Lowering My AU Fairmont

[Night]

Hi guys I'm new to this site. I have an AU fairmont with solid axle and have bought some king springs for it (think their 50mm lower). More than likely I will put shortened shocks on it but is there anything else I need, as in a caster/camber kit. Also how hard is it to change springs, I have worked on holdens but never a ford. Looks a bit easier than the holden. I have basic mechanical knowledge so any help would be gratefully appreciated.

[V3RSAC3]

only the springs no camber kit is needed ...

as for changing them? pretty much the same, will take a good hour i'd think

[Night]

How hard are the front struts to get off and on?

[just me]

you might need a camber kit if you are lowering it that much depends on the car

[ronwest]

Originally Posted by Night

Hi guys I'm new to this site.

Welcome...

Here's a couple of walkthroughs from the "How-To" king

http://www.fordforums.com.au/vbporta...article&id=313

http://www.fordforums.com.au/vbporta...article&id=314

Both are in the "Technical Resources" section along with a bunch of other stuff.

[HLC]

i'd reccommend a camber/castor kit

i lowered my car an inch, with just springs and the front camber is ridiculous. chewing thruogh my 16's so i dont care too much. if i had low profiles, i'd be fitting one straight away

[T-Pak Addict]

Just lowered minewith Pedders Lows. feels alot better on the road now. took about 3 hours all up front and rear.

[sly]

Originally Posted by V3RSAC3

only the springs no camber kit is needed ...

< A word was deleted here. It had 8 letters, the first 4 of which were "bull", the last 2 were "it". Dont ask for a clue to the other 2, I'll only say "shhhhhh"!>

Just installed new upper control arm bushes which came as part of a complete kit, so I put the whole lot in. The kit instructions stipulate a different shim pack for the XR to the standard suspension. AFAIK the XR is only 25mm lower. If he is going 50mm lower he will definitely need the adjustable kit if he doesn't want to turn something that works into a complete pig to drive.

He will also need much more than an hour per side if he is using typical home workshop spring compressors. The tapered stock springs will give him some grief unless he is very lucky or has professional-quality spring compressors ($200+) at his disposal.

[sly]

Originally Posted by Night

Hi guys I'm new to this site. I have an AU fairmont with solid axle and have bought some king springs for it (think their 50mm lower). More than likely I will put shortened shocks on it but is there anything else I need, as in a caster/camber kit. Also how hard is it to change springs, I have worked on holdens but never a ford. Looks a bit easier than the holden. I have basic mechanical knowledge so any help would be gratefully appreciated.

Changing over will be way easier if you can get shorter shocks as a complete strut replacement, the same way stock replacement shocks come. You won't need to compress the stock springs to remove them then. Just unbolt & toss the complete strut & spring.

Will be even easier if you can get the new springs preinstalled on the struts so you don't have to compress them yourself, see my earlier rant, above. And yes, I would recommend a camber kit (but you've guessed that already, right?). And if you've got the space, keep the stock springs and struts. You never know when you might want to sell the car, and the keenest buyer might be a cranky old f@rt like me who thinks lowered suspensions are a complete w@nk. Just my $0.02, YMMV.

[AUII SR Knight]

Originally Posted by AU Falcon 99

Just lowered minewith Pedders Lows. feels alot better on the road now. took about 3 hours all up front and rear.

How much did that cost ya?

[T-Pak Addict]

$101 Got them off Ebay. Dam good bargain for all 4 springs and they were a local pickup

[atec77]

Originally Posted by Night

Hi guys I'm new to this site. I have an AU fairmont with solid axle and have bought some king springs for it (think their 50mm lower). More than likely I will put shortened shocks on it but is there anything else I need, as in a caster/camber kit. Also how hard is it to change springs, I have worked on holdens but never a ford. Looks a bit easier than the holden. I have basic mechanical knowledge so any help would be gratefully appreciated.

allow an hour a corner if you are not experienced , get some help if you can , as for camber get the springs in and it might only need some shims.. my el didn't need anything for .5 deg neg from a 55mm drop.The .5 is about the best for general wear without ripping tyres down the inner.

