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Posted by: steveherman Sep 3 2010, 12:04 PM

My car is bone stock from front to rear.
I am looking at 180lb progressive springs.

-are these stock height?

-if not what do i have to do to the front end to make the front height match the rear height?

-will i need a bump steer kit?

-will i need to do any other mods to make them look "right"?

-being that they are "progressive" they are gonna be pretty decent for all types of driving... right?

thanks
steve

Posted by: vsg914 Sep 3 2010, 12:25 PM

I have 160 prog's
Yes, they will lower the rear. Yes, you will need to lower the front to match. Yes you will need the bump steer kit. How are the rest of the suspension components? If they are original parts, they will probably need to be renewed to reap the full benefits from the springs. Yes, the ride will be noticebly harder on the street, aaaannnnddd, yes, they will will much improve the handling of your car.

Posted by: DanT Sep 3 2010, 02:04 PM

how low your car ends up in the rear is also a function of what type of rear shocks you are running and if the spring perches are adjustable....also you may not have to install a front bump steer kit....it depends solely on how low you take the front end.
I have Koni adjustable shocks front and rear, and with the stock spring perches and the Konis set as low as they will go in this configuration, the rear is still a bit higher than I would like.....I lowered the front end and did not have to install a bump steer kit, and I have no steering issues...period...

also with 180s in the rear, you may find you need larger front torsion bars to balance the handling of the car....with stock front torsion bars you may find the rear of the car to be a bit "happy"

180s in the rear are balanced nicely with 21mm front torsion bars.

like the orange car


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Posted by: Spoke Sep 3 2010, 02:05 PM

I put 180 LB springs on the back of my 74 2L and it totally changed the handling of the car. It made the car very loose and I had to be careful taking corners under power as the back end would want to swap places with the front.

The car handled much better with the stock springs.

Go to 180 LB if you've come to the conclusion that your suspension setup will be better with stiffer rear springs.

Posted by: Vacca Rabite Sep 3 2010, 03:36 PM

PLEASE listen to Spoke!

He knows about these cars swapping ends!

But, seriously, doubling the spring in the back without increasing the stiffness in the front will lead to a car that is twitchy. I have 140s on my car, with a stock front sway bar, and I have had the back try to sweep out from under me under hard cornering. Its fun, sure. But I would not want to go ANY stiffer in the backwithout increasing the fronts to match.

Zach

Posted by: Borderline Sep 3 2010, 05:45 PM

The "progressive" springs I used to run ( I believe they were 160's) weren't really progressive. There were 3 coils at one end that were wound tighter than the rest and when the car was on the ground those three coils would compress and go solid. They were simply acting as a spacer and didn't effect the spring rate at all. So if you wanted to lower the car a little you could remove one or two of those coils to lower the car and still keep the same spring rate. You can sort of check this by feeling the coil spacing when the car is setting on the ground, or you can see it if the solid coils are installed at the bottom. FWIW

Posted by: jmill Sep 3 2010, 06:12 PM

QUOTE(Borderline @ Sep 3 2010, 06:45 PM)

Posted by: DanT Sep 3 2010, 06:57 PM

wow, does anyone ever read the other posts before they post

Posted by: Vacca Rabite Sep 3 2010, 08:31 PM

Was someone saying something above me?