Guys,

I just got my car back from the alignment shop. It drives straight, but there is a stress relief noise that I hear when I hit bumps. I can duplicate the noise in the driveway by pushing down on the front end. The noise is coming from one of the coils of the front right coil spring hitting the frame. The interference is the front of the sppring hitting the frame where the spring goes through. The other thing I notice is that there is a large number of shims in the back bolt of the control arm on both sides no shims on the front bolt. The number of shims is the same on both sides of the car yet it is only the passenger side that is hitting. The car is a 72 SS 454 with factory AC. The frame off restoration was just completed and all suspension parts are new. The upper and lower control were sandblasted and painted. Can this be a result of a bad alignment? What else could it be?

bbcngineer

Sounds like your spring might not be seated properly in the frame pocket. Adjusting the upper control arm for an alignment has no affect whatsoever on the lower control arm position. It remains fixed in a specific location regardless of the alignment settings.

If the spring is not seated properly as I suggest, once you do get it seated you will probably have to have the alignment checked again as it may affect the settings on that side.

You may want to have another alignment shop look at it, but you also need to look at whether one of the A-arms may have been bent or damaged while removing and/or installing the bushings... Also, has the car ever suffered any front end or frame damaged. You may want to put it on a frame machine to check. Of course, there is always the option of widening the hole if it is catching only a very small spot ....

Guys,

Can the coil springs be installed upside down? I think the lower control arms have the pocket, does the spring have a tab or something on the bottom that should fit into the "pocket".

bbcngineer

bbc yes they can be installed up side down the lower a arm has a spot in it that the tail of the spring sits in,if its in up side down or not turned so the tail fits in proper spot you got a problem. The lower a arm where the tail fits in is lower than the rest of the pocket and the spring fits to that point. Ralph

Guys,

Thank you for your help. It turns out that the spring was not seated properly in the upper control arm. I would like to blame somebody other than myself for this, but I put them in. I have no idea how I missed this, the spring almost centers itself. Anyway I moved reinstalled it last night everything is fine now.

bbcngineer

Lessons learned by doing it yourself are the ones you remember...congrats. Ralph

Good to hear you found the problem.

*EDIT*

Now that you have the spring properly seated in the frame (the springs aren't seated into the upper control arms but the frame itself) make sure that the lower pigtail of the spring fits properly into the proper recess in the lower control arm as well. Check both sides.

Originally posted by Rich-L79:
Good to hear you found the problem.

The front springs cannot be installed upside down. The pigtail at either end is the same regardless of which end of the spring is up or down. We are talking about front springs, not rears... Refer to topic I'm confused about spring install. Don't know if it's the year, bb vs sb, or make of spring, but some springs are definately not the same on both ends. My springs, I'm pretty sure are original 70 bb springs, are tapered down on the top, last coil has a flat surface. Others say they're springs are same on both ends. Sounds like there is not one answer that fits all.

I was of the understanding that Pre-68 springs do not have the tapered end. I had the same problem with the springs that were installed in my 68 i.e., rubbing against the frame. No matter what I did, I could not get the springs to seat properly. Finally bought some GW springs from a team member with the flattened coil on one end...problem solved.

Careful Tim be sure of your info before you steer someone wrong,not all springs are created alike. Ralph

Originally posted by Ralph67:
bbc yes they can be installed up side down the lower a arm has a spot in it that the tail of the spring sits in,if its in up side down or not turned so the tail fits in proper spot you got a problem. The lower a arm where the tail fits in is lower than the rest of the pocket and the spring fits to that point. Ralph To everyone, refer to 'I'm confused about coil spring install.' There is more good info on positioning coil in lower control arm. Appears to be a lot of contradictory info running in both these topics. We're probably all guilty, we speak from experience with our own cars but there is a difference in design for pre/post 68. Guess we need to be more careful or qualify our answers based on model year.
Just a thought, all and all this is still the best site in world for info on these cars. graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Originally posted by Ralph67:
Careful Tim be sure of your info before you steer someone wrong,not all springs are created alike. Ralph Is my understanding incorrect?

I see I've made a misstatement concerning the upside down or not issue. I was operating from a 64-67 point of view I guess. smile.gif

But regardless, there is a recess in the lower control arm for the end of the last coil on the spring (correct?). If there is a flat end to the spring it would need to go to the top.

Sorry if my misstatement muddied the waters! I've edited my post above to make it clear for any future readers.

Originally posted by Rich-L79:
I see I've made a misstatement concerning the upside down or not issue. I was operating from a 64-67 point of view I guess. smile.gif

But regardless, there is a recess in the lower control arm for the end of the last coil on the spring (correct?). If there is a flat end to the spring it would need to go to the top.

Sorry if my misstatement muddied the waters! I've edited my post above to make it clear for any future readers. Rich, If I read what you're saying correctly then I agree. It's just that there is more confusion as to how the coil should sit in the pocket in the lower control arm. Seems to get cleared up in the other post.