Just a quick ask really.

At the moment I've stripped the complete rear interior out of my ST170 due to it need a little welding done. Now due to a noticeable performance increase I think I may take the remainder of the interior out, but wanted to ask about lowering the car.

The car at the moment has obviously gone back up in the air on the rear, and the rake is far more than it was before, but if I fit a lower spring set along with new shocks then I feel it will just put it back to the original ride height.

Are coil overs my only option ?

Also how easy is it to work with carbon, as I thought about getting some sheet and cutting it to make flat panels to go where the door cards used to go. I've heard nightmare story's about carbon splinters and edges etc.

As an alternative has anyone used perspex.

Thanks for any pointers

 

in your case coil overs would be best as lowering springs take into account original weight, not worked with carbon but used to shape perspex back in the day with no issues for windows and interior panels as it came in all colours

 

Thanks for the info I will look into coil overs

I think the last time I worked with perspex was at school back in 1986 lol, and the choice of colours sounds good, again thank you. I will do some more reading tonight, and see what comes up

 

perspex is a nice easy material to work with it was all about the type of blade you use to cut it and the speed, too fast would cut but weld itself back together behind the blade but find a decent supplier and the world is your oyster in colour and thickness

 

My old ST used to sit high at the back, there was a couple of dead coils on the springs so just lopped one of them off, did the job just fine lol

 

Worst idea since trapping your balls ia vice!
Springs are designed to fill a gap and. Give correct ride height without dislocation. Removing a coil removes the springs ability to fill that void.
You go over a crest or bump, car goes light, spring fully extends, comes out of seat, car comes back under weight and compression, no spring, serious lack of control and death etc!,,,
A little extreme but that's potentially the result of cutting springs, especially rears that arent wrapped around a damper

 

Fully aware of the consequences, seemed a good idea at the time!

 

I think over the weekend I will send a few emails out to various suspension company's asking what kit they do for the ST170. I've always used Spax in all my previous cars, but am willing to change.

 

Don't know if the ST is the same as the RS but adjustable coil overs are very expensive, I've got non adjustable and they were over £500 😢

 

One of the 170s I was breaking last month had coilovers on it and sold the lot for 250 and they were made by spax, but as sinbad says makes like gaz are around a grand

 

It's the rear spring cups you need to lower it. You can use a full coil over on the rear as long as it has a 1.9" id spring, you'll need to strengthen the mounting point on the trailing arm too. You could use a non coil over damper as long as you have the adjustable spring seat converters. I've got a set of ohlins coil overs in my garage. £4.2k to buy new, £3k second hand, a bit too much for a road car though.
You can get the seat converters from Gaz and KW from memory. Then use your choice of spring with a helper spring and divider.

 

Thanks for all the useful information, I do have £3k, but that's really high end, and maybe a little above what I need

 

had similar issues when i rebuilt a 2003 st which had tin worms issues in the rear wheel boxes due to fords lack of sealing and the awful polyester arch protectors which hold damp and salt in that area.. i rebuilt all the susp F&r with new parts everything was seized solid , i happened on a basic KW kit from Germany, and as this is a track day and a occasional driver i needed decent road clearance but good handling and despised the front down look that Ford had left in the design.. i removed everything rear seat wise and lightened car without anything that would fail an MOT.. battery is now in rear pass footwell, and engine bay is clear of all trunking with a cold air feed from filter at the left lower valence area..I used KYB struts with std springs front and the kw rear springs and shocks with the adjuster part at the top bolted in through the rear x member. and set to the lowest it can be, arch is approx 20mm over the tyre rear, and 30 at front.. all 4 wheel aligned and set it handles amazingly wee bit hard at the back but i plan to lower the rear spring rates as even st std rears are too stiff for fast work on bumpy Irish back roads..