Have to stop saying "new to corvettes/forum", seems I'm here quite a bit.
I have a newly purchased 69 coupe, the front and rear suspension were rebuilt before I bought the car and it has been driven very little since it was done, this is what I've found so far:
Car sits too high, front and back, the back half shafts had a steep angle. Installed 8" bolts, now the shafts seem perfect and the car sits 27.5" at the rear.
The front is 28.25" left side, 29" right side, I loosened the bushings thinking they might have been tightened while the car was still on stands, drove the car for a couple of miles so the suspension would work, it still sits high and seems quite stiff in the front. The front has new bushings, springs, shocks.
The car definetely needs new tires and alignment.
Thanks in advance, Tony.

 

Unfortunately, if the front end is too high, you either have to replace the springs with shorter ones, or cut the ones you have. If you feel the ride is too stiff, you might have a small block car, with big block springs. Do the coils have any identifying tags on them?

 

I know at least one of the springs has a tag that I will check tomorrow, I looked at the receipts I got with the car and it only shows labor cost with a note that parts were supplied by owner.
Is there anyway to tell if they are big block springs if no information is found? Thanks, Tony.

 

You mentioned the car rides hard. Just keep in mind if you do cut the springs it will increase the spring rate and it will ride harder.

 

The car does not ride hard, when I push down on the front it feels very stiff, that's what I meant to say.
I've been looking for lowering springs for the front and I'm not seeing any, are they built?
The car has only been driven around 50 miles since the suspension was rebuilt, do you think it would drop some if I drive it, say 1,000 miles?
Thanks for the help.

 

When I got my 69 the front was high and stiff when I yanked the sb and installed a bb it fixed it...wrong springs...my car had a big old blower before I got it...

 

You only need to drive the car a few miles before it settles. 100 or 1000 should not make a difference.

 

You should check the springs to make sure they are seated properly in the pocket. If they aren't you can run into height problems.

 

If you can identify a number of some sort, on that tag, it might help identify the springs. If not, and you have a set of micrometers or calipers, and can measure the diameter of the spring wire, that might help. Some of the aftermarket spring manufacturers like Moog or Eaton Detroit, list their springs both by vehicle application, and spring specs. You might be able to "reverse identify" what you have, with this information.

Yes, cutting a coil will stiffen the spring, somewhat, but depending on the spring's current rate, it may not become an issue, with respect to ride quality.

 

The springs have aluminum tags with 460LB stamped on them, the springs appear to be sitting properly. A little search tells me 550 lb is for big blocks and the 460 lb is proper for small blocks. Thanks for the input, I will keep checking everything as suggested as the car definetely sits too high.

 

Raised the car and placed it on stands, front only, made sure the bushings bolts were loose and sprayed WD40 on them, located the jack with 2x4 on it under the A arm and lifted it until the suspension travel stopped and the car started to lift, there's approximately 3/4" travel.
? thanks, Tony.

 

One thing I've found with replacing spring is it's really easy to miss the upper pocket.

Everything will go together just fine but the front will sit high.

There is a hole in the upper perch. Shine a light into it and see if you can see the spring.
I now use a nail dropped in there and as I rotate the spring I can see when I make contact.

 

It's a little hard to see from the top, but I thought if the spring was lined up in the bottom pocket and not out of place on top that would be sufficient.

A question concerning cutting the coils, if you cut a piece of coil doesn't that throw the alignment of the a arms coil pockets off?

 

No won't have any impact. When I removed my stock coils they were much taller then the replacements.

To give you an idea on my fight with getting the coils to stay in the upper pocket I had to use a bungee cord near the top pulling the coil towards the other side.

As I raised the lower control arm it would stay close enough in place that I could whacked it with a rubber mallet it it popped into place.

Not saying this is your issue but it could be. Even when I did coil-over conversion it was a struggle.

 

There are two things that you need to address, when installing coil springs. One is making sure the "pigtails" of the springs are properly seated in the "pockets" of the frame, on top, and the a-arm at the bottom. This means that the end of the spring is butted up against the "end" of the pocket, as well as not hung up on the tapered side of the pocket.

Generally speaking, if the spring is wound correctly, as long you get the spring properly oriented in the a-arm, the upper end of the spring should seat itself properly.

You say the springs have a tag that reads "460 LB". That would lead me to believe that it's a VB&P spring. I installed a pair of those in my wife's former '79, and like you, I wasn't satisfied with the ride height...too high. I would up removing a half coil from the spring, and then the ride height was "just right".

However, when cutting a Corvette coil spring, you need to cut an equal amount from each end of the spring, so the ends will still locate properly in the frame and a-arm. I did this almost 20 years ago, so the exact details are a little fuzzy in my mind, but here's what you do. Take a tape measure and measure around the outside of a coil. IIRC, it's about 16" for a "full coil". Half a coil is 8". Cut 4" from each end of the spring, and it will still sit and locate properly. A little annoying, yes, but that's how you do it.

 

After looking everything over it appears that I need to start cutting, will undertake project in about a week, thanks for all the information, will hopefully post some pictured when it's done, take care and happy wrenching, Tony.