Topic: Coil spring mods

Ok, we want to lower the ride height and stiffen up the suspension on our lemon. There are a number of ways to achieve this; heating the springs, cutting the springs, or using spring clamps. Any one have any experience with one of these methods either working well or horribly? Its a coil over shock suspension.

Rednektified Racing - Team Captain
#101 Moby Slick
2010: Yee-Haw "Most horrible yank tank" (DNF)

Re: Coil spring mods

Do not, repeat, do not heat the springs. You'll take the temper out of them and then they'll break when stressed (like fully loaded and then you hit the kerb). That's bad.
You can cut the coils to do what you want, but try not to get them too hot while you're doing it. Cutting them is a pretty common trick in Lemons racing.

Pat Mulry, TARP Racing #67

Mandatory disclaimer: all opinions expressed are mine alone & not those of 24HOL, its mgmt, sponsors, etc.

Re: Coil spring mods

I have a question related to this... how do you keep the springs seated under droop travel once you cut them?  On our saturn if we cut a coil off, the springs will be super loose under droop.  Is mig-welding the dead coil to the perch an acceptable option?

Re: Coil spring mods

ProDarwin wrote:

I have a question related to this... how do you keep the springs seated under droop travel once you cut them?  On our saturn if we cut a coil off, the springs will be super loose under droop.  Is mig-welding the dead coil to the perch an acceptable option?

Droop straps.

Cannibalize a pair of old tie downs for the nylon straps and tie them in place to keep the suspension from traveling past the springs.

Or shorten the shock absorber rods smile

El Capitan de los Bastardos De Lemons
1993 Linco Mark Ate
1957 Renault Dauphine
Driver with LemonSpeed's V6 Mustang

Re: Coil spring mods

ProDarwin wrote:

I have a question related to this... how do you keep the springs seated under droop travel once you cut them?  On our saturn if we cut a coil off, the springs will be super loose under droop.  Is mig-welding the dead coil to the perch an acceptable option?

We did this, worked fine.

Jer / Schumacher Taxi Service
2010 Spring CMP I.O.E. winner
2010 Sebring overall winner
1996 Miata, 1991 BMW E30, 1987 coROLLa (retired), 1984 Citation (retired), 1993 Miata (retired)

6 (edited by Mulry 2010-07-09 04:33 AM)

Re: Coil spring mods

TheHeckler wrote:

Droop straps.

Cannibalize a pair of old tie downs for the nylon straps and tie them in place to keep the suspension from traveling past the springs.

In the off-road world they're often called "suspension limit straps" and are used to prevent jacked-up 4x4 suspensions from going to full droop when hanging off a rock, etc. Here's a photo of an off-road one if it helps you to visualize what we're talking about:

http://www.offroadwarehouse.com/product … uctID/3767

Although I do really wonder how often we get these cars at full droop. FWD cars probably more than anything else since they'll tend to lift the inside rear wheel a lot of times. I guess maybe an inside front on a hard fast turn for a RWD car?

Maybe the solution is just to run only AWD Audis and Scoobs. smile

Pat Mulry, TARP Racing #67

Mandatory disclaimer: all opinions expressed are mine alone & not those of 24HOL, its mgmt, sponsors, etc.

Re: Coil spring mods

Jer wrote:

We did this, worked fine.

Good to know, thanks!


Mulry wrote:

Although I do really wonder how often we get these cars at full droop. FWD cars probably more than anything else since they'll tend to lift the inside rear wheel a lot of times. I guess maybe an inside front on a hard fast turn for a RWD car?

Well, its barely seated at full droop stock.  After cutting coils, it would likely come unseated before reaching full droop.  There are a few spots @ summit I could picture it being an issue.

Re: Coil spring mods

Not only on track, but when in the air for service the springs falling out of the perch can be a pain in the butt.

MOST cars have enough extra spring to stay seated with some trimmed, but in the case of your Saturn, I'd engineer something to limit droop.

....or go junkyard shopping for a stiff, tall spring from a larger vehicle that could be trimmed to do the task.

Our Lemons Caravan still had solidly seated springs after cutting two full coils. Mathematically it took our spring rate from around 110lb/in to 160lb/in.... with plenty of travel to spare.

Lorin Mueller
Scuderia Asino formerly Team Haulin' Ass - 83 Plymouth Scamp
Team Soccer Moms - 93 Dodge Caravan

Re: Coil spring mods

I cut the dead coil and one additional coil off the springs in our Jag with my chop saw. I've also heard - from an experienced, winning racer - to cut the coil with a chop saw and then using a torch to heat and bend the top coil into a dead coil. I did weld the dead coil into the spring perch, but it doesn't really do anything to help or hurt, it's just there. At full droop our springs are still under tension, but if they weren't I'd put a droop-limiting strap on it.

Re: Coil spring mods

I lowered a Saturn years ago and was before I had a welder I drilled.a hole in the strut spring perch and hose clamped it and worked fine . But if you got welder just Do heavy tack on there

Pit Crew Revenge Racing   Rolling chicanelimo,95Lamdspeeder,Gimp Pimp Cadi,300zx Car show kaboom!! 90 Wagovan, mazda v8 Lemons LOGO TATTOO!  Aces 84 Cadi Eldo Briattz I O E WINNER
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Re: Coil spring mods

If you speak geek, this is a great article:

http://www.motoiq.com/magazine_articles … cksaw.aspx

-Kyle
Eyesore Racing
"That's probably wrong, but it's worth a shot."

Re: Coil spring mods

I've done both, cut front coils and heated the rears with no adverse problems. I hold them in with coat hangers. 85 grand prix 2 races

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