So I recently purchased the 4 wheel coil conversion from Eddie at American Air. I wanted the 1.5" lowering one but he no longer makes it so he told me to just cut a coil off each spring to make it the 1.5" drop. I was wondering how I should approach cutting the coils that are already under pressure. Any suggestions?

spring compressor

Are you thinking about cutting a spring thats still loaded in a strut? Or still on the car?

Its on the strut and not installed on the car yet. And thats what I was thinking Stu. I know that most auto stores here in NJ let you rent one so thats what ill probably do.

Yeah get one, and promise us you won't try to cut that spring while it's under pressure

10x Sapperfire. jds

I actually think it would be fun to see what happens if a spring is cute while compressed and in the strut.

Do it and get it on video.

:)

lol I knew I couldn't cut it under pressure but I will be getting the spring compressor to do it. Have any of you done this before because I also want to know if I need to upgrade anything else and do I have to get an alignment when Im done?

The springs were cut on my Stang and it road like crap. I had aftermarket BBK lowering springs put on and it road perfect... moral of the story is cutting the spring is not going to net good handling...

When I talked to Eddie a while back, the lowered Mark springs that used to be sold were the standard springs with 1 coil cut off each. That is why he suggests you cut them yourself.

Yeah thats what he told me. Do you think I will need an alignment?

Yeah thats what he told me. Do you think I will need an alignment?

yes..

Look at My progress thread, you'll see how to compress the spring,and then remove the spring from the strut...yes you will need an alignment,
my springs are the last set sold by AA that are the lowered version,it's easy to cut them to size, use a DiGrinder with a 3 inch cutting wheel
the ride will always be a little rough and shaky, but you can make it glide on the freeway with proper struts and shocks from Tokico...the Tokico's are the only strut and shock from personal, seen and heard experience that can handle being under a lowered stage load all the time..
If you lower the rear springs, when you take it for an alignment, you'll need to mention that there IS a rear camber setting so you don't ride with your wheels "bottom out"
if you have any questions during your process feel free to calll or txt my cell 254-228-3453 -AT&T

Thanks for the help. I let you know how things turn out when I do this. It will probably be next weekend. I hope I don't run in to any problems when I do this.

BTW I was talking to my brother and he said that I will also need to get new camber bolts when I lower it. Does an allignment shop do this when they allign the car or is it something I have to get when I put the conversion kit in?

you would not need new camber bolts unless they got damaged somehow

Oh ok. So all I need to do is do the coversion and then bring it for a front and rear allignment right?

I also was reading up on lowering of cars and most people say that you need to get a camber kit. I wish I knew what that even was lol. I'm still a little sketchy when it comes to suspension.

you wont even be touching your camber bolts at all, not to put springs in the car. when you take it for an allignment they will loosen them, make adjustments, and tighten them again, do you need to change your lug nuts everytime you take a wheel off lol???? no need to do anything with the camber bolts.

You won't need a new bolt unless one is messed up somehow, people mainly get caster/camber kits for racing/road swaps on the settings, so it can be done from the top of the strut mount tower on the fly by using pre-marked settings

If this is a daily driver car and you never road race it, keep it simple and just do the conversion with the proper shocks and struts
I say proper...because your normal Tbird shocks and struts will not be able to handle the drop kit for very long

I have Tokico as I said, and you may want to check if they are still available for sale. I know any Monroe are done in about 15k

The stuff your reading isn't relevant to our cars, other cars may need new cam bolts etc to get it in spec but not ours unless theres a problem with something...

You won't need a new bolt unless one is messed up somehow, people mainly get caster/camber kits for racing/road swaps on the settings, so it can be done from the top of the strut mount tower on the fly by using pre-marked settings

If this is a daily driver car and you never road race it, keep it simple and just do the conversion with the proper shocks and struts
I say proper...because your normal Tbird shocks and struts will not be able to handle the drop kit for very long

I have Tokico as I said, and you may want to check if they are still available for sale. I know any Monroe are done in about 15k

Tokico is an excellent company, so is Koni, and Jamie has KYB's that he has had no problems with. Any of them will work great, but as Sapper said do not opt for the Monroe's because you will not be happy!

I'd provide links for you but I don't know what to look up for our car. Are we supposed to just look up Shocks/struts/springs for a 89-97 Ford Thunderbird LX?

Yup

If you can hold off a bit, a buddy of mine works at a spring company here locally. He told me to bring him my springs and he will duplicate them completely with his software to make my car sit 1.5 lower. Not sure on the price as of yet, but I will keep you updated.

Oh sry but I already have everything I need.