titanle

0Willcox Corvette

That would depend on if you had AC or not.... I'm not sure I'd run the salmon springs though... You want a factory ride not a stiff one.

Personally in my shop I'd install either the 36831 or if you have ac 36832

https://willcoxcorvette.com/catalogs...q=front+spring

You'll get a factory ride.

Willcox

titanle

0Willcox Corvette

You know, the only thing I'll use in my shop is the stock stuff... If you don't have AC order the stock springs.... To me and IMHO, I run stock items only. If you are racing the car or something else the I'd say otherwise, but I don't believe in making a rough car riding harder. ... so I run the stock springs, the stock shocks, and rubber suspension (vs poly which I won't install)....

Willcox

titanle

0Willcox Corvette

Nothing wrong with that... but again, if the car was in my shop I'd run the stock springs only, I'd have it combined with the rubber suspension rebuild kit and the stock shocks..

Been doing this since 1973.... Never had any issue with running the stock stuff... but I've had issues with running the non stock stuff... IMHO,

Willcox

titanle

gkull

The shorter 550 front springs were a great improvement when installed along with a 1 1/8th front sway bar it makes our old vettes feel more like a modern sports car. People who don't like bigger springs probably have never driven a vette with them

being shorter makes it easy to R&R them for any front end work like ball joints or bushings

titanle

Pardon my ignorance but are either of the part numbers quoted above for 550 front springs? I ask since I am doing full front suspension rebuild kit, rear suspension mounts and bushings kit along with bilstein HD shocks. curious as to which springs would be best if I do end up changing the stock springs.

gkull

The Willcox 550# are a better deal the Mid America. If you are going for the best, I'd just skip the stock idea and jump straight to QA-1 dual adjust semi coil overs in front. If you are thinking of rebuilding the front a-arms it is about cost effective to go with tubular a-arms and full coil overs. The rear I don't think that you can ever be totally happy with steel or fiber mono springs. Much smarter to convert to a coil over with dual adjust shocks.

titanle

I've been reading good and bad about the 550 spring on the forum, some say the car handles much better and others say its too stiff for a street car. I also read that it drops the front of the car an inch or so depending on how worn out the stock springs are. on the other hand I read that the 460 spring might raise the front an inch or so. I wonder if it would be smarter to just buy my wheels and tires first, see how the car sits and then perhaps upgrade the front springs and rear leaf next summer. I just wanted to do it now since all the other suspension work is happening currently.

0Willcox Corvette

For us in the old days, GM gave us a chart to look these springs up.

So for instance, the coupe cars had a sprung weight of 677.5, the convertibles had a spring weight of 662.50. These were the starting point... then you added weight to this based on what options you had on the car.

So for instance, this was the chart for the 1972 cars.. .ironically the same spring was used on 1968 cars for the standard suspension no air optioned cars and a few others crossed over. But it's all we could do or get. So you started with the base model, then added up your accessories to the the weight for a total sprung weight. Then you knew what spring to run.... But remember this was in the 1970's and 1980's.

Like I stated above... we only run the stock combinations in our shop... if the customer wants a customer spring (and we're just covering our butts) he'd need to sign off on it just in case he didn't like the ride. Usually this is enough to persuade them to go with stock stuff vrs. aftermarket, but if they don't like the ride then we're not on the hook for removing and replacing them the second time.

So here is how this all played out.

1968 with standard suspension, small block car used 331316
1968 with big block and everything else standard used 331318
1968 big block with air conditioning use 3931826
1968 small block with air used 3831824.

Unfortunately you are limited to what spring you can buy and purchase these days because the suppliers say to use the small block air spring for big block cars and as you can see, they were a different part number. However, on a small block spring you only have two stock choices, with a/c or without. You can use the chart below to calculate your sprung weight to know which spring you should use though.

gkull

What people fail to realize is that when you install wider Wheels it increases the track width. The additional track width is Leverage

like a breaker bar. So you need more spring

I use 2 inch adapters and 6.5 BS wheels. I couldn't find any company that would make 4.5 bs wide wheels. They said that it was unsafe

0Willcox Corvette

I was only talking about a stock car with stock wheels tires and suspension.

Willcox

OldCarBum

share-your-c3-upgraded-wheel-tire-combo-s
Check out the Thread above in the Sticky section.
In this thread you will see hundreds of forum members who have posted photos of their cars with all different tires, wheels and suspension upgrades to adjust ride height.
Find several that display the size wheels and tires you plan to purchase and PM the member and ask them about the suspension modifications, if any, they made to get the stance you are looking for.
Both Wilcox and gkull are giving you excellent advise.
Wilcox for more of a stock setup and gkull for a modified setup that could enhance driving performance.

titanle

thanks for the responses everyone. I guess I would be going for a somewhat modified setup. I spoke with 69auotxr about his car because he has 315 35 17s on all 4 corners but his car is heavily modified for racing. the other car I liked is curbys maroon c3 which sits real nice with 17x11 rear and 17x9.5 fronts but I haven't been able to connect with him in terms of this suspension setup.

OldCarBum

While I am going with coil overs all around and full suspension upgrades for performance handling, I am also going with 17 X 8 with 4" backspacing, wheels all around with 255-50-17 tires, which will keep everything in the fender wells and prevent clearance issues.
I know that wider wheels and tires will improve grip, but I'm seriously only driving this on the streets, twisting mountain, canyon and coastal roadways, with maybe an occasional vintage car track day just for fun.
Big meats and flares look cool, and I would love to do it all to my 73, but budget and my idea to keep the body all stock keeps me from going all out.

titanle

yeah I know what you mean. I found my 68 with the flares and just loved how mean it looked and completely envisioned the end result when I first bought it. I could possibly trim down the front fenders and go with a narrower wheel and tire, that is an option as well. What I may end up doing is installing the 460 springs, and then go with the 315 tires in the front since the 460 springs state they may raise the front end roughly an inch depending on how worn the current springs are. give it a little bit of a gasser look and hopefully prevent me from breaking off the front lip like the previous owner did.

gkull

I tried a 255/50/17 front with 4 or 4.5 BS 9 inch wheels. It's been years ago! Anyway those are tall tires and the big diameter caused the tires to rub the frame on lock to lock and I had very little fender lip to wheel clearance. the 255/45 work great.

standswithabeer

hope you don't mind if i glom onto this thread, but i have a question about front springs before i order a pair. my 79 C3 w/small block, TH350, and AC just turned 60k and the front is sagging a bit. when taking frame measurements according to my "1979 Corvette Shop Manual", the front is level but is 1 1/4 inches low. { owned her since 2013, and new springs has finally bubbled up to the top of the priority list. }

am looking for a smooth ride { i'll be replacing the original shocks with stock shocks also } so i'm guessing the #36832 springs would be recommended, and will probably result in the front being back to spec height ?

thx!
bob p