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Lowering on the Cheap


MTM

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  • 8 months later...

Thought this might be the best place to bring this topic back up...

I put 2 inch drop springs in front of my escort panelvan with new monroe inserts and after 100 kms they fuct out... I assume because they weren't shortened. Monroe are replacing them so all good...

Having read this and seen the drop the springs give I would like a bit more so am thinking of cutting a coil off and getting the shocks shortened 2.5 or 3 inches instead of just 2 inches.

Any suggestions if this would be the way to go? I will be flaring the guards also.

Cheers

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did you cut the bumpstops, add smaller ones, or remove them? the suspension needs to bottom out on the bumpstop and not the shock. if it bottoms out on the shock it will fuck out most shocks real quick.

 

the shock needs to be short enough to make the spring captive and have enough compression travel remaining that you hit the bumpstops before bottoming out the shock or the aforementioned rooting will happen.

 

cutting of springs is technically not legal for the road, so if you do that and the wof guy notices or your go for a cert it wont fly.

 

Putting that aside (say we were talking about a track car) it depends on the spring seat design whether is an issue or not, some cars have spring ends finished natural which is the same as cut, some have the ends bent flat, some have the ends ground flat. basically is the end is natural it will be the same as cut and no issue, but if its flattened or ground then its not going to sit right and will likely cause you problems. no idea about what the setup in an escort is.

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did you cut the bumpstops, add smaller ones, or remove them? the suspension needs to bottom out on the bumpstop and not the shock. if it bottoms out on the shock it will fuck out most shocks real quick.

the shock needs to be short enough to make the spring captive and have enough compression travel remaining that you hit the bumpstops before bottoming out the shock or the aforementioned rooting will happen.

cutting of springs is technically not legal for the road, so if you do that and the wof guy notices or your go for a cert it wont fly.

Putting that aside (say we were talking about a track car) it depends on the spring seat design whether is an issue or not, some cars have spring ends finished natural which is the same as cut, some have the ends bent flat, some have the ends ground flat. basically is the end is natural it will be the same as cut and no issue, but if its flattened or ground then its not going to sit right and will likely cause you problems. no idea about what the setup in an escort is.

Had a look and we couldn't see any bumpstops at the front. Spoke to a mate who has owned a few mk2s in the past and he doesn't think there are meant to be any in the front... anyone else able to confirm this?

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  • 6 months later...

Cheapest way is lowering blocks in the back and then jack up the front and get the gas cutting torch out. Do one cut each side and pull out the bit of spring you just cut off. Lower jack bounce the front up and down a couple of times and if not low enough repeat the fore mentioned steps until the right height. Probably get pink stickered first time out though

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Yeah i put blocks in the back then went to do the front only to realise the guy gave me Capri springs... now I'm driving a rocket ship until other springs turn up. When going over a semi severe Bump I hear a nice clank from the back. I'm guessing that's my shocks bottoming out?

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