Installing Lowering Springs has become a very common and popular mod, especially for late model vehicles. When older models are lowered, it is often achieved by air suspension, drop spindles or just a solid Big Block :)

In this article, we're going to install a set of Jamex lowering springs on a thirdgen Camaro. This particular brand of springs are no longer available in the US, since Jamex decided to pull out of that market.

There are several things to take into consideration before jumping on the lowering bandwagon. First off, what is the reason for lowering your car? Looks only, or is it also out of a handling perspective? If you're doing it for looks only, you might get away with the springs only. If you are looking to upgrade the cars handling as well - that is best achieved by complimenting the springs with a good set of struts/shocks, some firm bushings as well as other components known to be weak for your particular model.
Another thing that you have to do when lowering your car, is to install an adjustable panhard rod (APR), unless your car is already equipped with one. This is to make sure you can get the rear end perfectly centered after the lowering. If you don't install an APR, your rear end will be shifted over to one side as your car is lowered. Driving with the rear end off-centered causes some major stress on the driveline and can be very dangerous.

Now off to the install!
WARNING: At ANY time when working with springs, there is a certain risk involved. The information in this article is meant strictly as helpful directions, and thus the author and ChevyWorld.net is NOT liable for ANY material damage and/or injury that comes as a result of attempting to do a similar install based upor these directions!

That being said, we'll start with the front, but of course you can do them in any order! The first thing you have to do is to jack up the car and have it secured on a set of beefy jackstands on a leveled and solid surface (concrete). Do NOT attempt to do this job without jackstands and without being 120% sure that it is secured well!!! We don't want ANY accidents, aight?!!? :)

(Click to enlarge)

Now that the car has been secured, we can get down to business. Start with taking the wheel off and put your floor jack safely under the lower control arm (LCA), and jack up until you see that you've got a little load on the spring. This prevents the spring from putting an unnecessary load on the nuts and bolts you are about to remove. Even more important, it prevents the spring from causing the strut to loosen forcefully and uncontrolled from the spindle, which can be very dangerous!!

Click to enlarge)

The sway bar needs to be disconnected from the lower control arm. This is very straight forward and all you need to do is to take out the long bolt going from underneath the LCA and up through the stabilizer links. For extra room, take out the stabilizer links on both sides to begin with - then the sway bar can be turned upwards and out of your way.

Next take off the dust cover on top of the strut tower to reveal the nut holding the top end of the strut. Use a socket to hold the bolt while you loosen the nut with a wrench. You just have to try to find out what sizes you need as this may vary depending on what brand the current struts are.

(Click to enlarge)

When the top nut is lose (Not off!!), the two lower bolts connecting the strut and the spindle, need to be removed. It is important that you now check that the floor jack is still sitting firmly under the LCA. Loosen the little bracket holding the brake hose so no strain is put on the brake hose once the spindle is loosened from the strut.

(Click to enlarge)

We are now ready to remove the bolts on the bottom end of the strut. You will need an appropriate sized socket and wrench, pluss a nice amount of elbow grease! These bolts tend to sit fairly well.

(click to enlarge)

With the bolts removed, the strut is technically lose. However, it tends to sit some in road grime and corrosion - so it probably will not "fall apart" on its own. This is when the strength of the spring really comes in handy! By slowly opening the valve on your floor jack, let the spring press the LCA down, and the strut will come off from the spindle. Be sure to keep an eye on that brake hose so it doesn't get damaged.
Once the strut is lose, take the top nut all the way off to take out the strut. It is probably possible to take the spring out without removing the strut all the way, but why? It is much better with the extra room, and it is already lose. Plus, you should be replacing your struts when you've gone this far anyway!

When the strut is out, the LCA is all the way down and the spring is unloaded - you are ready to pull that ol' spring out.
It is possible that it still sits a little bit, and that it feels like there is still a little bit of tension left on the spring. What you can do then is to tie a rope around the spring and around the lower control arm (to secure it so that it will not jump out and knock your teeth out!). Tie another rope around the spring that you can use to pull it off of the LCA.

Then find a long rod or piece of wood to press down on the lower control arm to take the last tension out - and pull!! There should not be much tension left, but it is important to be on the safe side.

You are now set to install the new spring. Since this one obviously is shorter, it will go in much easier than the old one came out. Just stick it in there, but be sure to check that you have the correct end upwards. The spring should be marked, but check with the old one to make sure.
Lift up the LCA and slip the floor jack underneath. Now get out your new strut and loosely put it in place by sticking the top bolt up through the strut tower and thread on the nut without tightening.
Carefully jack up the LCA and steer the spindle into the bottom end of the strut until the holes line up - and slide in the bolts.
At this point it is all a matter of putting things back in the opposit order of how they came apart.
Here is an abbreviated list:
* Tighten top strut nut
* Tighten lower bolts
* Mount brake hose bracket
* Bolt up stabilizer links
* Install strut tower dust cover

Remove both wheels and then raise the jack a little bit again to compress the shocks a tad bit. This is to make sure the rear end is not hanging on the shocks and thus fall down once you start deinstalling the shocks.
When unbolting the shocks you want to start on top to keep it from moving around when taking off the nut. If you are NOT replacing the rear shocks, you can skip to the step below as it is not necessary to unbolt the top. As seen in the pic below, it is possible that the bolt/nut is rusted, especially if the shocks are fairly old. Before you spend too much time on this - go get yourself a "nutcracker" from your local Sears. This will save you a lot of time, knuckles and bad language!

(Click to enlarge)

Once the top bolts are taken care of, unbolt the bottom bolt of the shocks. Be sure to check that the jack is still supporting the rear end so it won't fall down when the shocks are removed.

(Click to enlarge)

Now the rear end is lose (except the panhard rod of course) and can be lowered. At this point the springs will more or less fall out.
Put in the new springs (with the right end up!) and jack up the rear end again. Put in the new shocks if you are replacing them, or hook the old ones back on if you are re-using them.
When everything is bolted back together and the wheels are on - lower the car to measure how much the rear end is off (sideways).
You are now ready to install the adjustable panhard rod - but that is not a part of this article....

***