How to lower a 510 stationwagon

[msoriano0123]

can anyone help me or tell me how to lower a 510 station wagon

[S13Teddy]

remove the shocks and replace them with shortened pieces of wood.

[KA24510]

remove the shocks and replace them with shortened pieces of wood.

:

Oh gosh, perfect idea lol

[ztommyx]

still need help?you are asking the wrong people here who knows little about 510's... even 510 owners themselves..lol

i have coil-overs in fronts and shortened struts and springs in rears.

[msoriano0123]

yeah bro... i still need help... i dont know to much about cars and trying to learn... so if you can tell me the process i would greatly appreciate it...

[S13Teddy]

I had coilovers

[NSR_s30]

IIRC if you swap the rear subframe from a S13 you can use that with the 510 to lower it the way you want. I could be wrong though...

[msoriano0123]

what kind of coilovers did you use, and for what car? i know they don't make them for 510s. I was looking at the rear suspension, and it has leafs spring, so i can probably just lower them like a toyota truck. I just need info on what kind of coilovers you guys are running. Any info would help.

[KA24510]

I dunno what to do about coilovers for a wagon.

A friend of mine is building a wagon. He is going with lowering blocks for the lower stance and then larger diameter sway bars to keep it on the road. Beyond that I dont know, but there is a bit of customization involved beyond lowering blocks for it. I think you can add to the leaf springs also to stiffen it up

Lowering blocks are gonna be your best bet IMO...

[jaimesix]

can anyone help me or tell me how to lower a 510 station wagon

The wagon is leaf sprung on the rear, so there are 3 methods that I know for lowering leaf sprung suspensions. I have done it in my racing B210, and I have done it in my Datsun 710.

(1): Decambering the springs. Decambering, or dearching is the best method. You have to take your leaf springs off the car and take them to a spring shop. ( unless you drive to the spring shop...in which case, they will charge extra for doing that job....you might loose a liomb! )Spring shops that work on truck ( trailers, 18 wheelers, etc ) springs do that kind of work. What they do is flatten your leaf springs, take away the arch, hence, your ride will go lower by about 2.5 in You will need shorter shocks if you are using gas shocks ( compressed gas shocks become extremely hard ) but shocks are not expensive , I do not see that as a problem. This is the method used in racing cars. Performance leaf springs are dearched units and heftier.

(2): Lowering blocks. By using lowering blocks, you are achieving the same results as in decambering the leaves, but instead you use blocks to lower the entire assembly in relation to the axle. The disadvantage of this method against decambering is that you will need longer U bolts to accomodate the block that is sandwiched between the leaf spring seat and the axle, stock U bolts will not do it ,and your leaf springs will go lower, becoming more visible. At the same time, your springs will be closer to the floor , not too bad ( decambering keeps the springs at its stock location in relation to the axle ) .

(3): Switching leaves position within the spring assembly. There is a method by which you can take the spring off the car, and disassemble the unit, taking the center bolt off. Once off, reverse the 3rd leaf, and rebolt the assembly.Once re bolted, the reversed leaf flatens the whole assembly, hence decambering the assembly.

In earnest, I think decambering is the best way. By decambering, you get to use your stock U bolts and hardware, and get a pro look, pro results, and all you got to get is shorter shocks. The spring remains located, seated , in it's stock position against the axle and seat, unlike the block method, which seats the spring lower, away from the axle, with a block in between axle and spring seat. With blocks you achieve nice looks, but you need longer U bolts, and you have to make sure the blocks are in place and well adjusted. The third method works, I have seen it, but, if you are going to take the springs out of the car, might as well do it right, decamber the springs, and at the same time, the shop will align them and check them out.

my 2 cents

Jaime._____________________________________________

[jaimesix]

S13Teddy wrote:Quote » I had coilovers

[/quote]

You can use coil overs on any car, but, if the car has leaf springs ( as opposed to IRS, where there are coil springs, as in the front of the station wagon ) you can not use coil overs and forget about the leaf springs. You can make a car stiffer by adding coil overs to an existing leaf sprung car, but that is as far as you go.

In order to lower a leaf sprung car, you must either:

(1)Decamber (2)Use lowering blocks (3)Reverse 3rd leaf

You can not install coil overs and get rid of the leaf springs, in a leaf sprung car, the leaf spring unit, aside from doing its job as a spring, holds the axle in place and keeps the geometry and position of the chasis/body in place.

[pdonoho]

gotta see pics of this, first car of my family's i ever drove was our 510 station wagon!

[slydrdie1]

this is my wagon.ive got grojund control coilovers in front off a honda civic.modified of course.shorter strut inserts .you can use the ones that fit the first gen vw rabbits.same diameter.as far as the rear ive got shorter shocks and 3in. blocks. im on 17x7.5 jdm tubines.its lowered aprox. 3.5 ini actually did flip the third spring first to de-arch the rear but found that it wasnt low enough for me so id have to use blocks anyway.unless i 4-linked it.which still mite happen but thats a whole new thread.

[jaimesix]

Nice wagon.

Any more pictures????

Jaime.___________________________________________

this is my wagon.ive got grojund control coilovers in front off a honda civic.modified of course.shorter strut inserts .you can use the ones that fit the first gen vw rabbits.same diameter.as far as the rear ive got shorter shocks and 3in. blocks. im on 17x7.5 jdm tubines.its lowered aprox. 3.5 ini actually did flip the third spring first to de-arch the rear but found that it wasnt low enough for me so id have to use blocks anyway.unless i 4-linked it.which still mite happen but thats a whole new thread.