925lb/in Front spring install.

[mrltd]

Cool...that'll look good on the wagon. Next will be figuring the rear out on mine...Although it's already almost too stiff

[turbo2256b]

I agree, now that I have felt civilian, PI, and 925lb/in springs. I think 1300 would be pretty rough, bot no more rough than a lowered ricer. The ride I have now is pretty comparable to something like a new compact car, but with much less body roll.

Did the same thing stock,PI then 1000. Now you all believe. 1300 springs would be for big blocks.

[mrltd]

Did the same thing stock,PI then 1000. Now you all believe. 1300 springs would be for big blocks.

]


I always believed.... That's why I got the 1000's

[Blaze86Vic]

Of course there is something to be said for the gradual change from stock to 1000lb'ers. I drove a bone stock one about a month ago, and yeah, it's like riding on air in comparisson.

[Freshmeat]

How hard was it to install 'em? I'll want to cut mine, to go lower, but it's a pain to pull 'em for a re-cut every time.

...and you want to talk about change? Mine are so blown that if I launch hard with the 5spd, the front end nearly comes off the ground (not literally, but you get the point). It comes up high enough that I can't see the road.

[mrltd]

Why would you want to change that? That's a good way to scare the ricers

[Blaze86Vic]

Not that hard at all. "Follow my step by step instructions, I make spring swaps FUN!" (Strongbad quote)

1) Jack car up, then take the wheel and caliper off.

2) Turn the front of the hub full lock towards the center of the car.

3) Place a car jack under the ball joint end of the lower control arm. Run it up to the joint, then drop it about 1/16" or so, just so that the jack is not holding it up. MAKE SURE THE JACK IS LOCKED, and not set to release.

4) Losen the nut on the lower ball joint, but leave the nut on at least some. Also disconect the anti-sway bar.

5) To get the ball joint unstuck from the spindle, you will need a good sledge. A small 4-5lb'er should do it. I found it easiest to hit the spindle at the ball joint from under the middle of the car. And hitting the back side of the spindle. The reason you do this, it to just jolt the spindle with an impact and it causes the ball joint to come out. You left the nut on the ball joint though just as an extra precaution that it stays up.

6) Once the lower ball joint it free, get out from under the car, jack the jack up to the ball joint, then remove the nut.

7) The best trick to getting off from here is to just losed the hub nut so as to get aroung the rotors. Then slowely drop the controle arm. Be causious, but don't be paranoid. The setup in the front it pretty non-flying spring type.

8) Once the jack is all the way down, you will probably need to push the lower control arm down a little to get the spring out. Poline and anything stronger/shorter will be easy to put in without effort. With the 12" springs, I had to lift the control arm quite a bit to even get it to stay in for positioning it.

NOTES: Don't foget to leave the nut on the ball joint. Drop the jack just a little to allow the control arm to drop onto the nut when you get the ball joint free. Losen the hub nut for clearance. Make sure to rotate the new spring to the proper orientation before you compress it back up.

[Freshmeat]

Awesome. Thanks.

[Archangel]

Blaze, I have a question - the weight of the front end of the car will be enough to compress the springs with only about 1.5" which would mean their loaded height is now about 10.5",while stock is 11.5" and the springs are much longer - aren't you afraid that if you get the car airborne the springs will pop out when the suspension extends to it's lowest point? Or to rephrase my question, if you jack the car up so the front wheels lift off the ground (obviouslywith the shocks and the sway bar still connected to the control arms), do the springs still stay nice and tight in theor locations, or are they too short to compensate for the suspesion's travel and they will wobble around in there? Reason I'm asking is there are some places here where every time I drive through the front end almost lifts off the ground, and having too short springs there might turn into a problem.

[Blaze86Vic]

Not at all. One thing to note is that the current installed hieght of these springs is not 10.5" but about 10.2". I know .3" not a big deal, but .3" is about 20% more compression lenght than 10.5". Or more importantly .3" is about 300lbs. Even the old shocks would not allow that much travel. The front is not really a problem with this. The front wheels can drop all the way till the upper controle arms rest on the frame and the springs are still compressed. It's a pivot geometry. When the lower controle arm is perfectly horizontal (about the resting ride height) the spring length chang with respect to wheel hieght change is about 2-1 (Srping moves 1" wheel moves 2"). However as the control arm become angle this changes exponentialy more. The rear on the other hand is. The rear suspension has a much larger range of travel. So when using shorter springs in the rear it is more important that you get shocks that limit the range to the needed length.

[Archangel]

You know, that I think of it again, whether the springs will get loose when the suspesion decopresses doesn't really depend on the spring rate, but more on the free height of the springs - if your 12" long 925lb/in ones don't have that problem, I can put 1150lb/in if I wanted to and it would still be just fine, as long as they are 12" or more of free height, correct? That's good to hear, now I only need to gather all the linkage parts (control arms, spindles, ball joints, bushings) and I can go have some fun with the front end.

[85crownHPP]

ride hieght looks perfect to me...!

so would you say PI springs are a happy medium for what you have now and stock? Mine seems to sit high in the front, I wouldnt mind it being lower. Do the PI srpings make it any lower? (Im guessing these are 90's police vic springs right?)

[Blaze86Vic]

I...well, my Father had 84 PI fronts in the car, but removed them just before the keys became mine (one side sag deal). I would say they are inbetween on ride quality, but the height no. The 84Pi had no effect on ride height compared to civilian. I still currently have the 84 PI rears. But soon I will be trying a set of 14" 225lb/in in the rear. I don't know how it happened, because I wanted 250, but I'll give it a shot and if it's too low I'll exchange for stiffer.

[mrltd]

Man, 225's...gonna hurt. I think the wagons stock are 170-180 and my wagon rides stiff in the rear. Enough that I prolly won't change them out for stiffer than cargo coils.

[Blaze86Vic]

PI rears are 175 anyways.