advice on chopping springs

[Matthewway]

So after having my trusty k11 for a year now ive decided to finally start tinkering with it. Ive been a full time mechanic for the last 6 years but near enough all my experience is servicing, mot repairs and a bit of diagnostic work. But im fresh to the tuning/modifying game. Im willing to put some money into it, but after reading some blogs like EBBDudes, I like the idea of improving the cars handling with some pretty simple cost effective modifications.

First thing on my list of to dos is chopping the springs. Im not gonna go too crazy with it as i dont want it to be completely impractical. I was thinking of chopping 1 1/2 coils off, but my question is... if i chop 1 1/2 from the front do I chop the same amount from the back? Ive read a little about people chopping different amounts, or chopping just the backs and putting different springs in the front. Looking for recommendations really, id like to use the stock springs chopped down for the time being, and maybe experiment with other springs in the future.

cheers,
matt

 

[frank]

the problem with the fronts is that the "cut end" does,nt sit in the perch very nice matt (ideally you need to heat the tail to red hot and crank it down so that the end of the spring is near flat, or else use matiz or suzuki rears)
but there is quite a lot of preload on the fronts, so you can cut a couple of coils off but still keep it fully captive when extended
the rears dont have much preload tho, and any more than about 1 coil will leave the spring insecure when jacked up

 

[Matthewway]

yeh i wasnt sure if it would seat properly on the front, fair enough ill try and get some springs to give it a go. How much would you suggest chopping the rears by to go with the matiz/suzuki ....? springs?

 

[frank]

yeh i wasnt sure if it would seat properly on the front, fair enough ill try and get some springs to give it a go. How much would you suggest chopping the rears by to go with the matiz/suzuki ....? springs?

i think we took nearly 2 coils off of purple hobbit matt (but we had to shorten the shocks 40mm tho) and it has matiz rears on the front too (which have about 10mm of preload)

 

[Matthewway]

ive found some 2001 1.3 16v ignis rear springs on ebay for £42! debating wether i could find some cheaper at the scrap yard, i guess if i get those ill try chopping 1 coil off the back and see how it goes. Did you have to put a new thread on the top of the shock? Or is there some way of shimming it out? Ive stripped out the back of my car which id imagine would make a slight difference.

 

[frank]

i,ve paid £5 for most of my springs matt, and i re-threaded the ones on bluey, but its very hard steel tho, and welded a washer lower down on all the others