[JMO]

Changing over will be way easier if you can get shorter shocks as a complete strut replacement, the same way stock replacement shocks come. You won't need to compress the stock springs to remove them then. Just unbolt & toss the complete strut & spring.

Will be even easier if you can get the new springs preinstalled on the struts so you don't have to compress them yourself, see my earlier rant, above. And yes, I would recommend a camber kit (but you've guessed that already, right?). And if you've got the space, keep the stock springs and struts. You never know when you might want to sell the car, and the keenest buyer might be a cranky old f@rt like me who thinks lowered suspensions are a complete w@nk. Just my $0.02, YMMV.

How much are you looking at to get this done? Assuming XR8 ride height. How much for the castor and camber kit on top of this?

[Night]

Originally Posted by ronwest

Welcome...

Here's a couple of walkthroughs from the "How-To" king

http://www.fordforums.com.au/vbporta...article&id=313

http://www.fordforums.com.au/vbporta...article&id=314

Both are in the "Technical Resources" section along with a bunch of other stuff.

Thanks for that info, rekon it will help alot. The rear you have is for live axle but I have solid, how much different is it for solid axle. I figured I might need a camber Kit and was also going to use spring compressers but some of you guys make it sound impossible with or without the compressers. I'm not overly confident in not using them but your thread made it look easy without them so might go to church first and have a word with the lord, lol. Is it important to put shortened shocks on or not and how important is it to use a torque wrench as I don't have one.
I know lowering the car is not everyones cup of tea but my car now has 17 inch BA XR6 rims and the gap in the wheel arch is huge. I don't rekon some old guy would buy my car cause it only atracted young guys when it was stock and I tried to sell it last year. So I'm gonna have a bit of fun with it, do some mods and then try to sell it again later on. Anyhow back to lowering it, it does look easier than my calais.
Cheers

[HLC]

Originally Posted by Night

Thanks for that info, rekon it will help alot. The rear you have is for live axle but I have solid, how much different is it for solid axle. I figured I might need a camber Kit and was also going to use spring compressers but some of you guys make it sound impossible with or without the compressers. I'm not overly confident in not using them but your thread made it look easy without them so might go to church first and have a word with the lord, lol. Is it important to put shortened shocks on or not and how important is it to use a torque wrench as I don't have one.
I know lowering the car is not everyones cup of tea but my car now has 17 inch BA XR6 rims and the gap in the wheel arch is huge. I don't rekon some old guy would buy my car cause it only atracted young guys when it was stock and I tried to sell it last year. So I'm gonna have a bit of fun with it, do some mods and then try to sell it again later on. Anyhow back to lowering it, it does look easier than my calais.
Cheers

your "solid" axle is live axle. the proper name IS live axle lol

[Night]

Thanks, my mistake

[V3RSAC3]

Originally Posted by sly

< A word was deleted here. It had 8 letters, the first 4 of which were "bull", the last 2 were "it". Dont ask for a clue to the other 2, I'll only say "shhhhhh"!>

umm what?? i just put 2.5" Super Lows on mine and didn't need a camber!!!!

[sly]

Does it tramline? Steering lumpy just off centre? Check your tyre wear patterns in a few weeks...

[HLC]

Originally Posted by V3RSAC3

umm what?? i just put 2.5" Super Lows on mine and didn't need a camber!!!!

put up some pics mate. check your front wheels. they will probably look like the ars e end of a VT commodore

[Eu-GenixX]

i haven't noticed any real camber in mine either to be honest.. i haven't had a real close look yet tho... i posted pics of mine in the other thread about shocks...
http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=11193340

we didn't use spring compressors at all... we had a hoist in a workshop.. so i think it was a heap easier to work on then with just jack stands...

[sly]

Originally Posted by JMO

How much are you looking at to get this done? Assuming XR8 ride height. How much for the castor and camber kit on top of this?

I'm not looking at anything to get that done, just suggesting how the original poster might go about it. As for the castor/camber kit, IIRC it was around $160 from Repco. I didn't pay much attention as it was a small part of what turned out a big job, like the lady who swallowed a fly...

