So I just completed my rear coil-over conversion on my 84. I also changed my rear bushings to poly. Now it's time to lower the front end and convert it to poly as well. As I'm doing all this on a budget, I'm flying solo with no shop assistance. It also means I will be cutting my stock springs this go around. And no lowering ball joints or spindles.

I have read that with lowering the front I have to deal with trimming the bump stops. Yes I need to lower the car at least 1-1.5. Ok here is where my snag comes in. I don't have a welder. I have no friends with a mobile welder. I'm not planning to take out the front cross member, so I'm not sure if there are any other ways to trim/modify the bumpstops. So I need some creative ideas/feedback to make this a success.

when searching I saw one member ground out his bumpstop welds and removed them to make it easier to shorten them. I could do this and take the removed stops to a welder. Could I then reinstall the stops to the cross member with bolts?

another thought was to cut the bumpstop as usual and trim the pieces, then measure the outside diameter of the upper piece and have and exhaust shop expand the lower piece to be an interference fit with the top. Then tap the two together till the top bottoms on the inside of the lower. Like aftermarket exhaust joints that slip inside each other and then u-clamps to tighten down any gap. Once over tightened the two should squeeze the outer into the inner. Then I could pull off the clamp. Any hits will just push them tighter together.
maybe run in a bolt or two to stop slippage.

or yet another idea was to cut the stop as usual and discard the bottom and to use a help section rubber bumpstop as the new bottom. Attach it to the bottom of the old one with a metal bracket bent to fit on the cone sides bolted in place. The bolt new stop to bracket.

just trying to come up w something before I disable the car. Only other thing is to do my suspension work. Cut up the stops. Leave the bottom off. Put it all back together. Drive to shop. Take it apart in lot. Let them weld. Put it back together?

good lord what a mess. Unless some ga fiero folks have a portable welder or want me to take it apart their place ad self me back up? Lol

thank you for your thoughts

On the 88's you trim the actual rubber on the bump stop to make it shorter. Never tried it on the 84-87's but it would be worth looking into. Or you could remove the rubber bumpstop and look for a shorter version to replace it with.

If you're only going down 1 - 1 1/2 inches there's no need to worry about it.

Besides, they are there for a reason - they limit suspension compression distance to protect the shock.

quote Originally posted by fieroguru: On the 88's you trim the actual rubber on the bump stop to make it shorter. Never tried it on the 84-87's but it would be worth looking into. Or you could remove the rubber bumpstop and look for a shorter version to replace it with.

From what I've seen in pics.... the 84 has a tiny rubber piece. Not sure if I can find something smaller... but I will know more when I get into it.

i have cut my front springs by 2 coils. i didnt trim the bump stops. from what i see they are pretty close to bottoming out. afew inches of travel. i also replaced the front shocks when i cut the springs while i had everything apart. they were cheap. i think i paid $26 for each one. ill be modifying my stops soon. but i cut the front springs in the spring and so far i havnt had any issues with it.

quote Originally posted by joshh44: i have cut my front springs by 2 coils. i didnt trim the bump stops. from what i see they are pretty close to bottoming out. afew inches of travel. i also replaced the front shocks when i cut the springs while i had everything apart. they were cheap. i think i paid $26 for each one. ill be modifying my stops soon. but i cut the front springs in the spring and so far i havnt had any issues with it.

When i first got the car we swapped the front shocks to kybs.... they only have aboit 100 or so miles on them. Im assuming you have a 84-87? How far did the 2 coils drop yours? Thx

I've lowered both my 86's. My Sport I did about 4 months ago and my GT I just did this weekend.
I cut my coils 1.5 coils in the front and 1 coil in the rear. The front bump stops on both cars were very simply cut down with a SawZall. It was the esiest part of the drop.
Both cars ride almost exactly as they did before. They are smooth and ride perfectly. I love that I was able to save the money from the Eibach springs and just cut the coils. They work perfectly and look good now without so much wheel gap.

