hahahah dont do it man not a good idea...
i've done it to my charade now on the bump stops woest ride ever

why does every one think that just coz a spring is cut that it results in a bad ride, you dont have to make it sit on bump stops

if you dont cut stupid amounts out it should be fine, if you want to be real good you can go get some rear springs out af a bigger datsun to up the spring rate at the same time

a car will ride bad if you get a pro to reset the springs to far, its just coz you have taken to much travel out of the spring

I must admit that my 1200 went around Sandown with rear 180sx cut springs and is handled ok...if I lift the front wheels of the ground though the springs will fall out of their perches....so I think that falls into the stupid amounts category.

My boss told me this, an alternitive to cutting springs.

jack the car up and put axle stands under the suspension(so wheel is off and suspension is compressed)(4 post hoist may be better for this!)

Then put blocks of whatever under the chassis/sill the same hieght as you want your ride height to be.

Then fire up your oxy torch and heat up the springs untill they sag with the heat. so the car will lower itself onto the blocks you put under the chassis/sill!

Still wouldnt reccomend it though! Ive never tried it and ive never cut springs.... 1000s dont have coil spings you see

I am told it works on leaf springs as well

I am pretty sure the reason why the spring we cut in thet Lancer snaped. It was because I think he nicked one of the coils with the grinder. It was a pretty messy job we did.

Yeah u can heat the springs up & let the weight of the car lower down onto the blocks , I have done that to a different car before ,but u have to be carefull & remember not to get the oil, or gas charged chambers too hot cause they can explode on ya !!!! as far as heating the springs themself u also take the temper out of them , then they are not as strong.

I've learned from doing this to other cars many times that it works very well when done right. It would be rediculous to pay someone to do this when I could just buy some lowering springs. The point here is to save money until i can afford some coilovers.

Here are some things I've learned about doing this:

using a torch to lower the spirings often results in one side being lower than the other. (Never done it, just seen it)

Using bailing wire to hold the coil ends in the perches is a good way to keep them in place.

After you've cut your coil(s) off, use a torch to bend the last bit of coil back up so the bottom of the spring is relatively flat again.

The amount you cut off a spring is always smaller than the desired difference in ride hide sought. You can't just cut 2 inches off to get 2 inches lower. It's likely going to be less, that's why I asked the question here.

Since no one has really answered I'm probably going to cut 1 1/2 coils off and see what happens.

Cheers,
Daniel

Stop!!! This not really the best option. Lowered springs dont cost that much do they???
Another option you can buy clamps that can raise or lower your car up to 2" any one else got these

Cutting coils off your springs is a
Coil spring are essentially a torsion rod....... Right? Just wound around a vertical axis so the torsional load can be spread over several windings of the spring. This is where your spring rate comes from.

The transitional area into the flat section on the top & bottom of your coil springs are there for a reason - To make sure the spring "work" is done by the coils.

If you go & cut your springs you effectively stop the spring acting in a torsional manner & start using the end of the spring you cut as a cantilever - This means all the car's weight is now being carried by one small section of the spring instead of the whole thing.

You mentioned you were "flattening"out the end you cut......
This is a step in the right direction, however to do it properly you should have a transitional area to a flattened base - The only proper way to do this is to have them heated & re-worked.
In which case, you may as well take them to a suspension guy & have them re-set..... Not all that expensive when you add up the risk!

The only other option I've seen is in some 4X4's they have a spring "seat" which is just a piece of steel machined to support the spring windings - No transitional area to flat base required.
If you had something like this you're safe to just cut the spring where you choose.

But please - Don't just go cutting your springs.
Trust me - I'm an engineer .