I wanted better front brakes on my Series 1, so got a BA conversion to put in. While pulling the AU bits out I found the upper control arm ball joints were shagged. These are a press fit, so the arms have to come out to change the ball joints. I decided to replace the bushes while I had the arms out. The cheapest and quickest way to get new bushes was to get them from Repco as part of the Nolathane camber/caster kit. I wasn't going to bother putting anything but the bushes from the kit in. I got a tyre place to do the press work for the ball joints and bushes. They said the upper arm brackets sometimes go out of shape as the car gets old, so it'd be worthwhile putting the full kit in, on a car with 320,000km up. So I put the kit in but it was only a minor distraction from the main task of getting some brakes I can rely on.

[V3RSAC3]

Originally Posted by HLC

put up some pics mate. check your front wheels. they will probably look like the ars e end of a VT commodore

what do you mean?

these are the only shots i have of the front end ... these were the day i got them, they've dropped about half an inch to an inch since then.

[sly]

Originally Posted by V3RSAC3

what do you mean?

He means from front on... to see how knock-kneed they are like the back wheels of a VT Commonwhore LOL

[V3RSAC3]

aaaah, you mean they sit out on an angle like this /---\ ?

[sly]

Originally Posted by V3RSAC3

aaaah, you mean they sit out on an angle like this /---\ ?

(sigh) Yes.

And unlike a VT Commodore, it can be corrected with a camber kit. Of course if you like it that way and don't mind paying for premature replacement of the tyres due to excessive wear on the inner edges and can put up with the tramlining and lumpy steering... then you're welcome to it. The kit to set the front end up properly costs about the same as one mediocre tyre.

My point is just that people who cut corners and do half-ar5ed mods give all of us a bad name, not to mention unwanted attention. That's why I don't bother with cosmetic mods - it doesn't pay to advertise.

[EF Futura 07]

hi, i hate to hijack, but what do you mean by "steering lumpy"??

[V3RSAC3]

Originally Posted by sly

(sigh) Yes.

And unlike a VT Commodore, it can be corrected with a camber kit. Of course if you like it that way and don't mind paying for premature replacement of the tyres due to excessive wear on the inner edges and can put up with the tramlining and lumpy steering... then you're welcome to it. The kit to set the front end up properly costs about the same as one mediocre tyre.

My point is just that people who cut corners and do half-ar5ed mods give all of us a bad name, not to mention unwanted attention. That's why I don't bother with cosmetic mods - it doesn't pay to advertise.

well, my tyres don't sit out like that! and how on earth does that give "all" of us a bad name?? ... i don't havr lumpy steering nor tramlining ... and replacing tyres DOES NOT bother me one little bit *sigh* ...

and i don't cut corner's with mods .. i was told i didn't need one so i didn't get one, and for me to get one doesn't bother me just to find the time! so i'll more than likely leave it how it is ...

[Eu-GenixX]

i'm still yet to look.. but the car feels fine to drive...very direct...

[Night]

Ok guys just a quick update. Changed the springs this weekend and all went well. Thanks to ronwest for the detailed info, it was a big help. I did a couple of things different, the main one was dropping the front sway bar, made things heaps easier. I did use spring compressers for the front springs cause I wasn't keen on having the top of the strut flying off, they were only cheap compressers but had no problem with them.
As for camber every thing looks ok. I put a spirit level on the front wheels before I started and again when I finished (I know its not the right way but it's just for reference) and there wasn't much change in camber angle, which supprised me cause it now sits 50mm lower. As i mentioned the wheels don't look like the back of an IRS commodore and it drives great and steers ok.
Now with the camber, can someone help me with this. I did by a camber kit before I started and do intend on putting it on but the kit I have has only 2 fixing brackets. Do I need 2 kits or do you only use one bracket per control arm. Perhaps I'll get who ever does the wheel alignment to put them on.
Will put some pics up soon, car looks great and I'm heaps happier with it now. Again thanks to everyone for their advice.