[stevo camaro]

look at the pic and tell me what you think about what's happening. I've never had a set do this before. That being said, I did remove 2 springs from the set that were on the bottom. Looks like this "S" curve would go away somewhat if I put them back in. I didn't think the car needed 6 springs. Thoughts? Sorry the pics aren't great. Hope you can see what I'm talking about.

 

[R66]

each segment of spring supports the one above it.
My 68RS has 5 leaves and rides like a truck. If you had 6 leaves, you must have really had a hard ride.
If you continue to run it with those, you may break the main leaf and find your wheel up in the fender well.

I think you need the right springs.

 

[dhutton]

Did you remove the leafs because the ride height was too high?

 

[stevo camaro]

No I've never run these springs. I got them from a good friend of ours here on the site. He gave them to me, freebie. I can't remember if they were in his camaro, or his nova. He just didn't like the ride I think. We're talking 10 years ago.
I think adding the other 2 springs would raise the car a little, an 1" or so and yes, I see what you mean about breaking the main spring. It just doesn't look right to me.
The stiffness of the springs is hard to tell right now because, the way the springs bent, my shocks are now pretty much bottomed out. Yeah. Not good. Left the shop more than disgusted after hours rolling around on a cold concrete floor. Did I mention I'm getting old. LOL

 

[Luwi67]

Did you re adjust your Caltracs? Removing two bottom leaves surely will lower the rear and the Caltracs are likely over loading the spring once it settled back on the ground.

 

[DjD]

Hey Stevo, those were off the Camaro but who knows where they really came from. The car started life as a 10 bolt mono but came with a '67 12bolt and multi's when I got it. The springs were mated with Koni Classic drag shocks and the car sat decent and the ride wasn't harsh. First with 235/60/15's then with 255/45/17 tires. I replaced those springs with Hotchkis drop springs after putting the 17's on the car.

Here's how the car sat back then...

 

[stevo camaro]

Did you re adjust your Caltracs? Removing two bottom leaves surely will lower the rear and the Caltracs are likely over loading the spring once it settled back on the ground.

Your correct, I did have to re-adjust the caltracs. There's no bind in them now, but I think the spring pack just needs to have all 6 springs together to work as they were intended to be. I only have a mono perch so a 6 spring pack is a little too much. I'm going to drop them out and do something different.
Another problem noticed though was the weird angle the contact pin on the forward caltrac was in relation to the top of the spring. Passenger side is at a bad angle where only one side of the pin would touch . Not good. I know the front spring hanger is to blame because I had to put it in a vice to "massage" it back to where I "thought" it would be OK. I was wrong! Like other guy's have said, and I should've known better, too many holeshots with this car and no stiffners. These hangers are bent and they're coming out too.
I need to quit being such a cheap *** and throw down the ducks to get it fixed right. It's that 70's and 80's thing I need to get over, No money, No resources, ahhh, it'll work! BOLT IT ON, IT'LL WORK!! Yeah, no. LOL

 

[DjD]

Look what I found...

I did a set once a couple years ago, I used OEM Dark Graphite (for steering gear box's) and lightly dusted them with silver to lighten and remove some of the blue. They came out looking fairly nice...

 

[The Camaro Guy]

Like me . . . .Stevo. . . . too many cars to support the wanted upgrades. So I sold 2 and used the money to improve the other 8!!!! Get some OEM multi springs and be done with it. Another old guy talkin. . . . .

 

[stevo camaro]

Look what I found...

That would be them. LOL I believe with all 6 springs together as pictured they would work normally. But removing the bottom 2 springs, not so much. LOL
I'm heading down to the shop for another teardown. I'll do a pic comparison between my front spring perchs and the new ones I get.
Did I mention that the rearend was favoring the drivers side by 3/4" also.
My biggest worry, is removing the caltracs aluminum bushing from front spring eye and repressing them in another set without damaging them.

 

[stevo camaro]

Like me . . . .Stevo. . . . too many cars to support the wanted upgrades. So I sold 2 and used the money to improve the other 8!!!! Get some OEM multi springs and be done with it. Another old guy talkin. . . . .

You are correct! I've been leaning that way. In the past 3 years I sold the 67 pro street project, a 1940 deluxe coupe project, a 65 fj-40 landcruiser project, the 74 duster and the 77 trans am. I still have no regrets. LOL

 

[stevo camaro]

So I thought I would show with pics some of the issues encountered with slightly bent parts. The shiney black spring perches are the 67 camaros, the dirty ones, are from a 70 nova. I knew they were tweaked, but a quarter inch up front, could equate to an 1" at the rear leaf shackles. So as you can see, the bends looked subtle in the camaros, but more pronounced compared to the nova perches.
We just did a complete TCI 4-link coil over setup in the nova a couple weeks ago. This car only had 58K original miles on it when purchased and tore down 3 years ago. I'm going to use these spring perches in the camaro, I trust them. I know that there are some differences but it's slight. Where the bolt hole is located for the spring bushing. Some people say it's a lot lower, by an 1" sometimes. These aren't like that IMO. And if they do end up giving me a 1" in height, I might need it. If not, I'll put a lowering block in it.

 

[stevo camaro]

So here's the difference between nova and camaro rear shackle bushings and bolts. I always assumed these things would be interchangeable. Not really. I suppose if you didn't have a stock fuel tank in the camaro they would work. But the shorter camaro bolt almost hits the tank as it is. you can see why the nova stuff wouldn't work out so well.
My rear shackles were bent also , not to bad, but bent. I was going to use the nova shackles, but didn't like how they were stamped compared to mine. And the bolt holes were not centered where the shackle meets the bushing. The holes in the nova bushings looks more wallored out than mine do, and I believe it because the shackle is forcing the bushing at an angle because of the stamping. I know, it sounds like i'm dissecting it to death, but just wanted to share some observations. Can you see what i'm talking about?

 

[stevo camaro]

So has anyone seen these steel weights strapped on a pair of mono leafs before? If I have I forgot all about it. So What were the weights for? Wheel hop? They are located on the forward portion of the spring.
And, I might use these springs. I know, I know, I said I wasn't going to use anymore used parts. But, I'm addicted to free. That coupled with the fact it was a 58K car. And the mono's 23 lbs. lighter than a 4 leaf pack. And free. LOL And the mono will get my caltrac shackle up off the ground by 2".
After some checking, the spring rate is the same as the camaro's were at 126#.

 

[Andrew69]

Ok I give up. What are those weights for? I've never seen that before.

 

[Everett#2390]

Reduce harmonics