arm bump stop do you have if your running one? As mine sits now, I have 0" ](*,)

I actually ordered the fronts from Detroit Speed (back ordered at the time) and then cancelled until I get this height thing figured out. I'd hate to have to install, then cut or be back to where I am now.

I found a page in the 78-81 G Body manual that shows how to measure the factory ride height for the F40 & F41 suspensions. It's in metric so once I get it converted I'll post it on here. They'll be just numbers to start from.

It's allot to ask I know. Whenever ya get time,
Steve

 

[Chevy2410]

Hey Steve,

First off, I was wondering are you just wanting to upgrade your front and rear springs to give the car a better ride and look? Are you going to upgrade the shocks front and rear as well? Are you using stock GM suspension, i.e. control arms? If using stock control arms and you want to use a coil over you will need to re-enforce the spring pocket for the coil overs. The stock spring pockets are a bit weak. If you have aftermarket control arms, then it's not an issue.

You may have read my thread http://maliburacing.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=118764 Here's what I did. I have 2" drop spindles and 1" lowering springs, for a 3" drop in the front. I also had 1" lowering springs in the rear. The springs in the rear were OK for the 1" drop, but they weren't very high rate per # spring and I thought the rear could go a little lower. So I bought the Detroit Speed 2" lowing springs. It gave me the ride height in the rear without going to low and gave a better ride due to the higher rate spring.

The front is a different story. With the 3" drop the car would bounce around when driving over small bumps and when hitting a big bump you would have to brace yourself as the car would really slam down hard. Plus with the car being so low my headers would rub on speed bumps. Not good! BTW I was using stock control arms, spindles and rotors/hubs. Rather than re-enforcing the spring pockets on the stock arms I decided to get new tubular control arms from UMI. I got their top of the line ones. They are the same as they are using their "Green Machine" Monte Carlo. I bought a set of Viking D/A coilovers for the front and Viking D/A Shocks for the rear. I also bought a set of UMI D/A roto joint rear control arms.

If you are on the fence about getting a set of coil overs, get off the fence and get them. They are worth it! As my car sits now the frame to ground on the front is 5 1/4in. and the rear is about 13 1/2in. I don't have any issues with grounding out or rubbing headers on speed bumps. The ride quality IS SO MUCH better and handling is much, much improved. I also did the Blazer brake upgrade and I have to say it's quite an improvement over stock G-body single piston callipers.

 

[nillabu]

Thanks Chevy! Nice looking malibu!! Great stance. Nice to see what the DS rear springs do in our cars. This is the way mine sits now. Would you agree, it looks too low?

I've done the B Body spindle swap 10 years ago. KYB shocks all around. I installed Moog 5660 w/one coil cut before the spindle swap. I reinstalled them after the swap and lost some height. Not sure just how much.

Those are 225 17's up front and 255's 17's out back. For what's it's worth, I'm beginning to think these cars look the best with 15's. Larger are okay, but there's something about the openings and 15's. I'm alright with what I have My ground to front fender height is 24" and frame to ground is 5-3/4" just behind the wheel. If your at 5-1/4" up front that's lower yet.

The rear springs are F Body's with some cut? and the positioning isolators. Ground to frame is 14" with 25" ground to quarter. I could always trim alittle more if needed but don't think I'll need to.

As you can see, the frame is sitting "hard" on the factory bump stop. I know the springs have lost some in the last several years as it never used to be that heavy on the stops. You can also see the weird angle to tie rod sits compared to the LCA. I'd probably have an issue w/bumpsteer if I had any suspension left. Marcus at SC&C would have a "hay day" with that :lol: I'll work on that later. Also notice the tight bend at the brake hose caused by being to low. That worries me alittle. May have to get some longer one at some point.

I'll be giving UMI a call and see what effect their lowers have with the spindle swap. I also like that regular coils or coil overs could be used with em. I'm starting to tilt toward the coilover setup now. Thanks for the info and pics. really helped!

