guys,

my 67 monoleaf car bottoms out pretty bad going over speedbumps. but the car sits at "stock height"... like 29" from the ground to fender lip with 225/70/r15 tires.

so what causes the car to bottom out? is that springs (i think it is) or is it shocks?

im going to rebuild the rear suspension very soon. i have prothane poly bushings and koni shocks ready to go.

so should i pop for the new leaf springs or are my old ones ok? like i said, they sit pretty high, but the car bottoms out bad.

will the bushings and shocks take care of bottoming out?

what do you guys think?

thanks guys

I would change out the springs, I changed mine and it made a world of difference. Those 30 year old monoleafs had it. change them!

I also had the mono's and went with Hotchkis rears (the kit). I agree with the previous post, change out the springs. Not only have they had it, but they will not be able to handle any added HP you decide to upgrate to. Plus, those mono's will wheel-hop like hell no matter what shocks you go with.



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67 Coupe 327
Edelbrock performer package, TH350, Hotchkis suspension & sway bar, Dynomax headers and exhaust, Cowl hood

well, the hotchkis wont handle the horsepower ill have anyway... i mean, even with the hotchkis, ill have wheel hop

im going to stay with the monoleaf... and put cal tracs on it...

so can i assume that new mono leafs will keep me from bottoming out?

thanks guys

Jeff - (just thinking out loud here) if your springs were weak and warn I would think your rear would be sagging. Think about how the arch works, if it gives enough to be causing the bottoming then it would have to sag from the weight of the car!! Shocks on the other hand dampen the movement up and down and depending on how warn they are would allow the bottoming out over the speed bumps.

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...Dennis
"The '69 (http://chevelles.com/showroom/fine69_03.jpg), the '96 (http://chevelles.com/showroom/fine69_02.jpg) & the club (http://camaroslimited.com/)"

so dennis, really worn shocks would allow the car to bottom out?

can i put the new konis on and take it for a drive and hit some speed bumps and see how it does? im thinking union and blossom hill safeway...that kills my car everytime i go over that.

i guess i could do that...

any thoughts guys?

also, will the new bushings and eyes do anything for bottoming out?

thanks

as far as i know the springs really don't have as much to do with bumps and dips causing your car to bottom out as the shocks do. i'd get a pair of adjustable shocks and probably set them to the stiffer side. i think the koni shocks you were talking about are adjustable. the mono and multi leaf springs have just about the same pound per inch rating. new bushings could help out the handling of your ride but i don't think they are going to contribute to solving your bottoming out problem. also if you do convert your mono leafs to multi ones you are going to have to change where the shocks are mounted and i've heard hundreds of horror stories about the swap.

hope i was of some help

I've got the original monoleafs in my car also, and my car bottoms out on speedbumps and larger bumps as well. I have replaced the shocks and bushings with energy suspension polyurethane bushings, and both replacments did NOTHING to help the bottoming problem. I think the springs are bad even though the car sits at stock height. I am hoping to get around enough money to do a complete 4 spring Hotchkis conversion on the car sometime in the near future.

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Justin Traunero
justin.traunero@furman.edu

-1967 Camaro SS350 clone - 350/TH-350 with shift kit, CompCams XE268H, Dynomax Jet-Hot headers, Flowmaster American Thunder exhaust, Vintage Air

-2002 Impala LS - Medium Bronzemist Metallic, every option except engine block heater

<A HREF="http://www.furman.edu/~jtrauner" TARGET=_blank>Click here to see my Camaro and my parents' 2002 Impala LS.
</A>

[This message has been edited by jrt67ss350 (edited 04-15-2002).]

Guess we will have to disagree on the wheel hop. I wouldn't do mods to my car at all without first changing out those mono's. The bottoming out is the springs guys. How old are your mono's? If they are original, I can gurantee they are wasted. The metal has been flexed so much that they have no strength left. They are 30+ years old. I would change out the mono's on any 67 I owned, but that's just me........

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67 Coupe 327
Edelbrock performer package, TH350, Hotchkis suspension & sway bar, Dynomax headers and exhaust, Cowl hood

have any of you guys heard of the monos that
calvert racing (cal tracs) makes?

they are a split monoleaf design with 12" overlap. they have a rate of about 200#. and can build them to the height you want.

these are a lot stiffer than the stock monos and that will help bottoming out while keeping the monleaf look.

and hotchkis cant handle the power ill be making... thats why im going with cal tracs... no more wheel hop... and i dont have to lower my car 2 inches...

anyone had any experience with these?

thanks

Not a problem getting different points of view... I just can't see how a weak spring can maintain factory height with the weight of the car on them if they are weak enough to let things bottom. It's the shocks job to dampen the ride and with the sudden jab as the tire hits the bump the shock should take the challange and dampen the blow...

I do agree that a 30 yr old spring is past retirement time though. If I had Jeff's matching numbers '67 BB car I would find a way to make a mono spring work as well.

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...Dennis
"The '69 (http://chevelles.com/showroom/fine69_03.jpg), the '96 (http://chevelles.com/showroom/fine69_02.jpg) & the club (http://camaroslimited.com/)"

dennis,

ha ha... yeah, im trying to keep it original... but i wanna have some fun http://www.camaros.net/forum/smile.gif

like i said, i think im going to just slip the konis on the back after i get the front end rebuilt and take it to safeway. see how it handles that speedbump.

i do like the height my car is now. with 27" tires, the center of the fender lip is 29". a bit high for some, but i like it...

my plan is to get the front end like i like it... with the landrum spacer and then buy tires accordingly... and then match the rear leafs to get the perfect "gap"

i do appriciate all the input!!

thanks for all your help guys

I may need to replace my monos since my rear has a sag in it. Where does everyone get their replacement mono leafs from?

Dave

Scooby
I recently got two mono's for my conv 67 from a vendor that doesn't support this site. Both had an Eaton labels on them, but one was stamped made in USA and the other had Made in Canada inked on the Eaton label. The Canadian one had a little less arch than the USA one, so I sent it back. I couldn't believe that they wouldn't send out a matched pair especially since I ordered them at the same time, but they did.

Scooby, I ordered my multi leafs direct from EatonDetroit. I ordered them 1" lower than stock. I am very satisfied with them. I had previously had leafs from a repop vendor...they made the car sit too high and they were extremely stiff. Eaton was recommended to me from this site, I think you would be pleased with them. www.eatonsprings.com (http://www.eatonsprings.com)

Bob

Something to think about is the factory ride height 30 years ago. I replaced the multileafs on my camaro last year and I thought I did something wrong. I mean the rear of the car sat like a 4x4. But honestly they sat about 3 inches higher than my car did before the swap. Granted they did relax a little, I was still not satisfied with the look so I changed to Hotchkis. IMHO I would replace the springs. If not for the bottoming out just for a better ride. Everyone has their own opinion but 30 years on a set of springs would have to make a person think that they would wear out.