Replacing Springs - ride height

[El Dee Bee]

My TTA is a basically a stocker, but it has always been too low. I tried a larger capacity cast Al trans pan many years ago, and w the crappy stock struts, I bounced hard on a bump and cracked it. I replaced the stocker turds w Bilsteins and that was a big improvement.

A few months ago I hit the oilpan hard and that dented it and caused a big oil leak. Has everyone else had problems bottoming out and breaking / denting things ? Some guys even lower the car more, which is hard to believe. I don't know if mine is lower than normal or what.

With 20 years and ~ 76 K miles, maybe my springs are sagging. I was thinking of replacing the springs, front at least, and maybe raising it ½-1". Or maybe I go w adjustable Coilovers ? Anyone done that ?

 

[72firebird]

My car is lowered with the Eibach Pro-kit which comes out to be about an inch all the way around. The lower skirt scrapes occasionally and I've hit the front bumper on the ground a couple time but never the oil or transmission pan. You should be hitting other things on the ground like the piece that comes down off the intercooler, lower skirt, k-member, etc. before either of the pans.

Personally, I've never had too much of a problem and I live in an area where you could jump from one pothole to the next and be able to make it all the way across town. I watched the road closely for changes in elevation and potholes and swerve or slow down where needed to keep it from bouncing the car up too much so that it comes down hard. Yeah the cars sit low, but they're not that bad.

 

[WS6]

I can't believe I'm admitting this...but at the track,on the return road, I was reaching over to review my PL file of the run and I drove right off the return road. It had a nasty 3-4" drop off and drug the shit out of the bottom. It only scraped up the K-member in the center and scraped the tranny pan.The oil pan was untouched.

So, I supect you need to replace the motor mounts too.

New front and rear springs will give you a restored ride height as well, and be sure to replace the spring isolators in the rear. They are only available as a 4th gen listing but work and fit just the same.The fronts have some sort of isolator but it's more for noise control than any real lift.
Remember, struts are intended to replace the upper control arm and shock absorber,not to provide lift or ride height. allthough they do for a short period, they will sag and your back where you started.They only really control bounce.

Get the absolute heaviest spring rate available(WS6 application) and allthough they may be shorter than the old ones in free height, they will not compress near what the the old ones will.

And if you can!!! and I stress this!!! Pay to have someone install the front springs.



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