I've got the nose of my car dumped with the HAL front coilovers and Sportlines and the car is too raked for my liking. I'm looking at the Global West adjustable rear spring kit. How much ride height adjustability will I have with this kit and how low can I go?

TIA.

-Chris

 

"I CORNER1" is my home address for "I CORNER"

I have the GW adjustable height kit currently on the rear.

As the adjustment collar sits right on top of the axle spring perch, the springs must be shorter. If I used the rubber isolator on the top, my adjustment range would be from stock height to about 3 inches higher than stock height.

If you want a wide adjustment range, including below stock height, you may want to look at Ground Control or LG for their coil-over kits. I haven't fully researched them, but they have to be better than the GW front kit.

GW told me to remove the rubber isolator and replace it with a hose slipped around the end. That dropped me to 3/4" below stock. That's it. Doug at GW does not like lowering cars at all. I personnally disagree and still prefer about an inch drop.

Also be careful, as the first spring the GW sent me had an extra flat coil and raised my minimum height another 3/4".

Finally, I am sending the entire front and rear adjustment kits back to GW (with springs) for a refund. I have had a serious problem with the front AH kit with spring falling out of index and they don't appear to have the time to fix it.

Good Luck,
Rick R

 

Wow. Thanks, Rick. I almost ordered it today. Glad I didn't.

I owe you a beer!

-Chris

 

Its not really the GW adjuster that are the problem there. You just need a shorter spring. Not sure on the front. I bought the GC kit.

Measure you springs and see how tall. I have 175lb rear springs made for those and the GC kit that I would like to sell.

 

lons94z,

I bought the front/rear AH Kits with springs from GW as a matched set.

They claimed about a 3" adjustment range in the rear. I did not ask if that meant 2" lower to 1" higher. With the "correct" GW spring provided, my adjustment was from stock height to 3" above stock height. After removing the upper rubber donut isolator, I dropped back down almost 1".

I suppose that if I bought another shorter spring from somewhere else, that I could then drop it further. Point is that it was sold as a kit with a range that most would assume adjusts "around" the stock height.

Rick R

 

Even if you were "only" able to lower 2 1/4" in the rear, that is a tremendous amount IMO.

 

1" drop is perfect for me. I would not want to go any lower. However, I would have liked to keep the donut isolator. Point is, what good is a 3" adjustment, if the only adjustment you get is from stock height and up.

 

I corner, I am running about 1.5 to 2" drop with the LG coilover kit from stock ride height in the front and rear.

I'm pretty sure stock ride height is about 28-28.5" floor to top most edge of rear fende, this is for front and rear.

Right now I am about 26-26.5" from floor to top-most edge of rear fender for the rear and 26" for the front.

On hard cornering I am still ok, however I had to get LG to give me a shorter shock (5" tube) for the rears because I only had 1" of shock travel with the original (7" tubes) that they had sent me. Now I have about 3" inches of shock travel in the rear.

Other than that i'm pretty happy, make sure if you are running 315s in the back that you have everything in rod ends or you will get alot of rubbing. That means LCAs and panhard.

 

"I CORNER1" is my home address for "I CORNER"

Steve C.

Thanks for the info. The G2 coilovers look well engineered, but appear pricey. Internet says over $1500 with Bilstein custom valved shocks. How much did you pay for your set? Without the factory rubber spring perches, I would certainly meet my goal of no rubber or poly bushings in my suspension.

I currently have off the shelf Bilstein's and another set of Koni DA shocks. I have not used the Konis yet.

With Eibach Pro springs and Bilsteins up front, I am at 26.0" from level floor to peak of fender lip. I am certain that my front stock height was between 27.0" - 27.25" range. The 1.25" drop matched Eibach's claim.

From 1994 until I started to modify the car, I always noted that my 1994 Z28M6 rode a little lower than other LT1 Z28s. I have seen a number of the LS1 Camaro SSs, which appear to ride very high!

With Global West rear springs, no rubber donut isolators and the adjusters set to lowest height, my rear ride height is set to 26.25" with the slightly shorter Kumho Victoracer 700 315mm tires with a full tank of gas, spare tire, etc. I am certain that my stock height was about 27.5". So my maximum lowered position is slightly over 1" from stock all around. I have certainly not noticed any limited shock travel.

FYI. I went to all spherical bearings, rod-ends or del-a-lum solid bushings 3 years ago. I have absolutely no problems with the 315s touching laterally in the wheel well on AFS 17x11 wheels. On hard bumps, I can still graze the top of the outer fender (I will be rolling the edge in shortly to minimize this).

