I replaced my front coil springs because it had a tendency to have the wheels rub when hitting bumps. Now that I have the engine in it is sitting up high in the front almost like a gasser. I dont think the weight of putting the bumper assembly and the hood will be enough to sit this down as I have stood on the crossmember and it still is up in the air. Any idea the correct coil. I had hardtime pairing one for 400 convertible non AC
Restored by me. Not a professional. Restaurant worker by trade. YouTube forums and some trial and error built this beauty. Sheet metal replacement. Body work. Paint. Rear gears. Interior. And engine. ALL ME. Toot toot
I have a set of new coils that bring your car back to stock height. They are US made, heavy duty for 400 convertible. I installed them and took em right back out,- too low for me, I wanted 2" taller in the front. The other option you have if they're to tall is cut of a coil winding...
Be careful, for every one inch of coil removed you drop 2 or more inches based on the control arm distance to the spindle. I removed a small amount to drop mine down, worked good.
The other item to note is there are notches top and bottom where the ends of the coil insert on the control arm/frame. I noticed on mine they did not line up with the spring. so the upper part of the spring was sitting on top of this notch. As a result, I removed enough coil to line up the notches. This will cause it to drop even further if you are sitting on top of this notch.
You can cut them, but I'd only do half a coil at a time. Definitely put the hood and bumper, and anything else that's missing on first before you start modifying. You'd be surprised how much a difference it can make.
I think I ended up cutting about 1/3 of a spring for the reasons cited above. It dropped it down 1.5 inches to 2 inches, again be careful. Like Mike said, you want to put the hood and bumper on first to see what you have.
Also, you won't see the true height, until it's been driven a little. Once you let the front end down after installing coils, it's going to take a several miles road oscillations before it completely settles to resting height. I've seen vehicles drop over an inch in a couple days (from measuring it right off the rack).
And the springs will go through creep over a few years (spring rate stays the same, but they will continue to loose a little bit of height).
I feel like the Springs I got were wrong. Pulled them cut out one coil reinstalled. Still sat high pulled back out cut one more. Now it sits right but tire camber is tilted in. Either I have to readjust that or I toook out to much cool. Regardless. It now sits a shade high in front just need to add hood and number. I hung from engine cross member while it was on lift. 200# and it didn’t even drop. I have no idea till I get it on the road
I did have hard time finding correct spring for my set up 400 4sp no ac
Restored by me. Not a professional. Restaurant worker by trade. YouTube forums and some trial and error built this beauty. Sheet metal replacement. Body work. Paint. Rear gears. Interior. And engine. ALL ME. Toot toot
ok seeing there may not be a lot of knowledge out there on this. does anyone know where I can get the correct springs that meet all these specs?
1968 400 convertible manual non A/C
Restored by me. Not a professional. Restaurant worker by trade. YouTube forums and some trial and error built this beauty. Sheet metal replacement. Body work. Paint. Rear gears. Interior. And engine. ALL ME. Toot toot
Wow you cut two coils out and it still sits high? I did that with mine the first time and when I twisted the handle on the floor jack I couldn't even pull it out from under the car. When I did get it out I couldn't turn the wheels. Made an immediate trip to the wrecking yard and bought some other springs( back when you could do that). I was much more careful with my trimming after that. It's a lot of work cutting and fitting because you have to bolt everything up and put your wheels on and put it on the ground to check but it's worth it in the end. Just remember, new springs will settle down some after a few months.
well it doesnt sit high. my signature photo is how it was sitting with the old springs, i like that look, that is how it is sitting with the cut springs. how does that stance look to you guys too low? about right? you can see the rocker height from ground is same front and rear I like that but is that correct?
Restored by me. Not a professional. Restaurant worker by trade. YouTube forums and some trial and error built this beauty. Sheet metal replacement. Body work. Paint. Rear gears. Interior. And engine. ALL ME. Toot toot
Your front appears low in the photo. Which is likely why you had rubbing issues listed in post 1. But it's probably consistent with 50 year old factory springs. As I mentioned before springs will both "settle" over a short period to a resting height, and over a longer period (years) they will continue to "creep" causing additional drop. Actual spring rate remains same, but resting height changes. You said it's back at the ride height in the picture with the current springs. If you haven't driven it much, expect it to be even lower in a week, and lower still in a few months. Removing coils did change the spring rate, but only slightly higher so probably not enough to eliminate rubbing. You can estimate the difference using this formula, and changing the number of active coils based on how much you cut off: http://www.bluecoilspring.com/rate.htm
If you order an NPD Firebird Catalog, they list out the springs based on engine, coupe/conv., and A/C or not. Keep in mind, if you've changed any front end components from original materials (aluminum intake, aluminum radiator, etc.), you will affect the final height. As they are designed based on factory height when new, it will sit higher than your old springs.
Also, how old are your leaf springs? Those will sag over time (making the rear lower), which can negatively affect handling, wheel hop, etc. not to mention the isolators wearing out allowing unwanted slop.
If you want to keep the old stance, you're going to need to run lowering springs with higher spring rates to limit suspension travel.
I think it looks good that way but then I'm a " low and level" kind of guy. A lot of people like them raked one way or the other. High in the back like a 60s hot rod or lower in the back than the front like they came from the factory. My viewpoint comes more from a handling perspective. The lower center of gravity, the better. Less body roll. It's all personal preference. If you like it, it's good.