Does my 1972 coupe have heavy duty suspension (fx41?)

[tats72]

Help. Does my 1972 coupe have heavy duty suspension (F41?)

I am new to this forum, but there seems to be a lot of great people and good information here. Congrats on a great site! Anyway, I recently purchased a 1972 Base Coupe and I am trying to find out as much about it as I can. It appears to be a pretty straight forward mostly original car. The suspension confuses me however. I thought that in 1972 most cars had a 9 leaf suspension setup, mine has 7. Also, the build sheet has two lines that say Front Springs and Rear Spring. Neither say heavy duty, but I found it odd that springs would be mentioned with the options. I have heard the term F41 tossed around, but find no mention of it on the car or build sheet. Please help. The rear spring appears to be worn and I would like to replace it with the correct part. I also was concerned that the differences in the 7 and 9 leaf setup would affect ride height. Is there a big difference between the two? Thanks for your help.

 

[Eric]

Tat,
Welcome to the CAC!

In 1972, the F-41 (Heavy Duty) suspension was only available on cars ordered with the ZR1 option. The two main components of the F-41 suspension are the 7-leaf rear spring and the larger 15/16 inch front sway. The larger front sway bar was also standard on all big-blocks.

The ride height should not be adversely affected, but the relative softness of the 9-leaf setup will be apparent if you go back to stock setup.

It's pretty common to see sway bars and springs that are replaced as some folks tried to get all the stiffness they could.

 

[tats72]

71shark,

Thanks for the help! I have owned a newer Corvette, but this is my first venture with a C3. Any idea as to why front and rear springs were listed on the build sheet? This seems strange to mention springs with all of the other options.

 

[JohnZ]

The front and rear springs were shown on the build sheet as a scheduling option, as they were computer-selected based on the front and rear weights as affected by other equipment (engine, A/C, options, etc.) in order to set finished ride height at the design spec. The scheduling option triggered the computer spring selection program before the build sheet was printed.

 

[Eric]

The front and rear springs were shown on the build sheet as a scheduling option, as they were computer-selected based on the front and rear weights as affected by other equipment (engine, A/C, options, etc.) in order to set finished ride height at the design spec. The scheduling option triggered the computer spring selection program before the build sheet was printed.

John,

That's pretty interesting! I guess that explains why so many aftermarket springs result in skewed ride height. For the aftermarket, it's one size fits all, regardless of what options you have.

- Eric