Thanks again,
Rick R

 

The car is currently lowered 3.25" up front and only 2 inches out back. I want it dumped.

lons94z, I'm interested, but I'm not going to pull out my rear springs just to measure them. Thx anyway! Now if somebody could tell me what the spring rate and uncompressed height is on the Sportlines as well as your springs then I might be interested.

-Chris

 

I corner $1500 is not alot for the quality of shocks/springs/mounting hardware that LG sells.

I've asked bilstein directly about the cost of these aluminum bodied shocks and they are around $300 each.

Plus LG gave me Hyperco springs, which are more expensive than the eibachs. So figure around $60 a spring x 4=$240.

So $1440 for shocks and springs, LG is making $60-100 on the mounting hardware and nuts/bolts.

If you look at coilover systems for euro/japanese cars by H&R, bilstein/tien/tokico it's all around $1200-$1800. And ive seen stuff for hondas that cost $1500 and don't even have the same level of quality.

Steve

 

Steve C,

Thanks for the added input! I assumed that the shocks that LG used were HD Bilsteins (like I already have), but configured with horizontal eyes on all 4 corners and revalved. I was not aware that they were aluminum-bodied units. I will defintely contact G2 for more information. Considering that I already have spent over $8000 on handling hardware (including 3 sets of ZR1 wheels with Kumho Victoracer, Nitto 555RII & Yoko/Advan A032R tires), another $1500 won't derail me.

First thing is to return my Global West Adjustable Height Kits with springs for a $700+ credit.

I do have a question for you though and I realize that ride-harshness is completely subjective. Do you find that the G2 kit on the front is too harsh with the elimination of the factory spring perch rubber mount?

FYI. The only other item that I have bought from G2 was the boxed steel lower control arms with heavy-duty rod-ends. I bought these arms when they first came out with them. The first set that I received, were in pretty rough shape (questionable quality welds, extra weld slag, burnt paint). However, the replacement set were just fine. How has your experience been with LG?

Thanks,
Rick R

 

Steve, I'm assuming that's 3" of compression travel and not total travel? If so, how much extension travel do you have?

 

First Jon's question answered:

I have 2.5-3" inches of shock shaft when the car is loaded or suspension compressed. When I have the car unloaded I have about 5" of shock shaft (extension).

Keep in mind that before I only had about 1" of shock shaft under compression because the shocks Lou gave me were 7" tubes. And with the car lowered about 1-1.5" I was bottoming out the rear shock. So I had to call Lou and he sent me shorter shocks (5" tubes) now everything is ok.

As far as the shocks valving goes, it is kind of light on the low speed rebound, so I'm contemplating getting them revalved. I know on the track you don't encounter too much big bumps or dips, but on the street you want some dampening as well.

Second ICORNER's question answered: The 650# springs/shocks
in the front without the stock rubber insulators/bushings, makes it perfect, not harsh at all, if anything its smoother compliant and precise. I am using a 32mm hollow 1LE bar, I wouldn't mind it be a little bigger I will try a 32mm solid.

The back is another story, I have all heim joint suspension, LCA's, panhard, shocks. It is moderately harsh over sharp impacts on the streets (bumps, rumble strips, sharp rises in the road). But hey its a solid axle, and overall its manageable for the amount of travel, movement and precision that the setup gives.

I'm thinking of getting a set of 125 springs for the street and using the 225# for the track. It's an easy swap and cheap.

Also the bearings in the shocks are held in by c-clips, are greasable and last a long time according to bilstein. They
are steel monoballs, not aluminum. They are also easily and cheaply replaced.

In any case, this kit gives you flexibility and total adjustment.

Well also, there's no other vendor that offers this.

 

What are the shocks doing that you want to revalve for?

Low speed rebound has little effect over bumps and dips. High speed rebound is what control the spring oscillations when encountering bumps and dips. Low speed rebound will effect the handling balance of the car though. Higher low speed rebound will allow weight to be transfered from one tire to another.
Crank up low speed rebound (the rebound that is adjustable on adjustable shocks) and make a left turn. The left side tire will un-weight itself more quickly. Thus transferring more weight to the right side tire quicker.

Compression will do similar things only without unweighting the other side. And the change is too sudden. Which is why if you could turn up low speed compression the car would skate on turn in.

So in general Rebound control how fast weight leave a tire and the opposite for compression.
Hope that helps