1963 Leaf Springs

[1KULC7]

Who is selling 9-leaf rear springs for the 1963 that will pass NCRS? According to the NCRS Judging they must be gray with black insterts. When purchased do they come like this or do you have to take them apart to paint gray?

Many Thanks

 

[Mac]

Collin, there are a number of aftermarket suppliers who produce the 9-leaf rear spring, including a couple of our Sponsors Corvette America and Fast Corvettes but whether these reproductions will pass the scrutiny of an NCRS judging or not, I cannot say. JohnZ and a couple of our CAC regulars are NCRS judges. Perhaps they can offer an opinion?

-Mac

 

[IH2LOSE]

Who is selling 9-leaf rear springs for the 1963 that will pass NCRS? According to the NCRS Judging they must be gray with black insterts. When purchased do they come like this or do you have to take them apart to paint gray?

Many Thanks

For my 1966 I purchased an eaton spring directly from eaton,I explained I was going to have the car judged in the future,It came unpainted,But I purchased a kit from quanta that has the correct paint,spring insulators.I have an original spring and they look the same with the little flare ups at the end.I am not sure if this one will pass judging,Only time will tell

 

[1KULC7]

Just ordered one from Eaton....according to the person I talked to they are exactly like the originals, less the grey paint...

Are they easy to take apart and paint the leafs? Are the black spacers (that should not be painted) loose?

Need little help here...

 

[1KULC7]

What or who is "quanta", and do you have the order number for the kit you ordered....THANKS

 

[61 Silver]

EBVette



Is you rear spring broke! I did my rear spring on the 65 during the frame-off restoration and the ride height is perfect. I purchased the correct spring liners from one of the Corvette part suppliers and the gray paint from Quanta. I took the spring apart, sand blasted it and primed with PPG DP-90 and inserted new liners. The hardest part of the job is removing the spring from the car. You want to be careful not to snap the ears on the differential when removing and installing.



Hope this helps!

Ray


http://www.quantaproducts.com/home.asp

 

[1KULC7]

The spring currently on the car looks like either a replacement model or a later model. The 63 Sprint is 2.25 inches and the ends are tapered and flip up. The spring is nothing like the NCRS Judging Manual describles. But the one I ordered from Eaton needs to be painted...

How hard are they to take apart?

 

[ctjackster]

The spring currently on the car looks like either a replacement model or a later model. The 63 Sprint is 2.25 inches and the ends are tapered and flip up. The spring is nothing like the NCRS Judging Manual describles. But the one I ordered from Eaton needs to be painted...

How hard are they to take apart?

not hard, single bolt runs through the center. clean and degrease thouroughly before priming and then painting with the correct color. I don't know if the Eaton spring comes with the correct liners or not, if not you'll want to get the kit from you fav source, and install as per spec (one gets skipped). Good advice on the install to the diff carrier - you don't want to cinch it down using the 4 bolts with the ends just hanging free, better to do so when the spring is loaded, with the ends attached, lest you bend or snap off one of the "ears" .

 

[JohnZ]

Quanta has a complete rear spring detailing kit (paint, center bolt, and liners); www.quantaproducts.com .

 

[1KULC7]

Springs ordered and repair kit ordered...now I just have to figure out how to take them apart to paint them....

 

[IH2LOSE]

Springs ordered and repair kit ordered...now I just have to figure out how to take them apart to paint them....

Taking them apart is real easey,Its only one bolt. Cleaning them is not so easey.I used brake cleaner to blast off the oil on them,and then wiped down with accetone,I have not repainted my eaton spring yet,but I did this to an aftermarket spring a while ago.I used a self etching primmer on the bear metal,then sprayed the spring gray on top of it.

The first spring I painted I peened the bushing retainers over on the edge.But if factory correct is what your looking for I was told that it was incorrect to peen them over. I have to read my jg to see whats correct.Its unfortunate,but I had an article put aside (Ithought it was from the restorer a NCRS publication) and my wife took all of my magazines I had in my office in an orginized pile and put them in plastic containers in random order in our basement crawl space.(this is after I had them sorted for the particular car I was going to refrence them for and the order I would have needed the article) this article had the lenghts of the liner material you have to cut and what spring you dont put them inbetween. I hope some one knows the article I mention so I can find it again.

Preparing the spring is easey,removing the old and installing the new is a different story

PS I normally cut out articles and then place the article in my car building planning book,But I never cut apart my restorer magazine or the Corvette enthusis magazine,I normally just put a sticky note flagging the article I need

 

[JohnZ]

The first spring I painted I peened the bushing retainers over on the edge.But if factory correct is what your looking for I was told that it was incorrect to peen them over. I have to read my jg to see whats correct.

If the bushing retainer on the end of the spring isn't peened over, you'll get a minor deduction - it's supposed to be peened - it's shown in the Assembly Manual (but not mentioned in the JG - if every little detail was mentioned in the JG, it would be 800 pages thick).

 

[IH2LOSE]

If the bushing retainer on the end of the spring isn't peened over, you'll get a minor deduction - it's supposed to be peened - it's shown in the Assembly Manual (but not mentioned in the JG - if every little detail was mentioned in the JG, it would be 800 pages thick).

Thanks John.

The Correct asnswer is PEENED in place.Now the question is how to properly peen it into place,I used a "large ball peen hammer" in a press

PS I also wanted to mention,I painted all of the leaves nice thick coats, I ran out of paint, this time I am just going to paint thick coats on what will be visable when the spring is assembled.

John do you remember the article on restoring a spring? if you did not right it then I am sure it was in the restorer magazine with in the last 2 years or so

 

[ctjackster]

Thanks John.

The Correct asnswer is PEENED in place.Now the question is how to properly peen it into place,I used a "large ball peen hammer" in a press

PS I also wanted to mention,I painted all of the leaves nice thick coats, I ran out of paint, this time I am just going to paint thick coats on what will be visable when the spring is assembled.

John do you remember the article on restoring a spring? if you did not right it then I am sure it was in the restorer magazine with in the last 2 years or so

It was John, about 6-9 issues ago in CE, John gave a nice nod to the folks at Eaton. His usual excellent treatment of a subject, written so that us normies could get the courage to tackle the job ourselves. Article came out AFTER I had done mine, of course.

 

[JohnZ]

John do you remember the article on restoring a spring? if you did not right it then I am sure it was in the restorer magazine with in the last 2 years or so

I wrote an article in the March '04 issue of CE on how Eaton-Detroit makes springs, and did a "Tech Bench" column in the June '04 issue of CE on spring restoration. Gary Beaupre has written several articles in the NCRS "Restorer" magazine over the last four or five years on midyear rear springs that are far more detailed - they're on the "Restorer" CD.