~Stingray

Hey Guys,

I just got a new leaf spring from Corvette American and it has some minor surface rust on the side of it already. Before I install it, I wanted to know if it would harm it to spray it with any of the following 3 products to help prevent further rusting in the future? I know the spring flexes so I didn't know if any of these would work or not.

- Engine Enamal (I have a can left - its black)
- undercoating (from rust-oleum)
- rust reformer

Also, the mounting bolts....would coating them be a good idea? Keep them from rusting in the first place? I don't think they are stainless steel.

Thanks.

hicswa

They paint them gray.

Mako72

I disassembled my replacement spring, painted the leafs dove gray and reassembled.

~Stingray

Mine came black. And as I said, there is some surface rust on the sides of it. So they didn't do a good job?

~Stingray

I don't want to mess with trying to remove those brackets on the end that keep the leafs from pivoting on the center screw. I was just to going to clean the rust off and then give it a quick coat of the engine enamel to make sure it doesn't come back. I know it won't need that heat resistant paint, but its what I have and don't feel like going out to buy a new can for this one part.

JBrooke825

Pretty sure those brackets you are talking about are for shipping.
They are supposed to be removed. The leafs are dove gray and the
Liners are not painted.

Alan 71

Hi S,
The 'shipping brackets' should be removed when the spring is installed.
If the center bolt is properly torqued, and the plastic liners are in place, the leafs won't pivot.
Regards,
Alan

~Stingray

How do you feel about disassembling to repaint? I was planning to just put a coat on the outside with it assembled. But I could take it apart, clean each leaf, repaint, and reassemble. If this is an easy job where I won't ruin the liners. Never done it before.

Alan 71

Hi,
Taking the spring apart and painting the leafs is pretty straight forward.
Regards,
Alan

"He also said that regardless of what you get, the car will sit high while the spring breaks in. And its the motion of being being driving and bouncing that does it. Putting it on at the beginning of winter and letting it sit under load won't do it."
WOW!!!

car junkie

Muskegon brake seems to be the supplier of a lot of leaf springs out there. Paint they use is better than nothing and most are happy enough with it because they are not detail and anti-rust fanatics like Vette guys. I blew my C1 springs apart, scrubbed them down with red scuff pads and lacquer thinner then single stage chassis black. If yours is like mine, expect that bolt holding them together to be stripped or about to strip.

~Stingray

So is that not the case? I thought it was weird that the weight wouldn't do it alone but who was I to argue. lol.

And your thoughts on the engine enamel spray paint I have?

69Vett

while you have the spring off,
gentle grind/blend/round the bottom end spring cup corners,
the ends sit very close to fat tires.

as far as painting the springs, use a light coat, you do not want paint build up,
the springs must be able to slide.

~Stingray

Do you have a paint you recommend? Will the engine paint I have work.

The ends of the spring doesn't really have cups, its just a hole in the largest leaf.

69Vett

your missing the bushing cup, look at Alans picture.
clean and use light coat of any paint for metal.

~Stingray

Oh ok, I have those as separate pieces. They are part of the bolt, bushing, and metal cup in one piece.

Do I need to paint the cups too? I can't tell by looking at them, but they don't look stainless steel to me.

C6_Racer_X

I've done several leaf spring restoration/dress projects up for several pickups and SUV's. I use Rustoleum black, the brush on type. I put one or two thin coats on, and for the final thin coat, I cut it about 2/3rds paint, 1/3rd 30 weight straight weight non-detergent motor oil. The final coat is "lubed" and the spring leaves slip on each other really well. That's for springs that don't have liners or slip pads between the entire surfaces of the leaves.

YMMV, but that's what I do.

Alan 71

Hi S,
The Corvette transverse rear spring is designed to have plastic liners between certain of the leafs.
The 'cups' that rubber bushings 'seat' in must be crimped in place on the longest leaf.
Unless you're working on having the spring painted as it originally was the paint used is unimportant as long as the proper spring liners/lengths are used between the proper leafs.
For 68-72, (+), cars the spring was painted with a light/medium gray paint called lonoklad. It was a zinc rich paint with helped with lubricity.


Why are you replacing your existing spring?
Aren't you concerned that the rear ride height will be affected?

Regards,
Alan

~Stingray

I bought the spring from Corvette America. So it has the liners and should be the appropriate lengths.

I plan to just paint it black. I don't want it to stand out and I am not trying to be 100% original.

The picture you show is a set I bought from CA. They did not say anything about crimping. They just said to install it. As for ride height, they mentioned to count the threads on the bolt so it would be put back to the original height. And then they told me about the wear in process you commented "wow" to above.

I am replacing my old spring as the leafs have spread and has rust. I was told that it needs to be replaced by people on the forum and a few shops. I asked about just restacking them, but everyone I spoke too said it needed to be replaced and that it was dangerous to do so. Are you telling me different?

Alan 71

Hi S,
I remember your 'spring' thread.
You received all KINDS of suggestions.

I would have tried to determine what's going on with the spring presently on the car.
The leafs were able to 'splay' for a reason. What is it?

Replacing the spring is a good bit of work and you have to be cautious while doing it. Are you going to take your car to a shop to have this work done?

I'm always concerned about replacing springs... front or rear... because too often the new spring causes ride height issues.

Regards,
Alan

~Stingray

I was planning on doing it myself, maybe with the help of a friend. I was told that it was not too difficult when the car is raised up as the shape of the spring would align to the mount points as the wheels hang.

I was under the impression that the reason they spread was because it was time to replace it, like when a water pump needs to be replaced. You know it's time to replace it because it stops pumping water, but I never thought I should look into why it stopped pumping water. Or why a spark plug goes bad and needs to be replaced.

If I need to take this from a different approach, please let me know. This is new to me and I am learning along the way. If there is a real possibility that I don't need the new spring, I would love to be able to return it and get my 170+ back.

Thanks Alan.