FE-FC Holden Discussion Forum

Want to lower my FC as it is sitting like a 4wd.  Not sure at this stage how to go about it, dont want to cut the springs.  Can anybody give me some suggestions?  I want to drop it about 2-2and a half inches.

Hey Taz
  Probably  the first step is to visit suspension specialists , they would have a pretty good idea what size coils for the  front so you can get a lower  ride but it won't "bottom out" and get  the rear leaf springs re-set or lowering blocks (but don't know if they're still legal these days)

  Norm  :)

If you are handy with cars, call your nearest spring maker for your options. We have one in SA called Industrial Springs, they even install the springs if you want they probably deliver interstate too. Or call a suspension specialist.
If you don't want to do the work, call around ALL the local suspension specialist for prices on supply and install. They would generally be selling the same gear when it comes to springs.
A more expensive option is the Rod Shop drop spindles at about $500 a pair.
Cutting springs and lowering blocks are not an option if you want to stay legal.

I have a HR Front End in my FC...so it was as simple as buying a set of lowered springs to suit a HR  and for the rear, I sent my original leaf springs off the Westralia Springs in Belmont ( WA ) who pulled them apart, cleaned them, hot dipped and reset to 1" lower and then painted and reassembled with new nylon bushes all for $140.

SHe looks low now, and that's with no motor, glass, interior, fuel or battery and that's sitting on 13" wheels.....can;t wait til I fit bigger wheels and see the car at kerb weight !

Mark

Lowering blocks are OK in Vic, my car went through both engineering and RWC with 2 inch blocks fitted

Ken

I was told to lower my car when I went for engineering, I had taken out my cut springs and put in some real tall ones out of stuff knows what but the tall springs made it very difficult to control.
on the rear I started of with 2" lowering blocks but was not satisfied.
I ended up changing to 1 1/2" blocks, I had the eyes reversed on the springs and then got them lowered a further 3".
I then coul't get in the driveway so I fitted airshocks and a compressor.

G'day Tayz,

I am also in Ballarat and have a fc wagon well under construction.  I have some spare lowering blocks that would suit you if you want to try them.  Send me a message here if you want to grab them to try out.  I also have the address and details of a place in melbourne where i got my rear spirngs reset.

Graeme

Thanks Graeme,
                        I reneged and put it the two inches at the rear.  Then by some sort of magnetic force I lopped a coil and a half of each side at the front and it is sitting pretty nice(for the time being anyhow, maybe another inch?)

Tayz, have ever seen the Ricers getting around in their way too low, cruddy, beaten up jap cars and they are bobbing around like one of them noddy-dogs?
That's the quality of ride you will be getting with the cut springs, I'd suggest a set of properly lowered jobbies.
Your kidneys will love you for it  ;D

Gday Stinky,
I realize that cut springs are a no-no, but there is more to ride and handling than just springs.  My wagon had cut springs in it when I bought it, and for that reason, was very dubious about the handling.  Everything else in the front end was in good condition, and it actually rode and handled better than most early Holdens I've driven.
Having said that, if you had the choice between cutting springs and resetting them, go resetting every time.

Nothing wrong with cutting springs ,Just dont do it with heat ! No Oxy because it will weaken the spring.
Use a hacksaw if your extremely keen or a 1mm grinding disk works a treat ,Doesnt even burn paint on sheet metal so the heat wouldnt be a problem.
Ive been running the same cut springs for 6 years and they havent sagged ,They are v8 commodore although once cut down have probably brought it back to EK specs just lower.
They sit about 10mm off the halved bump stops - so they are extremely low for an original front end.

Hey Harko,

Your FB does have a nice stance and for all intense purposes you have had no troubles but...

A manufactured spring has a flat machined into the seating surfaces, by cutting springs you remove this feature.

This feature ensures that the weight of the vehicle is supported by more than just the tip of the spring only.

Removing this may over stress the spring at the end and cause it fail.

Losing half to one inch of spring all of a sudden on cut down bump stops may not be every ones idea of fun!

Im sure your awesome projects dont have cut springs! Your grey powered beasty is in a differnet categoy right?

Sorry mate, that's just my opinion on spring cutting.

Cheers

Ed

Each to their own, just offering an opinion.

Now changing to my english teachers hat...
Isn't the saying
"for all intents and purposes" ?
sorry Ed, thought I'd point it out before someone else did.

Early springs dont at both ends ED or mine didnt atleast ,the recess in the bottom control arm has .

You know if something can be cut - its worth cutting . ;D

I stand corrected Stinky... * pauses, hits grammar, spell check and correct use of English button*   ;D

ok Harko .. cut the bloody things!

A previous car of mine had all cut springs, and it wound up through a fence...  always wondered if the cut springs had anything to do with it!

Cheers

Ed


;D

when you see these guys bobbing up and down it's prrobably half real and half acted or exagerated.
some people think its cool to bounce around when cruzing along, you will probably notice once they get of main street or think they are out of site they wont be so bouncy.
this isnt new to todays young generation, it has probably been cool to do this in parts of the world since before FE's were tadpoles in their dads -
dont you old guys remember watching the early cheech and chong movies?
In places of the US were cruizing was big in the 50's we were seeing customs 1" of the ground. if you were a parent of a teenager you would relax if your kids left in a kustom as the low clearance and heavy led meant they wouldn't be going anywere fast. they didn't need too, they looked more cool at 2 mph.
on the other hand, hot rods were built for speed, un necessary items were removed to reduce weight, bigger motors were fitted etc, this probably meant your kid was going out for some street racing.
if you go low more than 5 inches you will end up with your tailshaft hitting the floor under acceleration. I know from years of experience, my car has never jumped of the road but it has chewed a few uni's.
anyone who has seen it parked along side another FC has commented on its low roofline and bumpers.
if you want to persue handlin buy a ferrari, if you cant afford one buy a datsun 1600, if you want to look cool buy some thing 50's and dump it in the weeds, more than likely you will only experience hassles if you cant drive for shit, live on a corragated road or you cant figure out the new characteristics of your cut springs and try taking bumpy bends at high speeds.
possibly one day your stocker fe or fc may end up on its lid if you dont drop it. dont bullshit me, ive driven quite a few stockers on todays roundabouts and it dont seem to safe.

