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Well, since the OP asked the question "Was it originally gymkhana that someone swapped a 9 leaf into?"
He doesn't say if he has any paperwork saying the car came with FE7.
But he does say it has a front and rear bar of some size, one big and one smaller. Let's assume the correct size.
So far it shouts FE7. BUT a previous owner could have made it that way with simple replacement parts.
What the OP, and now I, are trying to understand is "what does a true FE7 8-leaf spring look like. Is it 8+1 or not?
Just because it does not have the composite/fiberglass spring and has a leaf spring does not make it an FE7 car. It may look like it but that's not the question.
And so far no one has posted a picture except "Bikespace" and he's raised more questions.
And I would care less if it was a "correct" spring or not if it were my car, BUT the OP asked the question. Soooooo
Here is a very clear picture of a 9-leaf. (the variable rate 6+3 version). All of these leaves count and I see no short one that could be considered a spacer. To me Bikespace's spring looks like this one, just without the 3 flat ones at the top, so it would be a std 9-leaf.
Redvette2 says his replacement F41 spring has this extra very short "spacer" or non-leaf, but I can't find a very clear picture of one. You can barely see it in his supplied pic. Can you tell if the ends look squared or are they more normal?
Update. Courtesy of ZIP. 7 leaf with and odd top leaf or "spacer" adding up to eight.
Now I'll add a further question. I have always understood that the earlier diffs took a 2.25" wide spring. And the 78-82s took a 2.50" wide spring. So is this rare Gymkhana 7 (or 8) leaf 2.5" wide for these 4 years?.
Last edited by leigh1322; Apr 1, 2020 at 09:23 AM.
Well, since the OP asked the question "Was it originally gymkhana that someone swapped a 9 leaf into?"
He doesn't say if he has any paperwork saying the car came with FE7.
But he does say it has a front and rear bar of some size, one big and one smaller. Let's assume the correct size.
So far it shouts FE7. BUT a previous owner could have made it that way with simple replacement parts.
What the OP, and now I, are trying to understand is "what does a true FE7 8-leaf spring look like. Is it 8+1 or not?
Just because it does not have the composite/fiberglass spring and has a leaf spring does not make it an FE7 car. It may look like it but that's not the question.
And so far no one has posted a picture except "Bikespace" and he's raised more questions.
And I would care less if it was a "correct" spring or not if it were my car, BUT the OP asked the question. Soooooo
Last call for me on this question since I have provided pretty much all you can to determine if it is a base or gymkhana suspended C3 from the factory.
Since it appears difficult to distinguish an 1981 8 leaf steel spring from the prior years 7 or 9 leaf steel springs, I will conjecture that the current spring may have been replaced with a base suspension steel spring in place of the 8 leaf sport steel spring that came on the car in 1981. Most spring shops will not give a hoot about the exact number of leafs used in a replacement spring like GM did depending on base or sport suspension. Ask me how I know? Not on my 78 but other folks with C3's!
Second point is that there is a high probability that the OEM steel spring is not still in the car after 40 years since all steel springs will sag pretty severely over time, often after only 8-10 years. If this car still sits OEM like, that spring is NOT OEM since too much time has elapsed for it not sagging by now.
Third point, most C3 owners, especially those not on the forum, would not go through the trouble of adding or knowing the GM Stock OEM rear sway bar of 7/16 inch to a base suspended car....This point is probably the biggest clue that this car came with the gymkhana suspension.....Just finding the OEM 7/16 inch bar is not that easy for the uninformed or novice mcuh less adding it to a base suspension C3....
My vote is, again, that this is a gymkhana original car. You guys can hash it out from here............
I checked a couple sites and could not find a source for a 7 leaf or HD/Gymkhana/F41 spring that was listed to fit a 2.5" wide 78-82 rear.
So maybe this spring is not being repro'd and a weaker replacement 9 leaf is the only choice available?
