coil springs

[David W.]

My C-3's (1980) motor went bad. The replacement engine has aluminum heads, alum water pump and will be running electric fans. This is a 4-speed car with a/c.
I am rebuilding the suspension at the same time with new everything. My question is with the lighter heads, etc., do I need to trim the coil springs to compensate for the weight loss? If so, how much? These are new with the original spring rate for small blocks.
I would prefer the car sit about 1" lower in front than it came from the factory. The old springs and worn-out suspension was about 1" lower than stock and I thought it looked great.
This is a job that I only want to do once so any help is very much appreciated.

Thanks,
David

[Joe L.]

Re: coil springs

David-----

I absolutely don't recommend t******* the springs. This is a bogus way to "adjust" the springs. I don't think that there will be enough of a weight difference between the original engine and the new one to affect the ride height by any significant amount. However, if the original springs were, indeed, deficient and, consequently, caused the car to ride 1" lower than normal in the front, that's another matter. The new springs might very well correct that condition or they might ride higher than the originals for other reasons.