I' looking at upgrading the suspension on my 73 as I'm making this car into a long run vacation car. Weekend trips to the beach or the mountains. I've already started work on replacing the engine with a fuel injected 383 and dropping a 5 speed in for gas mileage. I bought a borgeson unit to upgrade the steering but that's about it. I want the best ride possible as I'll be driving for 100s of miles at a time. This will only be a street car. No racing but I do like a great handling car. Finally down to my questions. Should I leave the stock springs on the car or replace them all and if so please give specifics for a stock spring combo or an aftermarket stock spring package. Everything on the car is still in stock form. I'm starting to tare down the rear suspension today as I bought a bushing rebuild kit from wilcox. Going to try to clean everything up nicely before putting it back in and think now is the time if I'm going to change anything else. Sorry for being long winded and thank you for any help you can provide.

 

If the front springs still hold the car at proper ride height as listed in the Factory Service Manual leave them alone. In the rear you can switch to a low rate mono-spring. Use gas shocks all around. It sounds like you are valuing a smooth ride more than handling.

 

The front springs look to be good and yes I do want as good of a ride as possible. Dont want it to handle like a minivan though. Guess I'm really looking for the best compromise possible.

 

Hopefully the guys at Wilcox convinced you not to use poly bushings. I've got the middle rated mono spring on my '73 and think it's just right for long distance touring.

 

I read through a lot of posts including the ones from Wilcox on the bushing sets. From what I read I ordered the rubber ones. Still second guess myself on that every now and then but I'm sure I'll be happy with the rubber. By the way... What shocks are you using with that spring?

Is this the spring you're using? http://willcoxcorvette.com/product_i...ducts_id=12144

 

where do you live?

 

Since you are starting to tear down the rear suspension, lets start there. I think most people do not give enough attention to the rear suspension since it can be a pain to work on.

You may want to consider:

Replacing those rubber bushings at the front of the control arm with steel. Help reduce the rear end coming around (trailing throttle oversteer) when you get on that 383 motor.

Replace all emergency brake shoes and springs with stainless steel.

Replace those rubber brake hoses with braided steel lines

New camber arms

Swap from regular shims to stainless steel.

New grade 8 bolts all around

New bearings for reliability

New shocks

Of course you want the arm to look pretty, so get all the rust off and paint it.
As far as springs, I am partial to the F-41 suspension. Great handling, not too bad for the street. I spoke to Dick Guldstrand (he actually answers the phone himself!) and he convinced me to purchase a multi-leaf spring over a composite spring

 

That's the one, with KYB shocks. Bilsteins are a good choice too.

 

Thank you for the great advice. The brake lines are already braided stainless and yes I'm going to take everything out to replace it all. I want it done right. Going to clean it all up and paint it also. Nice and pretty ha ha

Still confused over the spring though. I dont mind leaving the one thats on it now on the car but maybe just a new set of shocks would do.

 

I'm a little above Columbia, SC

 

There's a lot of gray area between "best ride possible" and "great handling", so you really need to decide how much of either you wish to compromise for the other before just throwing money at kit. This is especially important when it comes to spring/bar/shock combinations. There's also more to the handling thing than simply bolting on bits.




.

 

I guess for comparative purposes... A few years back I had a 2001 Pontiac WS6 TA and I would love the car to be near that for ride quality and handling. I know that may be hard to reach but then again maybe not. My plan is to have the car together and completed by spring.

 

For the composite rear spring I would recommend either Koni or Bilstein. Iv'e run KYB and they don't control rebound as well as I would like.

 

I was looking at te Bilstien shocks. Would you recommend the sport of the HD?

 

I have been experimenting with the suspension on my 78 L-82 4speed gymkhana for 28 years now piece by piece and,for me, I have found nirvana between ride and handling. It handles like a modern sports car and rides better, handles, and steers better than any c3 I have been in. Here is my setup.

Front:

1 1/8 oem bar with poly bushings-end links and mounting bushings
550 front springs 1 inch shorter than stock
Poly upper and lower control arm bushings
Custom rebuilt/blue printed steering box by Gary ramadei
Speedirect spreader bar
Blistein HD shocks with poly bushings
255/45/17 ZR summer only ultra high performance tires

Rear:

360 mono spring with poly cushings
Competition adjustable strut rods with heim joints
3/4 inch oem type sway bar with poly bushings
Bilstein Sport shocks
255/50/17 ZR TIRES

Do not use KYB gas a just mono tube shocks with a composite spring- they do not provide adequate damping with a fiberglass spring. With a 360 spring I originally had Bilstein hd's and switched to the Bilstein Sports for better rebound control. The kyb may work better with a 300 and lower spring. The car is not raced, only street driven!

Hope this helps!

 

IMCO, novice tuners shouldn't stray from the menu of springs and bars commonly kitted together.

 

I just finished the rear rebuild on my 72. Took it for its first run last night and what a difference in ride, Heres what I did, first I bought trailing arms already rebuilt, they came with all the brakes on and adjusted and they had rubber bushings. I considered poly but they were more expensive and I just couldnt see it. Then I took the 9 leaf rear spring and replaced all the insulators, also replaced the brake lines with stainless, used the bilstein sports, also replaced the strut rods with adjustable ones(they come with poly). all new bolts and a lot of painting and detailing. Again I was amazed at the difference in the ride.
Best of luck
Rodney

 

Thank you all for your help. You have pointed me in a great direction and I kicked the project off tonight. I have the car up on my lift and parts are starting to come off. Going to be a long road ahead. Looking forward to the finished product. Thanks again.

 

Composite vs multi-leaf springs about as much heated as which is the best oil. I have driven cars with both types. But, the cars were set up so differently, it was hard to compare the two. Someone suggested I call Guldstrand Engineering, so I did. As I mentioned before Dick Guldstrand answered the phone. We have a discussion about this. As you might expect, Dick has driven a number of cars with both Composite and multi-leaf springs. He said he preferred the multi-leaf springs. All of his Corvettes that had the composite spring, he had them removed. I hinted at the fact that he was trying to sell me what he stocked. He replied that if he thought composite was better, he would stock and sell it. Then I asked about the inter-leaf friction, which composite springs do not have. He said something interesting. Dick Guldstrand said inter-leaf friction was a good thing and went on to explain why.

I’m just giving another point of view. Everyone has to set-up and adjust their own car to the way they want it to be and the handle.