Hey Guyzz
  Is this about the right height ?

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v138/normd/autopro013a.jpg)

 Just high enough to poke the exhausts out the side  ;D
if you look at the centre of the wheels compared to the sill you'll get the idea.

  Rear springs were re-set and are dead straight , don't know how many coils were cut off the front springs , but not many coils left there  ;D   (they were cut before I bought the car) and this one is a REAL kidney killer.       ( word of warning , don't try to cross speed bumps in carparks , it tends to "grind" just a little  underneath ::)
 It corners great at 100 mph

  Norm  :)

PS . It is an FC ..  just an FE grill for better Airflow..

Hey now be nice not to much of the old.



Cheers
Sarge

Having talked about buying a new set of lowered springs so the car looks better in the wedding photo's next week but not currently being able to justify the expense I bit the bullet after reading all this and lopped one and half coils off each side last night.  I will get some reset ones eventually - after the grey is finished, but hey I am happy with the ride height and ride now ;D.  It corners much better and no doubt would be again improved with reset springs.  

Harko you are right about only one end of the springs being machined.  I included the big grinder ;D ;D ;D in the picture just to excite you mate.
(http://photobucket.com/albums/v232/EKBurnsy/IM000017.jpg)

 Looks good Burnsy , just throw a few bags of cement in the boot and youre good to go .... might handle a bit iffy though.
When I was much younger and a bit sillier the standard method of lowering old holdens comprised of four simple steps ...
 1) Remove both front springs
 2) Cut one in half
 3) Throw the other one away
 4) Reinstall  ;D  

Yeah, I will have the back springs reset by the guys who did Mark's.  Funny how it looks that way now as 24 hours ago the back was alot lower than the front, my front sat way high, knocking less than two inches off the springs has dropped the front nearly four inches, you could put your fist beween the arch and the top of the tyre before ::)

don't cut one in half becuase they rattle, especailly on parramatta rd, also, if you don't drop the back you end up with weird steering.
this is what sucks becuase you just miss out on selling the other spring to you mate. you have to measure half, and then leave one extra coil unless you remove your bump stops wich can also make noises on the bumps.
its funny that you say it might look better in wedding photos, does it make the bride look tall, my wedding had 3 very low old holdens but what I really thought was funny is that a wedding car company we service at work has 3 new clk's, with these things you are paying about $100000 just for its ride and handling qualities. these cars that are retailling in excess of 200k. but the car is a 2 door meaning the bride has to climb out past the front seat, next, its a convertible so, so much for all that time at the hairdresser but what really gets me is they are lowered so low that it practically has no suspension and it rides on 20" mega low profile tyres so when the bride arrives, hair messed up from the wind, dress ruined from climbing in and out she can now chuck up her shaken to the shit house guts.

praise the lowered!

we should be talking skid plates, hydrulics, bags, cutting our floors, fitting lakes pipes etc, 2" still has that leyland brothers look.
If you really want to keep it high, be sure to fit some hallibrand 12 spoke spindles to the front with cheetah slicks on the back and remove the front bar at least.

     BURNSY ,  BURNSY ,  BURNSY ? ? ?    WHAT ARE YOU DOING .......   Showing Harko machinery like THAT ? ? ?  :o  He does enough damage with the little ones . ...  
   
   Blacky  , When the FJ was "the car"   all the old cockies (farmers) around here used to put a "bag of wheat" in the boot . used to stop them from bouncing around on the dirt roads . You would be surprised how many did it.

    Norm   :)

Even at age 12, I remember being suitably horrified watching my Dad remove the front springs from our GTR-XU1 and asking me to cut a couple of rings off to lower it.  It was hardwork for a little kid with a hacksaw, but once cut and re-installed the Torana looked fairly tough. I never got to drive it to find out how they went...

Ah the dodgy days of living in Coolaroo Victoria in the 1980's.  For those that have seen "The Castle" movie might remember the scene where the brother is asked to move the Toyota, to move the Cortina, to get the Torana out?  That was us, except we didn't holiday in Bonnie Doon  

Oh, and if you're ever looking for a way to "raise" your FC, I do not recommend you attempt it by dropping a tailshaft.  Sure, you get plenty of height all of a sudden, but the landing isn't so crash hot (so to speak).  This is me at age 17, first run with ACT Club, after trying to keep up with those Holdens with red-motors.  Although, once the tow-rope was hooked up, I did atleast manage to keep pace with the HR...

Hey Burnsy, I had a peep at your web-site, what is the L300 Front End fitted to?

The L300 was on either a EK or EH (I think EK as I tend to do searhes based on my car), I can't remember, I found it on the web somewhere some time ago.  It looks pretty neat and that is why I asked the question in the other post about rack and pinion front ends about what anyone knows about them?  Can't for the life of me find the site they came off ::) - spewin!