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Reversing the lowering

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Eagle Kammback View Drop Down
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    Posted: Jul/09/2013 at 8:56pm
I liked how low the '79 AMX sat at first, but everything makes her bottom out
Guys I work with know I love cars, and asked who owned the black 80s looking car that sits really low, apparently the sprays sparks over the rail crossing, even at low speeds
Now, I know nobody makes lowering kits for these cars, and I figure the springs up front were *probably* heated up to compress them, but I have no real clue how she was lowered in the rear. Does anybody here know how that was done?
Or have any pictures of their suspension for me to compare to?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kirkwood Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jul/09/2013 at 9:08pm
The coils in the front were probably cut, and lowering blocks used in the rear. The blocks are easy to remove, but your need a new pair of springs for the front.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote uncljohn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jul/10/2013 at 3:43am
The 79 AMX as all AMC cars are has a very basic suspension design and in addition is almost exactly the same as all AMC 2 wheel drive cars are from 1970 to end of production, up to and including mostly but not completely interchangeable parts.
How low is it?
I lowered the front of a 1980 Spirit which for the most part you can not tell from a 1979 AMX over 6 inches from stock (and did so sort of by accident which is another story) and it was  not even close to scraping anything nor bottoming out, and still had room for p205 60 14 tires which are pretty good sized with out causing problems in the front.  Well, except for a few anyway which eventually forced me to figure out what was going on. It did however have a problem with the tie rod ends hanging up on the chassis which pretty much put a hitch in it's getalong when trying to turn the steering wheel. The back though was not lowered.
If you are trying to restore ride height using Pick-A-Part parts, any spring from a Hornet, Concord, or Spirit should work to bring things back to normal.
The odds are you will find the spring cut which really gives no problems at all unless done with heat. Heat takes the temper out of them and pretty much destroys them. 
Find a junk yard replaement and take a half a turn out of the top and that will bring the stereotypical nose high AMC look away by dropping the front about an inch or so and just re-assemble things.  The back probably has lowering blocks but take a look and see f the rest of the AMX parts are there to and is actually using an AMC rear axle.
That should use a pair of torque links and a rear sway bar for 1979. If for some reason it does not use and AMC rear axle you will have to figure out how to remove the lowering blocks.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote carnuck Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jul/10/2013 at 2:00pm
Look at the back to see if they put blocks between the axle and springs (when the axle is above the springs, that will lower it) If you still have an SX4 and you want to lift it, get the Javelin springs listed on the http://forums.amcevolution.com Eagle site (since the nest crashed 2 weeks ago and probably won't be coming back)and swap the SX4 springs to the AMX.
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