I believe it's flat side down for stock set up.

 

Thanks. That fits with notch side up, but I know I've read on this forum where others say flat side goes into the upper pocket. Is there anything definite? There doesn't seem to be anything in the AIM or anywhere that shows how the factory did it. With the spring under tension does it matter much? Especially if it's hard to see a difference when the springs are out. Just want to get it right so I don't have to mess with springs under tension too much?

 

Mike, I'm going to try to explain this. First off most of the popular Camaro front coil springs have tangential ends. Not square ends. I assume you are using stock lower control arms. If you look at the lower control arm pocket you will see it spirals downward to accommodate a tangential end spring. If you look inside the upper pocket in the sub frame you will see the same spiral. Here are 2 pics both showing square end springs I copied from Eaton Springs Tech Data. I can not find a descent pic of a tangential end spring but it would continue to coil out into space. Depending on how tightly the coil is wound a tangential end spring could possibly stand up, but not very straight. A variable rate spring will have varying distance between the coils. I doubt yours are like that. In other words, there is no top or bottom to a standard (stock) tangential end spring. If you have new springs and they are designed to install one particular direction, they will be labeled as such.

 

OK. That makes sense. I have stock lower control arms and I've looked closely at the upper and lower spring pocket and couldn't detect any major shape difference which led me to ask the question. I thought I was missing something.

I'm re-using the same springs I removed to rebuild the front end bushings, etc. They have a very slight difference to the ends but nothing like you describe or show as a square end. So they are tangential at both ends and I won't worry about which end is up.

Thanks for the explanation.

 

Trying to make this a bit more clear for anyone reading this thread as this subject seems to come up often. I dug out one of my old front springs and took some pics. Both ends of this spring are tangential. As you can see the spring will stand up, but not straight. There is no appreciable difference between the ends. Hopefully someone finds this info helpful.

 

Trying to make this a bit more clear for anyone reading this thread as this subject seems to come up often. I dug out one of my old front springs and took some pics. Both ends of this spring are tangential. As you can see the spring will stand up, but not straight. There is no appreciable difference between the ends. Hopefully someone finds this info helpful.

Al, Thank you again for pictures and explanation. This is EXACTLY what my springs look like. I had hesitated even posting this topic again because I had done the searches and found that this question has been asked many times, but never explained in this detail. I've found this info very helpful.

 

The same question has frequently been asked regarding the Hotchkis drop springs, and the answer seems to be install them so that "the Hotchkis lettering is right side up". Even Hotchkis responded that way as I recall. The truth is - on the Hotchkis springs I got - both ends are identical.

Here's a picture of a spring I removed (possibly stock but unknown) side by side with the Hotchkis spring.

 

You're welcome Mike. I contemplated posting this info for quite awhile. This thread gave me the opportunity.

 

This might be O.T.
I had the same question when I replaced the front springs and I did by "stock" springs from Classic Industries. Both ends were indentical (=no up and down).
What I found important was to insert a small screwdriver in the top pocket and twist the spring so it "hits" the screwdriver. If not you can install the springs too much "twisted" and the spring will not seat properly and you will have a problem with the ride height.
Ask me how I know
Rgds/Mikael