[This message has been edited by jwrape (edited 10-04-2011).]

quote Originally posted by redraif: Unless some ga fiero folks have a portable welder or want me to take it apart their place ad self me back up? Lol

Are you a member of the Ga. Fiero Club? If so you're welcome to come work on it here. If not, I'll help you do it here for $35 an hour. I'm near Commerce. PM or email me for phone # & directions. You can email me at ImThaDriver at yahoo.
~ Paul
aka "Tha Driver"

Custom Fiberglass Parts

quote Originally posted by Tha Driver: Are you a member of the Ga. Fiero Club? If so you're welcome to come work on it here. If not, I'll help you do it here for $35 an hour. I'm near Commerce. PM or email me for phone # & directions. You can email me at ImThaDriver at yahoo. ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver" Custom Fiberglass Parts

I will help you do it for $25/hr, but you have to drive to MN.

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87 NB, 3800SC, 4T65E-HD, HP Tuners, 13.10 at 102.5 1/4 mile, Custom Dash.

quote Originally posted by Tha Driver: Are you a member of the Ga. Fiero Club? If so you're welcome to come work on it here. If not, I'll help you do it here for $35 an hour. I'm near Commerce. PM or email me for phone # & directions. You can email me at ImThaDriver at yahoo. ~ Paul aka "Tha Driver" Custom Fiberglass Parts

I was... I went to a meeting and paid my dues before the car went down and I lost my job... now I just have to get back to a meeting now thats it's running and get the dues paid up... LOL!

Thank you! I will have to get the alignment sorted out to make that trip... I'm about 2 hours from Commerce

If you use Rodney Dickman's lowering balljoints, you won't need to worry about the bumpstops. Rodney's balljoints don't affect the relationship between the lower control arm and the bumpstop.

Just a thought.

You don't need to worry about it anyway with only a 1" or 1 1/2" drop.

I lowered my front 1 inch about 2 months ago - so it is fresh in my mind. I looked at the travel between the lower control arm and the bump stop and there is not much at all. Lowering the car without removing an inch from the metal tapered cylinder would result in very litttle travel. Not acceptable to me for my car. I removed an inch from the tapered cyliinder and it now retains about the same amount of travel. In hind site, 3/4 of an inch would be perfect. Once in a while you hit a pot hole, it would be nice if your front suspension has some travel. Just my 2 cents!

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87 NB, 3800SC, 4T65E-HD, HP Tuners, 13.10 at 102.5 1/4 mile, Custom Dash.

quote Originally posted by Blacktree: If you use Rodney Dickman's lowering balljoints, you won't need to worry about the bumpstops. Rodney's balljoints don't affect the relationship between the lower control arm and the bumpstop. Just a thought.

I wish we would have had some fore thought when we replaced them about 100 miles ago when they failed. Course at the time I had so many expenses to just get the car road worthy. I was not thinking about trying to lower it. Heck i did not even replace the motor and transmission mounts like I should have and now I have a broken tranny bracket. So many regrets. Hind sight is 20/20.

How much do they lower the front? Do u still need lowering springs.

Rodney has two sizes, for 1/2" drop or 1" drop. They replace the front lower ball joints. You don't need to change anything else in the suspension if you don't want (except for re-aligning the wheels, of course). Like I mentioned before, the lowering ball joints don't affect the relationship between the lower control arm, suspension spring, and the main crossmember. All they do is shift the hub/spindle up a bit, which lowers the car in relation to the wheels. That shift also rotates the upper control arms upwards slightly, hence the alignment change.

Oh, and Rodney's lowering ball joints are only $69 a pair. Not bad at all. Here's a link:

http://rodneydickman.com/ca...ede4b90f4cb63d2afb1d

That said, you'll need to have the old ball joints pressed out, and the new ones pressed in. But doing it the other way involves cutting springs and cutting/welding the bumpstops. I guess it's up to you to decide which is the easier route. But of those two choices, I'd pick the ball joints.

So one of my x-friends did the ball joints before. What does it take to do it yourself?

So I measured my front..... 3.5 bw tire top and fender bottom... Yipes.

So that being said... im looking at a 2 inch drop

Aren't you on the western side of town? I think GFC member Bristowb in Hiram/Dallas has a welder and torch. On the east side, adfieros' son has the equipment. Up on the north end there's Whodeanie.

