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looking at the one piece rear spring which one do i chose for my 82 . also looking for shock which ones are good . going to lower the the vette around 1. 1/2 " . thanks kev
I think they say for regular suspension get a 300/315 with Bilstein HD shocks (B6) and for sport suspension get a 360 with Bilstein Sport shocks (B8). What have you got now?
I think they say for regular suspension get a 300/315 with Bilstein HD shocks (B6) and for sport suspension get a 360 with Bilstein Sport shocks (B8). What have you got now?
thanks for the reply . bought the car 7 months ago in parts it as a steel multi leaf at the moment shocks have been painted so dont know
9 leafs were on the standard suspension; 7 were on the gymkhana (sport/stiff) suspension
the leaf spring i have is 9 leaf so going for a single leaf going with the 360 rate spring and the b8 sports shocks . which make of single leaf spring should i go for . i have seen ridetech $550 are they better than others i also want front lowering springs and can only find ridetech ones . cheers kev
STOCK Fiberglas spring @ 185 lbs/in and Good KYB gas-a-just= nice comfortable ride (My CE)
360 lbs/in Fiberglas with Bilstein sport yellow.... (my 69) SPORTY!
The steel spring in 82 was GYMKHANA only (or trailer towing! UGH!)
All others had the fiberglas spring.
HUGE, MOMENTOUS advancement over the old 'buggy-cart stiction springs.'
The spring basically has nothing to do with ride-height. There are longer 'spring hanger' bolts that are avaialble cheaply for raising and lowering the car....the spring 'arch' remains the same.
well i have been in touch with ridetech and they say their rear spring rate is only 200lbs dont think thats enough for my 82 . as said looking to lower the vette just bought lowering front springs now need the rear just need to know which make of spring as herd some are rubbish . looking for a nice ride not sloppy i think the 360lbs spring with the b8 bilstein what do you think . cheers kev
Ummmm. The C3 rear suspension does not take kindly to being lowered very much. Not with springs anyway. You want the half-shafts to stay almost level. In a completely stock car you only have about 3.25" of bump travel before the T/A arm hits the bumps stops. Then very quickly the u-joints bottom out. Stock BBC with stock soft springs could do it with just the throttle.
Play with this spreadsheet I wrote. Change your ride height and watch watch happens to your bump or jounce travel under the "acceleration" tab. You can lower it some with 16" wheels and some by raising the diff mounting. Then you only have to lower lower it by spring a little bit. And you will still need a stiffer rear spring to keep it off the bumps stops!
This example is with the car lowered 1/2" and with a 360lb rear spring, and a BBC. It leaves a little extra for road bumps, but not much.The stock 198lb spring leaves almost nothing if lowered, or 2 people on board.
Last edited by leigh1322; Oct 1, 2020 at 06:04 PM.
