My 64 had collapsed springs. A Arms nearly all the way up, rears bad as well. I ordered new springs from JC Whitney, all around and installed them.

Rear: Great ! Put it right up there. Appears to have great motion and flexibility. Not quite as stiff as I might like for racing, but OK.

Front, so stiff that there is hardly any bounce at all, mostly from the tires. New springs were slightly larger in diameter, and the coils were around 1.5 to 2 more in length. Will this improve with driving, or do I have to consider cutting one coil from these springs. I will be changing the 283 for a 383 stroker, alum head engine.

Tough job, so I would like any recommendations before I do.

Thanks in advance
Larry

cutting coils will make it stiffer

Did you get any specs on the springs? Or maybe a Moog/TRW part number equivelence?

Look here for spring specs:
http://www.classiccarsprings.com/springrates.html

Drive your car over to a certified scale. Go ahead and get a total car weight - but what I really want you to do is to get a front end only weight. From your front end weight subtract the probable unsprung weight of your lower contol arms, spindles, front brakes, and wheels. For example let's say your front end weighed ~ 2,000 lbs and your unsprung weight was 200 lbs. Now simply go to the coil spring chart and select a spring with ~ 1,800 lb load. The springs you will want for your '64 are tang/tang end ~ 3.6x" inside diameter, 11" load height, and in the low 300 lb/inch for general street driving.

Thomas

Did you get any specs on the springs? Or maybe a Moog/TRW part number equivelence?

Look here for spring specs:
http://www.classiccarsprings.com/springrates.html

Drive your car over to a certified scale. Go ahead and get a total car weight - but what I really want you to do is to get a front end only weight. From your front end weight subtract the probable unsprung weight of your lower contol arms, spindles, front brakes, and wheels. For example let's say your front end weighed ~ 2,000 lbs and your unsprung weight was 200 lbs. Now simply go to the coil spring chart and select a spring with ~ 1,800 lb load. The springs you will want for your '64 are tang/tang end ~ 3.6x" inside diameter, 11" load height, and in the low 300 lb/inch for general street driving.

Thomas
Thanks Tom.
The ride height is now 13", front and back. Kinda hard to get to a scale right now, but as soon as the engine change is done, I will. I kind of suspect they sent BB springs. Thought there might be someone with a company / spring number for this car to eliminate the calculations, but I will do whatever is needed

Larry, trying to select the right springs requires some knowledge of expected weight for those springs to carry, and your expected use of the car.

What you are experiencing is the simple fact that as cars get older the parts manufacturers consolidate their part number selection. Even some of the spring companies that advertise that they have all the different coil springs have consolidated replacement spring selections. Case in point; I had contacted Detroit Eaton spring to get a spring equal to a discontinued Moog #5236. But instead of Eaton's spring being the same, it speced out just like a Moog #5246 because Eaton has consolidated the two Moog part numbers into one.

By knowing your actual front end weight, and the probable sprung weight you are no longer bound by the car application chart - now you can select something closer to your actual need.

Keep in mind too that if you still have the stock style rubber control arm bushings that you must do the final torque on the lower control arm bushing bolts AFTER the vehicle is resting on its wheels, and preferably after an around the block jaunt to settle it a little. If you did the final torque on those bolts while the suspension was still hanging in the air then that was a goof.

Thomas