lowering

[bonvo]

I would look at the spring itself, with the car fully on the ground,

to try and give yourself an idea of how much to cut.

 

People can throw ideas and guesses out there, but if your springs are softer, manufacturing differences. ect., than someone else's, what they did to their car doesn't really matter to you.

 

Take a peek. If you want to lower them X,

try to figure out how much spring you need to cut to get X,

with the weight on the springs.

If you must go in 1/2 increments to mount them, round the actual cut up or down.

And the springs get stiffer the shorter they are.

DON'T forget that.

 

I have a pro written book called "chassis engineering" that talks about it.

They actually advise NOT buying new springs, and cutting the old ones, as they already have their "permanent set".

They say oxy/acetylene is fine for cut, as it doesn't heat up enough of the coils to ruin the spring.

What, 15 seconds with the right tip?

They say to cut 1/2 coil, but I've seen your 4x4.

MAYBE start at @ 1 full coil. Your judgement.

You're a big boy, so cut too much, and you might be scraping and bottoming all the time, esp with a full car.

They also say to heat the spring 1/2 coil down from your cut, flip it over, and bend the coil flat at the end like stock.

 

Go slow and carefully thought out, you might not even ruin a spring.

Feel free to give me a ring, if you need.

Good LUCK!

 

yeah i was gonna start with one coil all the way around and see what that does

[bonvo]

ok guys im hoping to be able to cut the springs this weekend *crosses fingers*now i need to know what the top hat is is it the part circled in red or green?

 

[Cuts metal like mad]

what's going on there? That's 5lug!

[bonvo]

its just a pic i found in a thread so i could use it as an example my struts are still in the car mine is my daily driver :P i was just using the pic as an example

 

i was wondering which one is the top hat if its the one with the 3 studs i cant turn it mine are out of a 94 maxima so the patter is a tiny bit different

[bonvo]

would i be correct in assuming its the part circled in red?

[Cuts metal like mad]

top hat is the one with the studs. The one in red is the strut bearing... It should turn.

[INDY510]

DO NOT remove the nut in the center of the top hat without a spring compressor.

The 3 nuts at the top can be removed without any problem, but follow these step by step directions:

 

http://forum.ratsun.net/showthread.php?t=6521