Well I started the day off and finished up the front control arm swap from the parts car to the project car, then I spent about 2 hours in the pool. After that I went back out in the garage and spent about 2 hours cleaning the garage, swept it all up and put the tools away and everything. You would not know it now though, that led into getting both of the cars "staged" for the next project, swapping over the new leaf springs with the new bushings to the project car. "Staging" led in to "just pulling the wheels off so everything is ready to go". Which then led into pulling a spring off of each car to compare them. Well, I've got a spring off of each car now to compare them, they look similar to me... Same height, but they have different arch configurations, and the new ones seem to have the rear side arched less so that the spring overall length is longer.

I would like to get the car lower too. There is a "plate" of sorts on the bottom of the new spring that I am going to pull off, plus I believe I'll take the second to the bottom leaf out of the pack and go with that for now. I'll hold on to the leaf just in case.

Getting the old springs off was alot of fun. I managed to kill another one of my U bolts, I still have an extra so I may not have to go and get new ones. Those things seem to heat up and weld to each other, sort of like stainless nuts and bolts, it must be the super fine thread pattern on them. And the shackle nut that is on the stud that goes through the frame needed to just get cut off, I did it without killing the bolt too, so I'll need to just replace the nut for putting it back on the parts car.







I had to pull the fuel tank back out again, which works out because I have acquired some rubber isolation strips to put between the tank and the straps.



Here is the new spring hardware.



Old spring on the right.



Same, old spring on the right, roughly the same height.



This is the old spring on the bottom, the new one is a bit longer.

 

Do yourself a favor and put some anti seize on the U bolt threads. I anti seize anything I think I might want to disassemble later, especially my wheels studs.

 

The new spring is a HD five leaf pack. The other is four. the length is ok, the shackle will take that up. As long as the arch height is the same your good. The Nova springs everyone talks about are much taller side by side.

 

Well, tonight I pulled the spring pack apart, marked the centerline and ends of all the leafs on the floor, disassembled everything, wire wheeled everything on the bench grinder, and painted them up with Engine enamel Gloss Black. I'm taking out the small plate on the bottom of the pack, and the second spring in from the bottom. I'll hang on to it just in case. I hope to have that together tomorrow and maybe even have the other one off. My daughter is going to be having her 16th birthday party this Saturday so I'm sure that the Camaro will suffer. Here is my springs now, the driver side at least.

 

I know that this isn't a Nova pack, it is identical to the spring pack that is on my car now, except for the rear part of the arching, which I'm sure isn't a big deal. I just don't like how high it sits in the back, I would like it to be lower. I hope that this does it without making the ride bouncy. If it rides funny I'll put the spring leaf back in, it isn't all that hard to do. But I'm going to be getting some CalTracs made too so that should help regardless.

 

Interested in seeing how those springs come out.

 

They look nice right now, getting them together will tell the tale. Driving on them is going to finish it, I've found alot of posts about removing leafs, but none in regards to a car that should handle well. Hopefully... If not I'll reassemble them and get them de-arched.

 

I think the stock five leafs would have been fine. Our cars sag in the butt anyhow. Like you said it will be easy to put it back. Another way to shave some height while your springs are out is the Herd Adams mod. I'm sure you've read about it on nasty but zi'll go over it here. Just redrill the front eye bolt hole 1/2" higher and cut the top out of the spring mount, this should be worth 3/4"- 1" of drop. It will help handling too. The PTFB shakles I have will lower it another 1/2". I have one that Dave sold me with a slight bend to it. He sent me a new one but we can measure the bent one to replicate it. Let me know, I have the ability for acurate measurement at work.

 

Yep, I've read about the Herb Adams mod, but I did forget about it, I will be doing it though now that you triggered my memory. I've read all about it before. As for the measurement on the shackles to get another 1/2" of drop, I would love it. I can make those up easy enough.

 

I got one of the spring packs sort of together tonight, I still need to pinch the two spring wraps around the springs and secure them, I did one of them. I figured that my time would be better spent getting the rear end out of the car and on jack stands so I can clean it up. This is the one out of the parts car that is a 4.10 posi. The PO just painted POR15 over the gunk, I'm going to clean it all up, and probably paint it with engine paint, I think a cast iron color to make it stand out. I'm also getting an stud girdle that should be cool too. AND, I was reminded of the Herb Adams Mod on Camaro Forums, I'm going to be doing that, and also getting new rear shackles that should lower the car even more in the rear. I had totally forgot about the Herb Adams Mod. I also got some attempted pics of my fender rolling. I'm thinking that this is just something that is going to be impossible to get a picture of with any degree of accuracy. I tried though.