I went and installed the cut down GT6 springs I have into my 1500
Spitfire the other day. Oh my, I like that! It dropped the nose a bit,
and did a tremendous job of transforming the handling of the car. Not
that a Spitfire rolls a whole lot in a turn, but mine rolls quite a bit
less now. My nose never sat very high in the first place, but it's now
down a smidge below the rear (should have measured all this to give
better quantification's). It's much faster in slalom maneuvers then it
was before.
I cut two coils off the GT6 springs on the advice of Tim Suddard. Next
step is to either de-arch or spacer the rear spring to roughly match the
front in height. I'll probably use spacer blocks for tunability.
Interesting thing with this is that the ride is now smoother then it was
with the stock (softer) 1500 springs. I can't really explain this one.
I can make some guesses, but they don't really make sense. Regardless,
the ride is definitely less jarring now with the heavier springs then it
was with the softer springs.
When I went to swap the springs I decided to try the technique I saw
mentioned about doing it in the car without the use of a spring
compressor. Can't say I thought too much of it. With the suspension at
full drop, jammed up against the side of the upper ball joints, there
still was a good bit of compression on the coils. They were also bulged
out against the shocks because of the angle between the two perches.
Since the springs are rather mild, I went ahead and pried them out,
figuring I could handle them. I did, but they extended several inches
beyond the perches once they were out. Putting them back in would not
have been fun. The cut down GT6 springs were shorter, so they weren't a
problem to install.
So there you have it, another cheap modification easily done without the
use of special tools or spending money.
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