Lowering

[crshbndct]

i believe that me previous statement was misunderstood.

a spring that has been heated up, shortened and retempered will have a higher spring rate than standard. this is due to the amount of force required to compress it will be more becasue it has the same number of coils in a shorter space (rough description) a CUT spring will have the same spring rate, and is dangerous as hell. revalving or is teh best solution along with retempered springs. look for springs out of a civic shuttle, the are farking hard as standard, and have a hella high srping rate, get those retempered and you will have good springs for city. has anyone tried modifying their shick to lower the platform?

[Turbo3]

Had my shocks and struts re-positioned etc. Basically involved shifting the mounting point closer to the top of the shock so it uses less of it. This lowered the back by 37mm and the front by 45. Has a little problem with one of the swing arms knocking on the cross arm. Otherwise it worked out really well. Have a custom threaded sleeve and adjustable collar on the front so I can wind it down for drag duties and take it back up for cruising around the streets. Still low but not crazy!  ;D
Pete

[Colza]

Theres a guy in Silverdale who suggested making up a set of coilovers. He takes the existing shock and welds new spring mounts to it and chucks on 60mm coilover springs. The springs are apparently quite expensive but it works out much cheaper than custom coilovers ($$$).

[Charles]

Sorry crash,

You are a bit wrong mate. Springs are illogical. Basically it is the other way around.

Cut springs = increased spring rate

Formula for spring rate is

SR= (11250000 x wire diameter ^4)
       ---------------------------------------
       (8 X no of active coils x coil diameter^3)

Measurements in inches)

Have a search on spring rates to get the theory.

That being said there is NOTHING wrong with cut springs if they seat properly, are held captive, do not coil bind and are the spring rate you require.

Generally you can reduce honda spring by up to 1.5 inches which increases spring rate and will still be held captive. Some springs require you to do some remedial grinding to get factory type settlement.

You can use the formula below to work out increase of spring rates from cutting springs.

A spring is a spring.

[hoovermatic]

Has anyone ever heared of or tried lowering by increasing the height of the suspension towers?

[Turbo3]

Yep, that's what I did on the front of the T3.
Basically shifted the mounting points and pushed the whole thing up. Got me 45mm closer to the deck on the front!  ;)
Seems to work OK.  ;D
Pete

[Colza]

45mm is some quite serious slammage!!! Nicely done. Its gonna look mean when it reappears on the roads.

[bridgeport]

how did u do that??
is it legal ?    :o a farqen good idea to lower a car
because after all  its the low center of gravity that will
make ur car handel like a go cart   45ml  drop is quiute a bit  
it would be interesting to know how u did it in detail

[Turbo3]

Yep, it's legal and has all been certified. Needs to be done by someone with current welding certs though. Go the Turbo Tech boss!  ;D
I'll get some pics showing a bit more detail but here's the back strut. You can just make out the shock sitting close to the inside of the rim (was 14s - going to 15 now). Springs were compressed and gave 37mm drop. Fairly firm but should ride OK.  :)

Pete

[crshbndct]

[quote author=Colza link=board=GEN;num=1065401188;start=0#17 date=10/20/03 at 15:58:08]Theres a guy in Silverdale who suggested making up a set of coilovers. He takes the existing shock and welds new spring mounts to it and chucks on 60mm coilover springs. The springs are apparently quite expensive but it works out much cheaper than custom coilovers ($$$).[/quote]
whats his number?

that is a good idea, but u should use 1977 civic shocks, they are openable and can be refilled using a higher viscosity suspension oil (read: mobil 1) to provide a firmer ride, as well as having the coil overs. shocks that have been modified like should behave similiar to a koni

[hoovermatic]

I saw somewhere, rubber blocks being used in the coils to make the suspention harder and reduce wheel scraping. This could be usefull when using standard suspention with raised towers.

[James]

Hope this helps crsh, the guy in silverdale said about $150 each for the coil-over springs and about $100 for the threaded tube and adjustable platform but don't quote me on those prices . he also said if the shocks were dismantleable it would be very nice to take them apart and weld the thread to the  shock which would really make them proper coilovers, but if they werent dismantleable then there is ways to get around that. either way there its going to make room for very much wider tyres ;D. I am seeing him tomorrow so I will get his details for you then if you are still interested crsh. Nice bit of info with the 1977 civc shocks BTW, you wouldnt happen to know if any of the second gen civic shocks were refillable?