[henesian]

So, after reading, I saw a bunch of threads where SkipFix(Not blaming him at all) had recommended the front coil springs from the 1985 Chevy S-10 Diesel to people with the same car as me, because they have around 700 lbs/in. So, We found them on Rockauto, made by Raybestos. We thought that for $55.79, we might as well try them to replace our '76 springs that left the car with its nose way up in the air Well, the spring specs are

Free height: 13.23"
Load height: 10.5"
Wire Diameter: .75"
Inside diameter: 4.08"
656 lbs/in when calculated with the mean diameter and the formula from Herb Adams's book, Chassis Engineering.

It lowered the car way too much. It's so low, I can barely get my hand in between the top of the tire and the fender, which is about 1/2"-3/4" of clearance.

To try and compensate that we used pretty high jounce bumpers. I think they're around 3/4" tall, and our old yellow Monroe shocks that are super stiff, and only have a couple of inches of stroke. For tires, I have 15x7 snowflakes with 255/60s all around with a 7/32" wheel spacer for the lug nuts.

On light dips, It almost bottoms out,
on light-moderate dips, it hits the jounce bumper but doesn't rub the tire.
on moderate dips, it hits the jounce bumper and rubs the tire on the side of the first tread block where it's super tough.
on super horrible dips(damn city), it hit the jounce bumper, and almost went all the way down to the beginning of the sidewall(oh dear.)

One option is to take out the front wheel spacers and use the original lugs, but I'm afraid that it won't clear on the inside, and that it'll still rub and hit the sidewall instead of the thread.

What about coil spring spacers? I think if the car was up another half an inch infront, it would be more than okay.

Is this more of an issue between spring stroke vs shock stroke?

Any ideas?

[bankbook]

Call Eaton detroit spring and tell them what your end goal is. They hooked me up right, the first try.

[aronhk_md]

Doc had the same experience with Eaton that I and others on here have had with Coil Spring Specialties...a custom spring that gives you the ride height and spring rate you want...exactly. Do a search on here for Coil Spring Specialties to get more info. I think mine ran $165.

Might also want to do a search on "spring rates" with Herb Adams in the search too............2 very distinct camps, one believes in higher spring rates for high performance, the other doesnt. Either way CSS or Eaton can hook you up with what you want and the perfect ride height.

[Skip Fix]

Sorry for the issue I ran those on a Camaro with plenty of clearance and they have less fenderwell room than a Firebird. Heck it won't even fit 225-70s up front with taller springs now on snowflakes because of the fenderwell design. My 81 TA rubs on hard bumps with 255-60s on 15x8 snowflakes and stock springs on the front. On the inside you shouldn't have really any clearance issues other than rubbing the sway bar on lock to lock turns.

Those spring are almost identical to the high dollar Guldstrands I ran for years. I have noticed that springs eve with the same part # can be different. I tried to put the same 6 cylinder springs under the Camaro as I have on my TA for drag racing and I couldn't even get the ball joint in the spindle it was so far off.

I've never used spacers, Global has some aluminum ones that should fit the lower control arm like the spring, just not sure how stable they would be. Might talk to them about those. Might be as stable a a wheel spacer.

I'd ditch the spacer there are plenty of correct length lugnuts that work with the snowflakes.