I have done a lot of searches on this subject and it seems to me that almost everyone who buys the aftermarket lowering springs has to cut them because they raise there car instead of lowering it?
Then they say the ride is to stiff because they are cut?
So why not just buy stock springs and cut them or SB springs as they are a lot cheaper than the aftermarket?
I would like my car 1" lower but want to keep my stock springs intact (just in case).
I also don't want to spend 170.00 and have to cut 1/2 coil to get 1" drop.
Can I buy either small block A/C or non A/C springs and get my 1"?
Or should I buy BBC stock springs and cut 1/2 coil saving myself 90.00 bucks?
My motor has alum. heads and water pump, but I do have a 4 core rad.
Has anyone done this with the 80-90 $ springs?
I know for a 130.00 I can get custom springs made, but 50 bucks is 50 bucks.
Any help or comment will be appreciated T.C.

i never bought lowering springs up front mine are good ol' sbc springs that were in the car when i bought it, i cut 2 and a half coils out and its pretty low i figure for a one inch drop maybe 1 coil ct out might work but i would start off with like 1/2 a coil and work my way up its all about cut and fit/try until you get the desired height, heres a pic of my car for a some what of a reference point, (2.5 coils) approximately 2.5-3 inch drop hope this helps!!!


http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s137/r1967a/DSC00283.jpg

There are a couple basic routes,
“Lower spring rate”, “rate is how much pressure to compress the spring 1”, or
“Lower spring preload” “Preload” is how much pressure it took to hold the car up
Rough numbers look about like this, some assumptions and estimates but theory is correct. So lets assume there is abt 1,100 lbs (my guess) on each front wheel. The spring travel to wheel travel is 2.06 to 1 (lets call it 2 to1) so to hold the car up it has to have 2,200 lbs pressure on the spring.
When I purchased my car it was almost as low as the one in the pic but was lowered by buying a low rate spring of 343 lbs per inch, (I think common small block Chevelle springs are in the 380 range??)
So if wheel load is 1,100 and it had to have the 2200 lbs, it got there by preload, do the math, 2200 div by 343 = 6.4" of preload, abt 17" free length, installed is collapsed down 6.4" or 10.6" spring pocket height. I was OK with this as a small block, did the 454 thing, aluminum head, intake, water pump, headers and the small Sanden compressor for the air I was living in denial thinking it would be OK. It not only set too low but took very little more bump effort to make it bottom. Now I have a 550 lb spring (from Mark Savitsky) with much less preload, same concept 2200 div by 550 = 4" and it has a length in the 14. something. He is shipping me spacers right now as I want to raise it 1.5" from where it is today but the big difference is when I drive it now it takes much more bump to compress it.
Example, a bump that applied another 250 lb load would load the spring 500 lb and would compress the wheel;
500 div by 343 (my old spring) = 1.45 inches times 2 (suspension ratio) = 2.9" at the wheel.
500 div by 550 (my new spring) = .9 inches times 2 (suspension ratio) = 1.8" at the wheel.
Basically when you lower your car you still need the same resistance to bottoming and have less travel to bottom so you need a stronger rate spring.

If your patient and anal;
First you need to get the front wheels onto a scale, div by 2 to find the wheel load.
Measure the spindle to fender dimension you want, I would guess the car in the pic to be in the 12's, I want to be about 14", you decide, remove the spring, put the A arm back on and jack the A arm up until you get to that dimension, then measure the spring space, top is a flat seat, bottom is a spiral, you need to measure to the deepest spot in the spiral bottom seat, it will be 10 to 12" range. Also measure it at bottomed out.
Go on line and find a spring design program and compute the rate of your spring, you need wire size in thousands of an inch, total length & number of coils.
Now figure out the tension on the spring bottomed. Now you can design the spring, you know the bottomed out length and pressure from the spring you have what if you cut ½ a coil off your spring, what would its rate be (its higher as the spring is shorter). Lets assume you can buy build of have built a spacer to get the bottoming resistance the same, what does the shortened springs rate look like and once spacered to get the same bottoming resistance how much pressure does it have at the installed length that gives the ride height? I have not worked out the combo and I think you need heavier wire! But shortening the stock spring will give more rate and shimming its height will get you in the right direction.

Thanks for the replies:
Nice car Ryan, lower than I am looking for as I have a ramp I must go over to get into my garage.
Dave what you are saying is go with the stock BB springs and cut them as the rate of the SB will be to soft.
I see no difference between the aftermarket 1" lowering springs and the aftermarket "stock" springs as I would have to cut either to get the 1" drop I want.
So why not save the extra 50.00 they get for the lowering springs ?
Or am I missing something?
T.C.