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So still in the process of rebuilding the back half of my 77, starting to put everything back together and having some issues with the new composite spring that came in a kit from ecklers. I purchased the street/slalom kit which came with a 330lb composite rear leaf. Here are the 2 issues I'm having. 1. Does the aluminum spacer go between the leaf and the rear end housing(like shown in the photo) or does it go on the bottom between the leaf and the bolt carrier plate. 2. This leaf is wider than both my rear end housing and the bolt carrier plate. What I mean by this is it simply wont work with either piece with out some grinding down the metal plates on both sides. It looks like the spring itself is sandwiched between 2 pieces of metal that appear to be glued to it. The metal plates are wider than the spring is. So let's say that the spring assembly needs to mounted directly to the rear end housing the nipple on the top of the spring will not go into the dimple on the rear end housing because the metal peice runs into the lip of the rear end housing first, and vise versa if I use the aluminum block on top then the metal brackets on the leaf spring are wider than the bolt pattern of the bolt carrier. The easy solution is to grind off top and bottom on both sides of metal plates on the spring, but cant believe that's something that needs to happen on a brand new part. Also does grinding this metal off jeopardize the glue bond or do I risk the grinder slipping and get into the composite spring. Wondering if anybody else has had this issue?
Have you measured which rear and spring you have. (The parts may not still be original after 50 years.) IIRC there are two widths, 2" and 2-1/4" ,different years.
The car is all original, it is the factory 77 rear end. I have not measured it yet. The kit from Ecklers did not have any size options only year options. But I will give them a call and see if they sell the kit in 2 different sizes. Still wouldn't make much sense considering the parts in the kit i got arent the same size (bolt holes in the carrier plate are narrower than the spring they are supposed to support as shown in one of the photos
So still in the process of rebuilding the back half of my 77, starting to put everything back together and having some issues with the new composite spring that came in a kit from ecklers. I purchased the street/slalom kit which came with a 330lb composite rear leaf. Here are the 2 issues I'm having. 1. Does the aluminum spacer go between the leaf and the rear end housing(like shown in the photo) or does it go on the bottom between the leaf and the bolt carrier plate. 2. This leaf is wider than both my rear end housing and the bolt carrier plate. What I mean by this is it simply wont work with either piece with out some grinding down the metal plates on both sides. It looks like the spring itself is sandwiched between 2 pieces of metal that appear to be glued to it. The metal plates are wider than the spring is. So let's say that the spring assembly needs to mounted directly to the rear end housing the nipple on the top of the spring will not go into the dimple on the rear end housing because the metal peice runs into the lip of the rear end housing first, and vise versa if I use the aluminum block on top then the metal brackets on the leaf spring are wider than the bolt pattern of the bolt carrier. The easy solution is to grind off top and bottom on both sides of metal plates on the spring, but cant believe that's something that needs to happen on a brand new part. Also does grinding this metal off jeopardize the glue bond or do I risk the grinder slipping and get into the composite spring. Wondering if anybody else has had this issue?
Here is my VB&P setup. At top of the spring is a rubber cushion, also springs would come to 2 configurations , depending on years. For me in 1978 there where 2 options. Factory Steel or the gymkhana suspension. Factory is 2 1/2" width , gymkhana suspension was 2 1/4" width.
The composite spring was 2 1/4" width. The differential carrier (rear end) was spaced for 2 1/2" with a bottom plate for 2 1/2" spring. For my install I installed 1/8" spacers front and back side of the spring so to make up for a total of 2 1/2" width.
Now if your original spring was 2 1/4" width your diff carrier would also be spaced for 2 1/4" width with a bottom plate for 2 1/4". what is the width of the spring ? 2 1/2" . Then my first impression would be wrong spring for your application, or is the mounting hardware of the spring designed for both 2 1/2" and 2 1/4" spring housing and requires modification to install.
Alright guys, thanks for pointing out the 2 different measurements, it looks like they simply shipped me the wrong spring. My rearend housing span is 2 1/4", the aluminum spacer block and bottom mounting plate they sent in the kit both measure 2 1/4" and the leaf spring they sent in the kit measures 2 1/2" I looked up the hyperco part number and says it's designed for a 1978-82 car. Cant get ahold of ecklers till Monday. Hopefully they will remedy this since I bought this kit this summer. FML......
The link below is the manufacturers catalog.
Page 27 shows the Corvette applications.
They only make two springs 180 and 330 rate.
The second and third link claims the block goes on the bottom, post #18. https://www.hypercoils.com/wp-content/uploads/hyperco_catalog.pdf
Rear leaf spring