From an earlier thread...

quote Originally posted by Patrick: I cut off two complete coils from both the front and back springs of my '84. The back was fine, but the front was definitely sitting on the bump stops. Made for a rough ride! I got some assistance from Fiero club friends of mine (with welding equipment) to cut and weld the metal cones. I had read that removing .75" was ideal, as removing more could possibly lead to the shocks bottoming out. Not a good thing! Pictured below is a cone on my parts car to show how long it is before being shortened. The rubber bumper was removed prior to this picture, but on my '84 the rubber bumper was reinstalled after the cone had been welded back on. The metal cones are now 4.5" long.

That's my '84 on the left with 205/55R16 front tires, just to give somewhat of an idea of where/how it sits.

not the greatest shot. but this is what my 85GT looks like after 2 coils were cut.


it looks alot lower then it really does. i would say it dropped about 2"

{EDIT TO ADD} thos are the stock 14" rims with 215/60r14s. i bought some 86GT 15" rims. there on the back for the time being until i redo the other rims.

[This message has been edited by joshh44 (edited 10-11-2011).]

quote Originally posted by fierofool: Aren't you on the western side of town? I think GFC member Bristowb in Hiram/Dallas has a welder and torch. On the east side, adfieros' son has the equipment. Up on the north end there's Whodeanie.

Im down by atlanta motor Speedway in Hampton GA. I'm figuring I will have to lower the car and get the height right... get and alignmemt... then hope its quick and easy to get it back apart at someones house... lol

I have a cousin with a garage on Mangham Road in Griffin. If you want his info, email or PM me.

quote Originally posted by fierofool: I have a cousin with a garage on Mangham Road in Griffin. If you want his info, email or PM me.

I may just do that... I'm trying to get someone who is portable over to do it while I have everything apart... Crossing fingers the guy building our dock can get his welder back from his dad in time! If not... you will be hearing from me! thank you

First of all, I'm going to chastise you a bit for having two threads going at the same time basically about the same thing. It's an inefficient way of getting info as it makes for a duplication of questions and answers. Anyway, having said that...

quote Originally posted by redraif: You had stated else where that the 84 springs were taller then most? I measured mine out of the car and the sat at 12.5... did u measure yours before the cut?

The following is a great post. The springs I cut down were labelled DMF. A little more info posted Here.

quote Originally posted by fierosound: I have an assortment of front springs and decided to take a picture to show how they compare. This may be useful to those wanting to swap stock springs around. The 11-3/4" long (1 coil cut off) FJD coils were on my GT before I installed lowering spindles. I needed to return to using longer springs after that. 84 springs are their own group, as 85-87 got new ones with the redesign of the lower control arm. They are interchangeable however, as I installed my cut GT springs (11-3/4" long) in my Indy to lower it. See here: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/110639.html Spring codes here: http://calgaryfieros.com/OSGdocs/springs.html LEFT to RIGHT (length measured to highest point at end of coil) Wire diameter appears to be about the same 12mm (1/2") on all. 1984 DMN 12-3/4" long 12mm wire (from my Indy) 1984 DMF 13-1/4" long 12mm wire 1987 FJD 11-3/4" long (1 coil cut off) 12mm wire 1987 FJF 13" long 12mm wire 1987 FJH 13-1/4" long 12mm wire 1986 FJA 13-3/4" long 12mm wire

quote Originally posted by Patrick: First of all, I'm going to chastise you a bit for having two threads going at the same time basically about the same thing. It's an inefficient way of getting info as it makes for a duplication of questions and answers. Anyway, having said that...

Sorry. This one was specifically about the bumpstop cutting, if there was a way to do it without welding... this was suposed to cover that aspect, but it derailed in to this...

The other thread was about anything "other", besides the bumpstops... like the upper ball joint reversal... I posted these threads as I was seeing things in searching. Some folks touched on the ball joints, but nothing specific, maybe its an 88 thing? I got a bit lazy and should have said "BESIDES the bumpstops" in the title... LOL! I did not mean for them to merge together like this. I just want to be prepared as my front end is officially apart, just waiting for the rain to stop so I can do some clean up painting. I have till then... lol... to figure out everything.

Awesome on the spring info... I actually took a pic of mine (the number and lettering)

[This message has been edited by redraif (edited 10-13-2011).]