[6pack] Lowering ride height of late model TR 6

[Robert Lang]

Hi,

I have never done this, but the Fred Puhn book "how to make your car 
handle" suggests that you can make a spring compressor to squeeze your 
spring to a shorter height and then bake it in a low-ish temp oven for an 
hour or two and the spring takes the new dimension (plus or minus a bit). 
Unfortunately, you need to experiment with the results, so you might wind 
up tossing a few springs in the ash bin before you "get it right".

But using this method you could shorted stock springs, at least in theory.

The one drawback to this method is that if you bake it too hot you'll ruin 
the temper of the metal and the spring rate goes out the window. Oh and 
any paint on the spring will turn to acrid smoke, so don't do this in the 
kichen.

I would, however caution that with the lowered springs at the stock rate 
that bottoming the suspension is a lot more likely if not an absolute 
certainty. That winds up being a safety issue, in my mind because most 
folks can't deal with abrupt transistions in a stock car and bottoming 
changes your spring rate to infinity and you haven't lived 'till you 
wind up in a snap spin when you bottom the suspension in the rear. Been 
there, etc. There's also the issue of cracking/breaking things when the 
forces involved need to be redistributed somewhere else.

Believe it or not, the lengths and rates of the stuff out there as 
replacement parts have been carefully considered and what's out there is 
pretty good in all regards.

Have fun deciding!
rml
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Lang              NER/SCCA                 |  This space for rent
Solo Chair 2008       TR6 40 F Prepared        |  Triumph!
Voice:781-438-2568    FAX: 617-258-9535        |  Cell: 339-927-4489
---------------------------------------------------------------------------