Ok, I recently dragged one of my old driver/beater projects from the weeds to get it back on the road when my youngest son showed some interest in it. It's a 79 Malibu wagon I originally bought for $200 with a blown V-6 (Jiffy-Lube forgot to tighten the new oil filter they installed) I yanked the froze-up 6-er, and bought a nice running, low-mailage '86 305 HO engine a friend had pulled from his Trans-Am for a big block swap....I bolted it up to a TH350 trans from another project, had dual exhaust installed with some glass-packs, and had a fun, low-buck, dependable cruiser for a few years 'til the front suspension got too worn out to be safe, and I retired it in favor of a newer ride and other projects. So, after dusting off the oxidized paint, chasing off the field mice, firing up the motor and giving it a tune-up, the first order of business was to freshen-up the suspension....I had a set of H&R lowering springs I was going to use on my 79 454 Malibu 2-dr. project, and decided to use them for the wagon instead. Now, with the V-8 sitting on the old V-6 springs, the front end already had a lowered rake, but since the front suspension was so sloppy and weak, and the 17" Bullitt wheels rubbed the front fender lips, I decided to install the lowering springs when I rebuilt the front suspension. I went ahead and installed the rear lowering springs which dropped the back end about an inch and a half, and with the front "V-6 drop", the car had a nice stance. Anyways, a week in a friend's garage, I replaced the upper and lower A-arm bushings and ball-joints (the rest of the front suspension looked tight), installed some new shocks, then went ahead and installed the front lowering springs. Now, here's the rub (no pun intended) the front lowering springs raised the front end at least an inch! On the upside, the wheels don't rub the fender lips anymore. So, what do you think? Does the car look lowered?......can V-6 springs under the weight of a V-8 sit lower than with actual lowering springs? It's no biggy really, I still like the stance, and lowering the car was only an afterthought, not my main goal....and it rides and handles so nice now, I'm happy.......but it's not the results I expected with my first lowering job. I'm going to go ahead and live with it....at least until I swap to Corvette rallys or the 16" Trans-Am/Grand National GTA/GNX wheels I have as optional rolling stock....then I'll have to see how they look, and maybe make adjustments from there. Before, with the rear lowered and the stock V-6 springs up front and now, with lowering springs all around.... Next up, the car goes in for minor bodywork, a steel cowl induction hood, and a couple of fresh coats of '08 GM Cranberry paint. .
Looks good to me.Had a !980 wagon, great looking car could not stand the lack of power from the v6 and sold it.
Looks fine to me. And the answer is yes. The new springs are based on a V8 and the stiffness is calibrated to that. The old ones are for a V6 and designed to sit a a specific height based off that weight. Also you need to figure age and wear which can cause the old ones to sit even lower also. Ron