Update; Eaton spring spouts "built off original GM blueprints" and lists 2 steel springs for 82: 2.5" wide. Note what they say about leaves. So the 78-82 steel springs are very unique.
Last edited by leigh1322; Apr 1, 2020 at 12:04 PM.
Just 'floater' here......I have been SUPER happy with the Composite/Fiberglas spring....just so much 'goodness there'.
It is standard equip in the 81 Autos and of course all the 82's.
I have loved it so much that I took the 7 leaf out of the '69 and put in a 360# Fiberglas....HUGE difference in ride and handling. Besides being 40# lighter which hugely contributes to losing 'un-sprung weight'.
The OP's car has FE-7 Gymkhana Suspension and the correct rear spring. The rear spring in 81's with FE-7, and/or the 4 speed manual, were nine leaf, not 7. The part number for spring was 14021604, and was originally painted on the bottom of the spring in yellow. If the OP carefully cleans the underside of his spring, he may find that some of the part number may still be there. 80's and 82's also used the 9 leaf "604" spring with FE-7.
78-79 used the same width rear spring (2 1/2"), but the springs, spring rates number of leaves and part numbers were different. You can not use information for any 79 or earlier Corvette, when trying to identify 80-82 springs. The aftermarket sells replacement springs as 78-82, because at 2 1/2" they are interchangeable, but the OEM springs were different.
Last edited by gbvette62; Apr 1, 2020 at 12:31 PM.
The OP's car has FE-7 Gymkhana Suspension and the correct rear spring. The rear spring in 81's with FE-7, and/or the 4 speed manual, were nine leaf, not 7. The part number for spring was 14021604, and was originally painted on the bottom of the spring in yellow. If the OP carefully cleans the underside of his spring, here may find that some of the part number may still be there. 80's and 82's also used the 9 leaf "604" spring with FE-7.
There really is no debate that the 81 gymkhana is an 8 leaf steel spring unlike prior years C3's that had 7 or 9 leaf springs. 1981 seems to be an odd year supported by GM documentation. Please open the GM documentation below for verification:
Hopefully the link and an actual picture of the GM documentation will put this question about leafs for the gymkhana spring for the 1981 C3 to rest....it is 8 leafs!
There really is no debate that the 81 gymkhana is an 8 leaf steel spring unlike prior years C3's that had 7 or 9 leaf springs. 1981 seems to be an odd year supported by GM documentation. Please open the GM documentation below for verification:
I have original copies of most of the material in your link, along with other internal GM information pertaining to 1981 Corvette development and model changes, including various Chevrolet Engineering Center Inter-Organizational Letters. I gathered quite a bit of original GM material when we were working on the NCRS' 80-82 Judging Manual.
What I posted came from information gathered when the 80-82 Judging Manual was first created in the mid 90's. As the original owner of a Bowling Green 81, I was asked to be on the team that developed the manual. Questionnaires were sent to owners of cars known to be original, and from what I remember, the results of those surveys indicated that FE-7 came with a 9 leaf spring. One of the owners who completed a questionnaire was a friend of mine who was the original owner of a 20,000 mile, Bowling Green, 4 speed, FE-7 car. For 25 years, the Judging Manual has called for a 9 leaf rear spring, and to my knowledge, no one has ever questioned it?
Post number 7 in the link below, contains is a list of all of the part numbers taken from the Corvette Parts Book, associated with FE-7 when installed on an 81 Corvette. I posted this back in 2014, when this question came up once before.
Both my September 80 (with new for 81 parts) and January 82 Corvette Parts Books list the rear spring for 81-82's with FE-7 as 14021604. If you Google GM part number 14021604, you will come up with a number of places where it's referred to as a 9 leaf spring.
I could be wrong, and I'm not trying to start a fight about what spring came on 81's with FE-7, I'm just passing along what I initially learned when we researched this same subject 25 years ago.
