lowering 97 cutlass supreme

[Amanita]

2 hours ago, Psych0matt said:

My car was super low when I first lowered it, miscalculated the springs in the front (I think) and had to order taller ones, at its tallest it was still rubbing every turn or bump lol but mine are basically regular coilovers made from (at least at the time) ready available parts aside from the mounts, which were custom made by Bxx (who isn’t active here any more but I still talk to him). If you look through my build thread I think most of the info is still there aside from photobucket and th holding my pictures hostage, but it wasn’t too hard conceptually. I did raise it up I think two years ago because I went slightly wider and taller tires so it’s not quite as slammed, but it’s rare I rub. 
 

for simplicity’s sake I can’t say I’d shy away from cutting coils if your goal is lowering, I’ve heard it doesn’t affect the ride too badly. 

How have the mounts held up? I remember reading a post from over a decade ago where somebody was concerned that custom mounts would wreck the strut towers.

Edited August 17 by Amanita

[97cutty]

30 minutes ago, Amanita said:

You'll probably want to find FE3 parts first before you even think of switching to coilovers, the 1st gen w-body chassis is already like a wet noodle with the FE1 suspension and getting rid of the monoleaf will make it worse.
I don't know if the leaf is different but you'll want the sway bars and front coil springs. The strut bar from a Cutlass Supreme convertible won't hurt either.

I feel like I should also mention that not many people have attempted to remove the monoleaf, it's apparently a massive pain in the ass.

There is actually a 94 cutlass convertible at the u-pull-it yard that I’ve already gotten my hands all over lol. I think it had the fe3 suspension because it has the bigger 3.4 so I’ll most likely be able to get all of that. I expect this whole thing to be a pain in my ass this car has never been easy lmao

Edited August 17 by 97cutty

[Amanita]

42 minutes ago, 97cutty said:

There is actually a 94 cutlass convertible at the u-pull-it yard that I’ve already gotten my hands all over lol. I think it had the fe3 suspension because it has the bigger 3.4 so I’ll most likely be able to get all of that. I expect this whole thing to be a pain in my ass this car has never been easy lmao

Definitely check the RPO sticker if it's still there, not all 3.4 cars have the FE3 setup. @ManicMechanic might be able to check for you if you give him the VIN.

[White93z34]

7 hours ago, Amanita said:

How have the mounts held up? I remember reading a post from over a decade ago where somebody was concerned that custom mounts would wreck the strut towers.

Yeah that's always been a bit of a concern but, we're well past a decade and I've yet to see a rear strut tower fail due to lowering.

My biggest issue with lowering one of these cars is they ride less like a Pontiac and more like a Peterbilt when lowred.

[97cutty]

13 hours ago, Amanita said:

Definitely check the RPO sticker if it's still there, not all 3.4 cars have the FE3 setup. @ManicMechanic might be able to check for you if you give him the VIN.

Yea it has the sticker I’ll have to go out and check but I’m pretty damn sure it has a different suspension as mine hopefully