Your chance to save a car from being RR'd

[Negative Creep]

Do it to a VW instead. That way you can sell it to some muppet with surf shorts and dyed tips for £3995 afterwards

[whitevanman]

POGZ and Her_Bol have a fair point... modified beuty is in the eye of the beholder, I'm fortunate that I can envisage any vehicle and the modifications before I cut into them.... but even then I change things, but again I see the end product before I alter it, trying to meld different styles or era's together is frought with danger in the style department.think modern alloys on an old car....few carry it off

[trigger]

Just looking on flickr for images of HOT bluebirds but there is a real lack, You could go for the JDM BOSO look like this.

 

 

Don't like these, They look to modern and large IMHO.

 

 

But these would look nice all polished up on low profiles i reckon.

 

[mouseflakes]

Do what you like Pandy.While I'm sure the FWD bluebird is a very capable thing, I'm with Torsten on the styling. They just don't work for me.Worst thing is that bloody awful vent on the rear three-quarter, they just look like an afterthought. Horrible.

[Pillock]

Oooooh yeah, fully polished OEM alloys would look the bomb! I'll personally give you nearly five pounds if you make a Boso replica out of it and drive it daily. The front wing should extend no less than 18" from the front bumper.

[Guest]

Slotmags invariably look absolutely dreadful IMO except on Scimitars and 70's hot rods. On a bluebird they would say 'I found these alloys at a car boot for a tenner and the tyres were still legal on them. I was out of work at the time and skint so I lobbed em on'

This is EXACTLY what I was thinking, I just could not articulate it in such a way as not make me appear a total arse*.

Always?

 

 

Not always*.

 

*Except these wheels, on the most OMG hardcore daily Amazon estate ever, are actually Ansen Sprints. Wolfrace licensed the design from Ansen who'd been knocking them out since the early 60s. The ones above were fitted to a 1963 Galaxie 500 and were bought with the car. So, if one wanted to be a pedant, you could say the above wheels were a period mod for the car. Pfft.

[Des]

I've had a few cars in my time that have lowered themselves naturally and had the hassle of putting them right, am I alone in thinking lowering is bad, in a kind of turning the car into a deathtrap bad, if you must then I believe the safest way to lower a car is by letting most of the air out of the tyres.

[seth]

, am I alone in thinking lowering is bad, in a kind of turning the car into a deathtrap bad, if you must then I believe the safest way to lower a car is by letting most of the air out of the tyres.

I'm sure you're not alone in thinking that but it has no basis in reality I'm afraid.

 

Driving a car with insufficient air in the tyres would be bad however!

 

Panda, as ever, do what you like

[Cavcraft]

Very few retro cars look good on modern alloys. I've seen some srsly cool cars ruined by having wanky 18" bling alloys and just don't get why people do it.

[Ratdat]

My old Bluey turbo was lowered 40mm on 16" Compomotive MO's. It looked quite nice but then IMO the early pre-facelift saloons are the best looking of the T12 / T72 models. I think they also look better in straight plain colours like black, white or red rather than the metallics.

 

 

 

I've had three ordinary T72 hatchbacks and to be honest I would never have even considered spending any time attempting to make them look better as they're just not that attractive to look at. A nice set of wheels would be about the limit of worthwhile changes to be made but I fear a set of slot mags is not going to look good. They need some proper FWD offset wheels in a style that suits.

[CortinaDave]

I don't like lowering much. Looks good but makes the car more unpleasant to ride around in. "slammed" makes them undriveable in my eyes. I'd rather not have to endure a bumpy ordeal every time I go out in my car.Mild lowering is fair enough, but I'd rather not any lowering at all on my cars (although the previous owner has already molested my cougar's suspension unfortunately)The way I see it - manufacturers spend ££££ reasearching what the ideal ride height for a car is to provide the optimum handling/comfort compromise, yet one bloke in his shed armed with £30 of ebay springs thinks he knows better.

[FredTransit]

, am I alone in thinking lowering is bad, in a kind of turning the car into a deathtrap bad, if you must then I believe the safest way to lower a car is by letting most of the air out of the tyres.

I'm sure you're not alone in thinking that but it has no basis in reality I'm afraid.

 

Driving a car with insufficient air in the tyres would be bad however!

 

Panda, as ever, do what you like

No you are not alone. In my circles the people I know who lower vans do so with three ton of scrap or rubble and get nicked for it.....

Which is why I wouldn't do it to an old van, failing the MOT aside (class7 don't like you messing with leaf springs) unless you are prepared to go the whole hog, it just looks like you are overloaded......

[seth]

The way I see it - manufacturers spend ££££ reasearching what the ideal ride height for a car is to provide the optimum handling/comfort compromise, yet one bloke in his shed armed with £30 of ebay springs thinks he knows better.

The man in his shed only has to satisfy himself though and make his own compromises whereas the manufacturer has to try and satisfy millions. Ultimately that is the whole basis of any car modification.

 

As you said you think lowering looks good but you personally don't want to put up with the consequences. This is a good attitude to my mind. Better than, having never done/experience it, OMG! I DON'T UNDERSTAND! IT MUST BE DANGEROUS! KITTENS WILL BE KILLED!

