Need some guidance on front springs....
 

Recently got my 67 camaro running great. I don't know a whole lot of the history on the car, 350 sbc, convertible.... Here's my question...I have long tube headers that are awfully close to the ground about 4".. I have no clue what springs are on the front of the car but it has obvious wear, when i jack the car up the car raises about 3-4" before the wheels come off the ground and the springs have what can best be described as little "stiffeners" in them... little hexagon pieces of metal that fit between the coils i guess to stiffen it up. when i hit a bump the car goes up and WAY down and the pipes hit... so i'm wondering, if i replace them what are the specs for stock springs? I'm scared to go with 2" hotchkis lowering springs because i don't want the car any lower. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to find out if they're stock, where do i measure? from center of rim to fender? from ground to fender? 14" rims, don't have exact tire measurements, but can post them later. Just trying to get some ideas on where to start... what i'd like is some stiffer springs but to sit either the same height or slightly higher than where i'm at....

http://i61.tinypic.com/293j59e.jpg

http://i58.tinypic.com/6qbhwz.jpg

if it is a sb car you could go to BB springs
check out my picture

After a lot of research and being fairly unsure on exactly which springs to get. I went with Moog 6320 springs and kyb shocks. I pulled the old springs which were sagging so bad i could push them down by hand with the spacers in them. I went from about 14-14.5" to now 16.25" from wheel to wheel well trim. I wanted higher just to be safe with the low hanging long tube headers.... but it's a little too high. I won't be doing anything soon as changing all that took most of a saturday, but after letting the springs settle over a 2-3 month period... would it be a bad idea to cut like 1/4-1/2 coil to bring it down about an inch?

do not use heat on springs to cut them..

i've read about not using heat on the springs, don't worry i have no heat source to do that. I do however have a grinder i can put a cutting wheel on, or a dremel tool i can put a cutting wheel on, will that work?

A cut off wheel will work fine, or sawzall with metal cutting blade. I'd definitely wait and drive it a while first. I'm sure the springs are going to settle down a little, no way of knowing by exactly how much though.

Yes, give some driving time in settling the springs.
If you do decide to cut coils later, do a half a coil at a time.

you can use a cutting torch if you place the spring in a container of water with the level of the water about 1/2-1" below where you are cutting, but if you are not good at cutting you will have a lot of dressing up to do
cut off disk is your best option

No more than a half at a time. I ruined a set of Hotchkis springs by doing a full coil at 1 time....put it on the ground.

One full coil cut off will give your car about 1.5" lower. 1/4 coil and you wont even notice a difference. 1/2 will give you 3/4" lower.

My car is factory A/C, with that being said they used a B/B spring even though it's a small block for the additional weight. I think it was overkill but oh well. I ended up cutting off 1 coil and it sits perfect for me, but I'm not running headers either. I haven't noticed it settling. Now the back is a completely different story, it settled way to much and now I can't put passengers in the back without getting tire rub on a bump. Any ideas? I thought about air shocks, they were new springs when I installed them. I'm just afraid the shock mounts in the back aren't strudy enough for air ride.

idk if my mounts have been modified to be honest, but the car sits lower on passenger side by 1.5" I found this out after installing 3" drop hotchkis multi-leaf's. put the previous multi-leaf back in and it sits level... the car with no air in the shocks is LOW.. about 1" over the rear tire. I lift it a couple inches with the air shocks and it seems to be fine.

That's one sweet looking ride. I cut a set of springs on a 65 chevy I built. I went a full 1.5 coils. (I should have gone just 1) the car sat real nice and rode great. Then I put some 17s on it and I was about 1/2" too low. Since the wheels/tires were new, I tried to roll the fender lips, but they were too strong. So I just cut the inner lip off the car. It was just about 1/4" away from being perfect, but I didn't want to buy new springs to try it again. I had a lot of fun in that car. Sure wish I could figure out how to add pics here. Hmmmm

More costly, but with double adjustable coilovers, you can dial-in the ride height within reason and the shocks are fully adjustable for compression and rebound. I dropped my 68 about 2" in the front. Have you installed tubular A - Frames?

I haven't added tubular A-arms yet. I got the ride height dial in to an extent but i'm still interested in double adjustable coilovers. curious how difficult tubular a-arms are to install.

I've got tubular upper & lower control arms going on and my CPP big brake kit came with 2" lowered spindles. I opted to get Bell Teck 1" lowered springs for a 3" total amount. BUT after putting new poly body bushings on the car, it raised it 1" due to the old worn out ones on the car. So in my case, it will probably be 1.5" - 2" tops due to the old springs having sag in them too. I also went with KYB Gas-a-just shocks because I like it a little stiff --- and that also raised the car a bit.

Good luck on your ride. Since these things are 50 years old now, they are all a little bit different.

Post some pics - that is one sweet vert.

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