UMI lowering springs; still suck? UMI or another brand?

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Northernregal

Sloppy McRodbender
Oct 24, 2017
3,359
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Rears are a lot easier, go a tad lower than you think as you can add poly isolators top and bottom or spacers to fine tune final height.

I did this with my UMI 2" drop rears. The 4051R springs.
 
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Built6spdMCSS

Geezer
Jun 15, 2012
5,696
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Florida Beach
Rears are a lot easier, go a tad lower than you think as you can add poly isolators top and bottom or spacers to fine tune final height.

I did this with my UMI 2" drop rears. The 4051R springs.
I'm leaning toward that given the perches on the Axle Tubes are like 3" tall and I work in a machine shop.. :)
 
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Built6spdMCSS

Geezer
Jun 15, 2012
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I got under my SS and got some measurements.

Eibach Pro Kit Rear under load sitting right now, measured from the bottom of the flush seated top coil down to the bottom of the back of the spring perch, it was on an angle so this is the longest measurement. Same measurement on the other side.

9.25 + .575 = 9.825" Spring Height.

20221107_184908.jpg

20221107_184740.jpg


Here is the UMI Specs for their Rear ones. May have to go with the 2" drop and shim accordingly. :)

20221107_185107.jpg
 
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Built6spdMCSS

Geezer
Jun 15, 2012
5,696
9,505
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Florida Beach
Over the last couple of days I've been emailing Ramey at UMI, he was in my LS Gbody group and we started from there. He hooked me up with a Veterans Day discount on my order.. 🙂

The 2" Rear Drop Springs are on the way. I'll order the Solid Body Bushings later today. When I get them all in I'll install it all into my SS one weekend and see what I accomplish. 🤘
 
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64nailhead

Goat Herder
Dec 1, 2014
5,660
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Upstate NY
You’ll have to adjust the pinion angle dropping 2”. Do you have adjustable a-arms?

Or you need some heavier friends to hang out in the back seat.
 
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MisterA

Not-quite-so-new-guy
Jan 17, 2022
5
1
3
I used the BMR full kit on my LS swapped 79 Cutlass. 1.5" drop, front & rear sway bars, tubular arms and links, Bilstein shocks (not coilovers) no float, far less lean in the curves. Defintely stiffer than stock, but still comfortable highway cruising. See my build thread, Project Diesel No More for pics. I've received lots of compliments on the stance with the 17" wheels.
do you have a part number for the shocks you went with? thanks
 

arlowf

Apprentice
Feb 11, 2022
84
22
8
Just so everyone knows I wound up cutting 1.5 coils off the 2" lowering springs and after a week they are sitting about where I want it. It'll probably settle more. I have just enough room for 28.5 inch tires.

I wanted to wrap this thread up because i got a lot of helpful responses (and some hate) and I learned a lot.

Also, when I said I cut the springs that's not the full story, and the story came to a conclusion today with UMI. Ultimately I am not pleased with UMI because of how they advertise the springs, or how they handled my specific situation.

I cut the front springs to get the ride height I wanted on the front, but the rear springs I couldn't trim because they are pigtails. I asked UMI to justify how the rear springs didn't lower the car 2" below stock and I never got an answer. The front they didn't give me a good answer for but I didn't care because at the end of the day I could trim them.
What I wound up doing on the rear, because UMI refused to take ownership of the issue on the rear springs and wouldn't let me return them and I couldn't trim them (pigtails), is I installed spring clamps on them. That helped take about an inch off. So I have a 1 inch drop in the back and almost 2 inch drop in the front. That's the best I can do with these UMI springs.

Anybody that finds this thread: I've seen BMR and OPGI lowering spring setups on GBodys now and they had none of this headache. I cannot recommend UMI at all now because of how they handled the rear springs. They told me to cut my springs to fix the problem, which I did, but the rear springs can't be cut and they didn't drop it 2" from factory ride height. That's a defective product with no solution.

Last but not least, I want to reiterate that I am talking about ride height compared to stock. Not ride height compared to my old v6 springs. And I spent a lot of time driving my car back up to two shops to check the installation; and the second shop charged me for that because they didn't do the work.

The damn thing looks like a 4x4.
 

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arlowf

Apprentice
Feb 11, 2022
84
22
8
Over the last couple of days I've been emailing Ramey at UMI, he was in my LS Gbody group and we started from there. He hooked me up with a Veterans Day discount on my order.. 🙂🇺🇲

The 2" Rear Drop Springs are on the way. I'll order the Solid Body Bushings later today. When I get them all in I'll install it all into my SS one weekend and see what I accomplish. 🤘
Would love to know how this worked out for you.
 
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