 

[pandamonium]

PMSL @ this thread. I didn't mean people to tell me whether I should, I merely stated what I planned to do, so that no one could say afterward I didn't give anyone the chance to save it. .If it bothers anyone, pop down and cross my palm with silver and I'll do it to another car. If, as has been said, 'It's just a Bluebird' then pipe down and wait for the awesome results!And manufactures do not make a car with the best suspension setup, they make a compromise between comfort and handling. If you want more of one, you have to sacrifice some of the other. I like my cars to handle well, so I sacrifice the comfort a bit. And FYI everyone, the Lada was perfectly safe, and was even fitted with Rally spec shocks etc to provide a heavier duty setup.

[CortinaDave]

manufactures do not make a car with the best suspension setup, they make a compromise between comfort and handling. If you want more of one, you have to sacrifice some of the other.

 

Thats exactly what I said is it not? I didnt say they made the best suspension setup, I said they spend fortunes to make cars with the best *compromise* between handling and comfort. I want to sacrifice as little as possible of both, so thats the best setup you can get as far as i'm concerned.

 

I'm not anti modding at all.. I'm running a diesel capri ! just lowering is not to my taste.

 

Everyone has different ideas on whats good and bad.. found a pic of my old Probe I sold last year and I'm not loving the flames he's put up the side/on the bonnet at all.

 

 

I loved that car, but I'd be driving it with a bag over my head with those graphics on - but hey, its his car, and he clearly likes it, so bash on.

[saabhappy]

It's a win-win-win-win for you. Some will see it and say "Wow!", others will have a bloody good laugh, and the rest will have a heart attack. You don't do it to be ignored, so job done!

[Des]

Sorry if I've offended any exponents of limbo dancing Datsuns, didn't intend to piss on anyones cornflakes, I'm not anti modding, just that you need to consider consequences, i.e. some arsehole causes you to break / swerve at speed and a shortened spring falls out of position, you're in trouble, and if that spring finds it's way into a tyre? On most suspension designs the ride height is critical to suspension geometry, an extreme example is Beetles, see what happens to the camber of the rear wheels when they get the slam-a-lamb-a-dingdong treatment, take a car with an arse that tries to overtake at every opportunity and adapt it to drive on its sidewalls, nice. Don't fall into the trap of ending up with a car that just looks modified rather than is actually improved. The point of lowering a car is to get the centre of gravity down, the VW boys possibly don't understand this when they raise centre of gravity by the employment of a roofrack piled with shit, these are guys who wear a baseball cap reversed, then need to use their hand to shield the sun fron their eyes.The place to start would be improving dampers / anti roll bars / bushes etc. Worthwhile mods don't tend to be visible.If it were my car I think I would go for tartan rug on the rear shelf, 'Southend', 'Lewes', 'Great Yarmouth' stickers, a flimsy krooklock, shoelaced leather steering wheel cover, black stretchy viscose seatcovers faced in faux lambswool, patterned carpet offcuts in the footwells, pair of mismatched 1950's yellow foglamps, or perhaps a sole blue spot one on the nearside. I would also, for the bonnet, commission a large head and shoulders portrait of Sir Jimmy Saville OBE, with cigar of course, owzafuckingboutsthat then.

[seth]

I agree with much of what you say Des. The consequences of any modification should be considered and any work should be done safely but one person's compromise shouldn't be dismissed. Just because a car may be very low does not mean the owner is a smeghead who doesn't know what he's doing.However:

Don't fall into the trap of ending up with a car that just looks modified rather than is actually improved.

You have fallen into the trap that suggests everyone modifies their car to improve its performance or dynamics. This is not and I don't think has ever been the case!I cannot speak for Aircooled VW owners but I know for a fact that the similarly swing axle equipped Triumphs benefit hugely in handling and roadholding by lowering to induce negative camber. Indeed its what the factory did for the Herald rally cars.

[whitevanman]

i.e. some arsehole causes you to break / swerve at speed and a shortened spring falls out of position, you're in trouble, and if that spring finds it's way into a tyre?

loosing a spring will ONLY happen if the originals have been cut down too far and not wired to the cup, correctly manufactured lowering springs are the same length as OEM issue to avoid this possability

[pogweasel]

How does that work?All the ones I have ever used must have been incorrectly manufactured.

[Pete-M]

How does that work?All the ones I have ever used must have been incorrectly manufactured.

+1 / AOL / Etc.I think the Right Hon. Mr. Van. is inferring that the free length of lowered springs should be the same as the free length of standard height ones, the lowering being done by using a lower initial rate which I suspect would have to rise sharply as soon as the vehicle weight compresses the spring to an 'at rest' position.In an ideal world, that would be a better solution than just chucking a set of higher rate, shorter springs in. Unfortunately, this isn't an ideal world. Working out the spring rates and corner balance weights for a set of rising rate lowered springs to fit, for example, an E36 318is - and all the random options fitted to them - means that it's a lot simpler, quicker, cheaper and just as accurate buying a set of good quality uprated shorter springs in.Mercedes used to change spring rates depending on options fitted to the car. If you had a W123 280TE with or without a/c the springs were different, same for manual or auto trans, sunroof, five or seven seats and various combinations. Buy "OE" replacements from GSF or whoever and you get 300D fronts. Because they fit.

[whitevanman]

Thanks Pete...sorry I meant to say free length, lowered springs use a different spring rating and winding to get the desired hight with the increased rate of compression, best of the bunch are progresive lowering springs , which as Pete described allows for a softer initial spring rate that increases as the spring is compressed, this give you a sensible ride that stiffens as you push the vehicle harder.....