I've been doing some studying of coil spring rates. I don't think that clipping the OEM springs is the way to go. Clipping a coil spring will shorten the length, thereby reducing preload, however removing active coils from a coil spring will actually increase the spring rate (lbs/inch, newtons/meter).
The FZ1 spring is very close in overall length to the OEM spring. The FZ1 spring diameter is the same. The FZ1 outer diameter is very slightly wider than the OEM spring. The FZ1 spring has 4 more active coils than the OEM spring, hence the spring rate of the FZ1 is approximately 70% of the OEM spring.
Ideally, want to find a spring with a spring rate inbetween an OEM spring and an FZ1 spring; so far, I'm still searching for that.
For now, I'm going back to the FZ1 spring/2.53 slide combo.
I may pick up more FZ1 springs for some experimentation...