I have no skin in the game...It is entirely possible, as you stated, with reasonable certainty and documentation that what GM published initially in the documents I provided did change and it appears to be the case based on your experience and research. Do you happen to know what the spring rate was for the 81/82 steel F-41 spring. The prior years 9 leaf base spring was 192 and the 7 leaf gymkhana spring in 78 was 292 lbs.
The 81 and 82 composite base spring was 172lbs...ugh! Way too soft in my opinion.
I have no skin in the game...It is entirely possible, as you stated, with reasonable certainty and documentation that what GM published initially in the documents I provided did change and it appears to be the case based on your experience and research. Do you happen to know what the spring rate was for the 81/82 steel F-41 spring. The prior years 9 leaf base spring was 192 and the 7 leaf gymkhana spring in 78 was 292 lbs.
The 81 and 82 composite base spring was 172lbs...ugh! Way too soft in my opinion.
From: Loud, Raw and Dangerous 1968 327 4S in Southern California
Mine is not FE7/Gymkhana
Took a closer look at my car and found this top spacer looking leaf out of sight at the top of my spring. It is rounded and has a very slight tip-up at the end. There are definitely eight leaves plus this short spacer one. So not the FE7/Gymkhana spring but likely a 9 leaf without the variable rate.
Short top spacer leaf in lower right side of picture.
Eight Leaves....with top spacer (red dot) out of the picture due to angle
Took a closer look at my car and found this top spacer looking leaf out of sight at the top of my spring. It is rounded and has a very slight tip-up at the end. There are definitely eight leaves plus this short spacer one. So not the FE7/Gymkhana spring but likely a 9 leaf without the variable rate.
Short top spacer leaf in lower right side of picture.
Eight Leaves....with top spacer (red dot) out of the picture due to angle
This supports the GM documentation and picture I posted earlier^^^^^^^^^^^^^?
The base rear spring says 192lbs above from GM documentation? I believe the computer modeling refers to front coils, not the rear spring, but I could be wrong. I also seriously doubt GM customized springs for each car based on options. Maybe some GM employees could weigh in but I am highly dubious of that level of detail in 1978/79. For example, the base front coils by the aftermarket are rated 460lbs..GM never offered a base C3 with 460 lbs coils. My aftermarket gymkhana coils for my 78 are sold as 550lbs springs which is the rating from GM. Either way, for the rear spring any deviation from 192 lbs for the base rate would not deviate more than say +/- 10lbs...insignificant.
Duntov springs like all the other aftermarket companies does not mimic what GM published for all the various spring rates for C3 years when replacing springs.
For example, back in 1986, when I replaced my 78 gymkhana 7 leaf spring with a composite, I went specifically with the VBP recommendation of a 360 composite. The F-41 GM Steel sport spring was rated at 292lbs.
Either way, I believe we answered the question with decent certainty that this 81 had the gymkhana suspension from the factory.............Cheers!
Most aftermarket companies recommend a 300lbs composite to replace the 192 lbs base suspension steel spring.
For what it's work, my 80, which I bought new, has (or had until I replaced it with composite) a 9 leaf spring and it is gymkhana. At this link https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...tank-rust.html you'll find a photo of the build sheet. Hard to read, but gymkhana can be made out on the close up photo. I don't know for sure if they did or did not changed 81. But this, site https://www.corvsport.com/1981-c3-co...actory_Options lists it as a 9 leaf spring for 81's gymkhana, noting that GM called it 8 leaf with the top small leaf for ride height.
From: Arizona - If you don’t know CFI, STOP proliferating the myths around it...
This whole thread is dizzying with so much variations on what came with what, when. So, to throw yet another wrench in the works.Does anybody here have ANY experience with this company and their springs? Are they what they say they are? GBVette62, do you have any knowledge about this company and the quality and accuracy of his springs? Looking for first hand information on this company and their product. Stiffness and ride height (not rear end high) is what I'm looking for. http://www.corvetteusa.com/suspension1.htm
Last edited by Buccaneer; Apr 1, 2020 at 04:36 PM.
