Please check with the local laws in your area/country before undertaking any of the below. Having new coil springs made up and rear springs reset by a qualified spring company, may be the best option. Some countries have laws on how the work is carried out and how low the car can be modified too.
Front struts can be fitted with a threaded tube once the lower spring platform is removed and a new top spring plate put in place. This way the lower spring plate can be raised or lowered to suit different ride heights and different poundage springs. Shops that specialise in Rally and racecars stock these as do some suspension stockists. Standard MKlll’s can be lowered at the front one inch by taking one and a half-complete coils out of the front spring or 2 complete circles for lowering of 2 inches. Bear in mind this will also firm the spring and ride of the car by a certain percentage. I recommend removing the springs from the car and using a high-speed air or electric 4-inch cut off wheel to remove sections of spring. Then I round off the end of the spring and with it mounted in a vice, you bend down the last 3 inches of the spring so it better fits the spring platform. Different inserts can be modified to fit inside some of these struts, including Holden Commodore inserts for MKlll’s.
MKlV inserts are still available through some companies, these can also be retro fitted back to MKlll models.
To lower the rear end of leaf sprung cars, I recommend 2 inch lowering blocks with extended (new) U-Bolts. If you wish to go lower, get the springs reset and possibly an extra leaf or two added in, but allow for this when measuring for new U-Bolts. Overall this will also firm up the ride of the car but a good spring company should be able to advise on this.
Thanks to Adrian Beckham for the above 2 photos.
