DeTomaso Mailing List: April 1997, Message #51
     



From: MikeLDrew@aol.com

Subject: Re: lowering

Date: Mon, 7 Apr 1997 07:05:27 -0400 (EDT)



Capt Mike Drew

150 Westgate Dr.

San Francisco, CA  94127



Home/FAX:   (415) 334-7860



E-mail:  MikeLDrew@aol.com



All,



Paul wrote:



I have a '72. Can anyone tell me what is invoved in lowering the car? I have

read that all you need to do is remove the spacers from the shock absorbers.

Is this very involved? How does it change the alignment settings?  Does it

affect the handling?

Thanks,  Paul



>>>The stock springs have aluminum spacers between the bottom of the spring

and the spring perch.  Note:  the front spacers are thicker than the rears;

I've seen cars (uh, mine anyway) where the spacers were juggled around; when

I got mine, I found I had thick spacers on left front and right rear, none on

the other two!  I can only imagine why...



I've never taken stock shocks/springs apart, so I don't know how it's done,

but I suspect it's not too difficult.  If you're not well-equipped,

tool-wise, you could probably take the shocks/springs to a machine shop or

tire shop and have them taken apart and reassembled for you.  Physically

removing the units from the car is usually fairly easy, although sometimes

the shock bushings are a tight squeeze, and getting the units re-installed

can be a pain.



Lowering the car will profoundly change your alignment, you'll absolutely

have to re-align the car.  From what I'm told, lowering the car (to its

original design height) will improve handling, although I wouldn't expect a

night-and-day transformation.  The car LOOKS a lot better though...



If you've got the springs/shocks out of the car, you should strongly consider

changing the shock bushings since you're in the neighborhood anyway, and it's

unlikely they've ever been changed before, so they're probably shot!



Mike