Re: Modifying my '83 5S part II

[ti@bazooka.amb.org (Ti Kan)]

Patrick Leung writes:
> One more thing I forgot to mention in my original post about souping up my
> '83 coupe... I'm considering having it lowered as it has quite a lot of space
> between the guards and the wheels and I've seen later coupes which are lower.
> Is this a good idea? It's supposed to improve handling (and it makes the car
> look better) but are there any caveats associated with lowering? (aside from
> being careful with judder bars :)

You pretty much have only two choices of springs to accomplish the
lowering: Suspension Techniques or Eibach.  Both of these lower
the car about 1.25 inch.  Do not cut the stock springs down
or you'll have a terrible handler.  The S-T springs are linear
rate and the Eibach are progressive.  You should change to more
performance-oriented shocks as well as the stock shocks will
probably not match well with the stiffer springs.  If you are
going to change to larger (wider) wheels and tires too, then
be sure to get wheels with the proper offset so that the
tie rod end doesn't rub the tire.  I find that on the 4000 and
Coupes the clearance to tie rod end tends to be more of a problem
than the fenders (unless you use a wheel with much less offset).
The stock wheels are 45mm offset, but a 38mm should work well
in a wider application.

-Ti
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