Removing the Iso's on a stock ride height car won't do much. Your best bet is to cut your springs as posted above. A lot of people knock going this route, but I haven't had any problems. I use to have H&R Sport lowering springs, but I changed up my entire suspension setup front and back and ended up cutting my stock GT springs up front. I'll probably be going with some MM Coilovers in the future, but for now the cut springs work out pretty well!
Here's a pic of my car with the front springs cut just under a coil and a half - with NO iso's:
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I have Kenny Brown springs in the rear with my IRS, and Bilstein struts, Cobra Control Arms, and MM CC plates up front to compliment the drop.
how hard is it to get these springs out? I've been thinking about going this route as well.
tried to swap springs on my old 5.0, but I ended up never being able to get them out. I do have a compressor but maybe its not big enough it seemed like it should have been longer to grab more of the spring or something.
Ok so if i do choose to cut my springs i have a couple questions.
Firts how do you get em out. i havn't looked but i suspect that there are a couple threads floating around taht will help for this one.
second when you cut the spring do you cut the top or bottom?
thrid, how will the ride be when you do this?
fourth do you also cut the rear a scoil and a half??
I cut my mother's springs on her v6 after I donated my old GT wheels. I didn't even need a spring compressor. There's a writeup on a steeda spring swap somewhere on MW; let me see if I can find it. I know that you have to use a hacksaw or cutting wheel to cut the springs. You cannot torch them as that changes the spring rate drastically. I used my cutoff wheel on my compressor, and cut just the dead coil off each spring. You'll be able to tell which one when you see them out of the car. I left the isolators out and it creaked and popped in the back like something retarded, so I took it back apart and put just the lower isolators back in in the rear. It's perfect now. Looks great, and rides about the same; maybe a slight bit stiffer. Just remember which way the ends of the springs are facing when you remove them, and install them the same way! Otherwise your car may end up with different heights on the different wheel wells!
There's the link I mentioned. Where they said to unbolt the front strut from the stock caster plate, don't do that. Just unbolt the strut from the front knuckle, and push the knuckle down with your foot or something, and pry the spring out. So long as the lower A-arm is hanging down as far as it can go, the spring will be unloaded enough to not explode from the car when you remove it. With the one coil cut off, it should just slide back in with no effort. I only recommend cutting off just the one dead coil; nothing more.
ok soo i feel like i suck right now!! i went and followed the instructions to a T. i mean taking of the bolts from the cc plate, putting a towel over the strut so you don't sracth the paint. everything. then it got time for me to pry the spring out. I tried for a good 45-60 min just trying. and i almost got it once or twice, but Dang i thought the packet said it wouldn't be hard. but i couldn't get it to come out. soo i now am going to rest before i explode in anger over not gettting the spring out..
do yall have any advise on how to get it out easier?? i mean i had the a arm as far down as possible and everything its just that the spring had so much pressure that had to be lifted up to get it out i couldn't do it.. I have 3 more hours tongiht before i can't try agian till my next day off i need help
I pushed my a arm all the way down and got my springs out as well. You can go to a local Autozone/Murray's, if they have those in your area, and rent a spring compressor - free after you return it.
As far as how much to cut, I started with 1 coil then put it back together. Was way too high for my tastes, so i took the springs out and cut a little more, and again put it back together. Finally on the third try, I got it exactly where I wanted it to sit. Its under a coil and a half. Anymore and it would be slammed. I haven't had any problems what so ever with my drop as I stated before. I also have NO iso's front and back, and have no squeaks either. Guess it depends on the car and what kind of condition its in.
It was a little bit tough to get the springs out of the front. They won't just come out with hand power alone. You definitely need to pry them off of the lower control arm with a prybar or crowbar. Just take a breather and take a look at it from a different perspective.
dont know about if the GT is set up different than my sixer... but if it isn't, did you loosen/remove the nut on the arm with the colored spacer/washer? try doing that before dropping the axle. i tried without removing it and ended up having to put things halfway back together enough to get some slack on that arm and remove that nut. once i did that, the spring almost fell out on its own.