Can a vn be lowered?

[diego]

My son will soon be inhereting a vn from his older sister.
Trouble is he would like to lower it but he was told by his tafe teacher that he shouldn't because it would stuff up it's suspension setup. Is this right?
eddy

[timmy_tam]

yes, yes it will
you'll need new shocks tthat a lowered as well as a panhard rod for the rear

not to mention that lowering it gives undue hassles (ie. hitting something and cracking oil sump like me

[immortality]

it'd be a crime not too for the young fella. but then a slammed commy is going to attract the attension of mr plod, not good for a young guy

[greenfoam]

Honestly it's a much safer car when slightly lowered with a bit stiffer springs. I wouldn't have my son (if I was lucky enough to have one) in a VN Commodore with stock springs. "Low" King springs or the Factory FE2 are only slightly lower than stock but enough to look better and they offer so much better handling. If you have to avoid something on the road it's a very hard car to hang onto with the stock springs

[dijm8]

yeh depends how low u go? u need to get shortend shocks at da back not so much the front, n a panhard rod too, but u risk of not having a smoother ride as having the normal ride height, when lowered you feel all the little bumps much harder.. oh and a possible guard rollin if gettin bigger rims..

[greenfoam]

But you don't need to change the shockers or the panhard rod if you stay at the factory low height

[immortality]

Honestly it's a much safer car when slightly lowered with a bit stiffer springs. I wouldn't have my son (if I was lucky enough to have one) in a VN Commodore with stock springs. "Low" King springs or the Factory FE2 are only slightly lower than stock but enough to look better and they offer so much better handling. If you have to avoid something on the road it's a very hard car to hang onto with the stock springs

totally agree with that, especially on stock rims, like driving on ice, jsut fitting some low profile tyres will help but some low's or fe2 with quality shocks will be a world of difference. the VN will probably need some work done to the suspension bushes etc as well. mgiht as well make it a nice safe ride

[pandaman]

But you don't need to change the shockers or the panhard rod if you stay at the factory low height

Exactly. A set of FE2 height springs is a great and affordable idea. Putting in a decent set of shocks at the same time would be a good idea though, especially if the ones in there look original.

[PaRaDoX]

My son will soon be inhereting a vn from his older sister.
Trouble is he would like to lower it but he was told by his tafe teacher that he shouldn't because it would stuff up it's suspension setup. Is this right?
eddy

greenfoams exactly right,

my cars dropped around 3" all around

and sits around 90mm from the dump pipe for the turbo, now ive never been pulled over for being too low (last 2 years)
but ive had to raise it for a road worthy because i got defected for bald tyres, but thats another issue all together
you do put dints in your sump :P

anyway this is what ive done

ajustable panhard rod (with live axel the lower you go the diff goes off centre, this re-centres it)
shortened shocks & stiffer shocks all round
ultra low kingsprings rear, super low fronts
nolathane bushes all round

personally i like the look of it but its not very practical, given that vn's are high in the rear id recomend this combo

superlow rears, low fronts, shortened rear shockers, panhard rod should be fine at that height.. it will handle nicely as the rear end in these cars has not much weight with a high centre of gravity meaning they can get tail happy way too easy... and mr plod wont bother you

but my advice, if he wants to do it... dont stop him, see i started off like he was.... im 20 now but i was 18 at the time... i just got my licence, knew nothing about cars and wanted to do one up... i got it lowered and i liked it... soo i eventually got more and more done.. then started doing it my self, 2 years later i do EVERYTHING my self and its all i think about..

[timmy_tam]

you do put dints in your sump :P

enough dints and KA-BLAMMO
or going over a speedhump a little too fast, also ka blammo

don't get me wrong, i love the look of my VN on superlows



but after what happened last night (alleyway + ditch = split sump = $230 tow home at 2 am)

i'm going back to stock height. cars also going to be a tow car, so stock height is a must

[PaRaDoX]

lol so thats why u want my sump! gotta warn u, u have to raise the engine out of the bay to change the sump

[immortality]

enough dints and KA-BLAMMO
or going over a speedhump a little too fast, also ka blammo

don't get me wrong, i love the look of my VN on superlows

i'm going back to stock height. cars also going to be a tow car, so stock height is a must

again, lows or fe2 and you shouldn't have this problem, it's only about 35mm lower then standard

[timmy_tam]

yup, thats why i need it
getting an engine crane tomorrow (woot!)
and see how it goes from there

p.s a friend ask, how can u weld an alloy sump??

[pandaman]

yup, thats why i need it
getting an engine crane tomorrow (woot!)
and see how it goes from there

p.s a friend ask, how can u weld an alloy sump??

With a TIG and a fair bit of skill.

[PaRaDoX]

yup, thats why i need it
getting an engine crane tomorrow (woot!)
and see how it goes from there

p.s a friend ask, how can u weld an alloy sump??

but the sumps are mild steel????

[timmy_tam]

are they? i must have gotten the wrong information from a friend then

either way, i'd rather have a straight sump ready to bolt on, no screwing about
however....welding some extra 'padding' to the sump might be a good idea

[Pub247]

Actually i think the early sumps are tin. might be mild steel at work we just chuck them out if they're damaged we got heaps. The ecotec sumps are alloy and can be fixed with a tig as mentioned (which i do sometimes) we normally fix them if we need to but we have tons of vs sumps but later model not so many so we tend to fix those and chuck the really bad ones.
Sorry for getting a bit of topic

[Morton]

FE2, Lows or Superlows shouldn't give you any trauma

Stock springs, as greenfoam said, handle like a boat. Coming from a Japanese car, I absolutely detested the factory handling of my commodore. Now, with Superlows in the front end, Heavy Duty Lows in the back, and shorter shocks all 'round, I can really drive the car with confidence, knowing how it will react if I have to brake and swerve in an emergency.

Doesn't look too low either - no police attention, and as far as the 100mm rule goes, I'm safe with a full load of passengers (hence the Lows at the back... besides which, I like the aggressive stance )

[immortality]

are they? i must have gotten the wrong information from a friend then

either way, i'd rather have a straight sump ready to bolt on, no screwing about
however....welding some extra 'padding' to the sump might be a good idea

why not fit an ecotec alloy sump, would be better for cooling and would re-inforce the block better. (if it fits) the other option would be to fit a sump gaurd that where fitted to some BT1's

[hakhawk]

would need a fitting added for the dipstick, as its in the block in an ecotec, not in the sump like vn-vr