hi, i just want to lower my 84 240. just a little, just in the front,, maybe one and a half inch maximum 2".. if i go to cut the springs , i just cut the length that i want to drop?? any help please!!

 

When you cut stock springs, you'll bottom out that much sooner, and however many pounds force that is, effectively lowering the usable payload capacity of your car. of course, you'll also scrape more curbs and parking blocks.

the proper way to lower a car is to use a shorter stiffer spring, matched to a slower ('stiffer') shock absorber. IPD USA sells some nice vehicle specific sport springs. this will improve your cars handling, rather than ruin it. shorter springs also alter the wheel alignment (the steering tie rods are no longer 'level' when the car is at rest), so you'll likely want to reset your toe-in. if you lower the rear end, it will be offset to one side because the panhard rod angle has changed, so a length adjustable panhard can be used to fix that. also the drive shaft will be at a non-optimal angle, so you may feel some drivetrain shudder at low speed high acceleration, especially if you really slam it.

if you're just lowering the car to 'look cool', be aware many people think it just looks silly anywhere other than on a race track. a volvo 240 is NOT and never will be a Porsche, or STi, or whatever.

 

Hi pierce,, thanks a lot for all the info!!

 

Please don't do it. It looks horrible and you will devalue the vehicle. The car was carefully engineered to function best the way it was designed other wise Volvo would have sold then already lowered. When you come to sell the car, no-one will want it.

 

What is this, the Porsche forums?
"Mods make it worth less" is stupid. Yes, you'll never get your money back. But no, a two inch drop on good springs and struts is not a huge knock on price. Especially when the springs are formed specially for the vehicle.
Volvo sold these cars to clear horrible winter roads. If you never see bad weather in a car, lowering it PROPERLY is a perfectly acceptable modification.
Slamming a car to the ground, however, not quite as acceptable.

 

My car went up in value based on the appraisal for the insurance. Just saying.

If you have no usefully comments, please don't post.

Just get IPD springs and and new shocks and call it a day if you want.
There is a lot more options and things you might want to look at once you have new components on the car.

 

odds are pretty damn good that any 240 will need a full round of suspension bushings to tighten things back up along with those shocks and springs. you can easily end up spending several $1000 on suspension upgrades.

again, folks, remember, the OP was talking about 'cutting springs' which suggests he wants a cosmetic lowering, NOT a performance ride.

to further explain my original point about spring rates... say your car has 8" total suspension travel, and when its sitting at rest, its compressed 3" so there's 5" to bottom out. lets say it takes an additional 500 lbs of force on that wheel to bottom out that 5", or 100 lbs/inch (coil springs are quite linear). if you cut away 2", now you've only got 3" to bottom out, at 300 lbs force.

 

hi thanks to every one,, i appreciate all this info,, i will take the suggestions to evaluate and make it the best way possible,, i m new on the volvos,, and i like to get some info about them,, thankss again!!

 

:: Never mind... I read more carefully, and everything I was going to say pierce has already said. ::

+1 to what pierce said.

 

When you cut a spring, you are increasing the spring rate.

Spring rates are are basicly calculated by the free length, number of active coils, and the wire diameter. You are changing the free length and active coils.

A friend of mine his springs on a car I bought from him. From where they were cut, it was equivalent to like 400-500#in. They were a lot stiffer than my set of 300#in springs.

 

That may be. I don't know so much about spring rates. But cutting springs will not fix the problem you'll run into with having your camber be off..generally negative. IPD does sell kits to help you correct this. That's what I'm getting at.

 

IPD does not sell camber plates. With springs from IPD or ~2" drop, the camber should be corrected through the stock adjustment (which is not much). The cars already have positive camber to begin with.
The thing you want to correct is the Roll Center. and you will need to once you lower the car beyond 1.5". Which is where these come in 240 Quick Steer Roll Correction - Kaplhenke Racing LLC

OP: if you want to do it right, it will cost you money. The choice is up to you.

 

thanks guys!!