Steve

 

[Chevy2410]

You are very welcome. I like the stance of yours, but your right, not much suspension travel and having the frame on the bump stop is not good.

I'll be giving UMI a call and see what effect their lowers have with the spindle swap.

That's a good question with regards to the B spindle swap.

My ground to wheel opening on the rear is 24 5/16in. and up front it's 23 3/8in. I have 1/2in. of space between the frame and the bump stop on the LCA. It probably wouldn't hurt to raise the front up a bit more. I may look into that.

Marcus at SC&C would have a "hay day" with that :lol: I'll work on that later.

I bet he would! :lol: :lol:

Post what UMI has to say and keep us informed.

Chevy

 

[StreetBu]

I just measured mine, 24" to the front fender, 25" to the rear. Looks killer, rubs a little in the front over bumps though.

 

[nillabu]

Sweet malibu Streetbu. Like the "blacked out" grill. My measurement are nearly identical..any bump stop and suspension travel issues? Will keep ya all informed on what I end up doing to mine to raise it some. I put a small jack under the crossmember and raised it until I had about 7", up from 5-3/4" frame to ground, 25"+ at the wheel opening, up from 24" and about 3/4"-1", up from 0" travel above the bumpstop. Looked pretty good, maybe alittle low in the rear then. Can't win

Happy 4th,
Steve

 

[StreetBu]

My front tires hit the inner fenders over bumps slightly when driving, A LOT if there is someone else in the car. I really want to do the Ride Tech air bag system so I can adjust the ride height for car show cruising, or free way driving, or autocross. Plus at some point I'm either changing to aluminum heads or an LS motor so the front end weight will change again.... BTW I'm running 245/50/16 on all 4 corners

 

[nillabu]

Air Ride would be cool. Not many G Bodies out there bagged I'm sure. Would be a great option but $$ I agree. You running stock spindles? With the height nearly as low as it sits now, even my 225's/17's on 8's w/4-3/4" back space rubbed on the liners as your does. Had 1/4" machined off the wheel mounting pads making them 5" b.s. and was better, no rubbing. Still didn't look right to me. Front track width is alittle wider with the B Body spindles I guess. Switched to 7" rims with 4-3/4" back space. Gained allot of clearance and no rubbing since. Suppose it'd be tough running a 245's on a 7" rims though. Personally, like the look of the 16's :awesome: vs the 17's. 15's better yet for some reason. Just showing my age I guess.

Front and rear 2" drop springs on their way from Detroit Speed by the way. Sould be here by the 9th. Just couldn't justify the $$ for coilovers and new lowers right now.

Good 4th,
Steve

 

[nillabu]

Finally got my Detroit Speed 2" drop springs installed. I was hoping for alittle more height increase as I thought the front was way too low on the old springs. I was real hard on the front bump stops just sitting static before the swap. In reality, I had no compression travel at all other than the what I was getting out of the poly stops.

It was alittle more work than I had planned. After installing the springs I had only gained about a 1/2" in the front (3/8" off the stops :roll: ) and lost about 1/4" in the rear which is still okay. On top of that, it wasn't level side to side (front and rear). Driver's side was noticeably low. Swapped all 4 springs side to side..still low on the driver's side :-k .

Ended up removing ALL 6 left side body bolts, raising the left side and installing 3/8" hard rubber washers between the body and each mount. It now sits dead level side to side :?.

Fender to ground measurement is 24-1/2" now and quarter to ground 25-1/8". Lesson learned.......shoulda went with coilovers and LCA's from the get go ](*,) . The rear seemed harsh at first until I notched the 9" rear housing UCA ear slightly. The left side upper arm was bottoming out on the ear. Ride and handling are better and the springs are great quality. Marcus at SC&C predicted exactly what I ended up with....knows his stuff!

It hard to tell but the front is higher and the rear lower.

 

[melloelky]

car still looks awesome as usual.