Lowering a BA XR6T (tastefully)

[k31th]

I wanted to lower my car but not make it completely impractical. The common thing to do to achieve a practical but nice looking "even low" is get "one grade lower" on the front as the front of a B-series is already pretty low then get "two grades lower" on the rear as it is a fair bit higher than the front stock.

To achieve this, King model numbers are KFFL-57SL for the front and KFRL-68SSL for the rear, which seems to be the way to go based on the research I did (this is the combination for "Super Low" on King's catalogue for "FALCON BA BF XR6 SEDAN"). I went with the recommended "low" shocks that monroe sell as they're a reasonable compromise in OEM-style-stiffness and low-capability. You can opt for whatever shocks suit your own ride requirements, though.

 

Pulled it all out it's not too difficult...

For the front, loosen the shock top-hat nuts to only a few threads left (3), not the middle, unbolt the swaybar linkage and remove the ABS sensor out of the way (it's wiring can get destroyed in the removal process), unbolt the shock from the lower-control-arm, unbolt the upper-control-arm ball joint and let it fall "outwards". With all of this undone it's easy to push down on the lower-control-arm and wiggle the shock out from on top of it, then you can finish it off by completely removing the shock top-hat nuts; remember to hold onto the shock as you do this otherwise it'll fall and hit the ground etc.

For the rear, it's fairly easy. I just unbolted the stock shock at both top and bottom and it basically slides out. For the springs I decided to undo the swaybar linkages again just to give myself a little bit more room and the spring basically wiggled out of position easily.

Here it is all laid out and removed:

 

Now's when you need a spring compressor to get the old springs off the front shocks and then the new springs onto the new shocks. I went down to a local suspension shop and they did it for $60. easy-peasy, no risk, no purchase.

 

And installed in the front (not too hard to get in. Remember to tighten that UCA ball joint, though ahha):

 

And the rear spring installed (top rubber didn't fall out, so just aligned it with that, easy to slide in):

 

The shocks are a little tricky to get into place, but nothing that's a real issue because you can just help out with the jack

 

Then I compressed the spring/shock as much as I could (probably should do this without the spring in there to get absolutely full travel) to see if I'd need to change-out or cut the bump stops... decided to cut 'em, because why not

 

 

And the completed lowering... at the car wash after I'd finished that night.

 

and took it to my "outdoor gym" spot that I took the best side-on shot I have of it and it came out in a comparison like this:

before:

after:

 

and editing those two pictures to put 'em as even as possible so you can see the difference:

 

Centre of wheel to guard measurements (HTG - Hub to Guard) come out as ~345mm at the front and ~355mm at the rear. OEM was ~370mm front and ~380mm rear. The suspension should settle a bit once I've driven it around a bit.

 

Now the only downsides are my aftermarket catalytic converter hangs a bit low and my front bumper will not make it over any gutter/stopper thing so I'll have to remember to back into every spot or stop short of trying to get the bumper to make it over anything.

 

Also when I go over bumps with any speed and cornering at the same time, it feels like the guard is being very slightly tapped by the tyre... no obvious visible marks on either the tyre or the guard, though... but will probably get the guards rolled at some point for peace of mind in high speed cornering etc.

 

Wheels soon

[JETURBO]

Monroe GT’s ……

 

[k31th]

Monroe GT "sport", that is, thank you very much

To elaborate; the stock shocks are ~200k+ old and definitely needed replacing and while lowering the car you should get shocks that suit them so I went with the OEM+ arrangement of monroe gt sports. They are only a little stiffer than stock and feel fine otherwise :)

[bossmang]

dont forget your wheel alignment 

[k31th]

good point, @bossmang Always worth getting it at least checked when you do any suspension mods Mine will be getting an alignment soonish.

[biddie_fiddler]

Just curious, what made you go this way over getting replacement kits from the likes of shockworks, BC, mca etc?
I know they make the car low, but only if you want them to. They're adjustable, making it way more flexible  

 

Same goes for the ride quality, you can make it as stiff or as soft as you like!

[k31th]

If you know how low you want to go (I did) and you know how the springs feel (I've experienced them, but that's not necessary) and you've got a good idea how the shocks will feel compared to stock (I've been in cars with 'em) then you can save a bunch of money to go with non-adjustable ones You can save even more with 2nd-hand parts if you want to do that.

 

edit: also, the parts of a high quality spring/shock setup is around the same price or cheaper than the cheapest/nastiest coilover setup

Edited 16/02/22 12:29 AM by k31th

[k31th]

FYI to anybody reading this, the suspension "settled" about 5mm on both front and back so the final HTG measurement was 340mm front and 350mm rear.

 

On 15/02/2022 at 11:38 PM, k31th said:

Wheels soon

Took me a while to get all of the media/content to be happy with a post with the wheels, but here it is ->

https://www.fordxr6turbo.com/forum/topic/96768-tsw-bathurst-on-ba-xr6t-f20x930r20x1040/