Welcome to the Corvette Forums at the Corvette Action Center!

front coil springs installation..

6

69vettester

Guest
this is for anyone whose thinking about changing front coils, but doesnt know what to expect. Heres how it went for me.


Just got done installing new 460lb springs.
I started to take pictures for anyone who hasnt done this, but its pretty straightforward so Ill just run the sequence and highlight the potential problem areas that I found.


Get the front end way up in the air and ,of course, secured with jackstands
1. Remove the shock
2. remove the swaybar bolt nut, just leave the bolt in place
3. secure the control arm with a carefully placed floor jack that will roll in the direction of the lowering control. arm. and put a little pressure on the spring.
3. Remove the nut, and Pop the ball joint, using a pickle fork or comparable if necessary.
Its possible the joint will break loose by smacking it hard with a big hammer on the side where a flat spot is casted, this way you wont wipe out the grease boot with the pickle fork! Mine wouldnt budge until I got heavy on it with the fork!
4. Start down with the jack, unloading the spring. I learned to be a master of jack placement, and took great pains to insure that I had a secure hold on the control arm while starting to unload the old spring, very slowly and carefully lowering watching every inch.(dont let that spring get away from you..yikes.) Stop immediatly if the jack starts to look like it doesnt securely have the load and do whatever you need to do to get reset.
5.I had to remove the brake line on the passengers side, or it would have broken while lowering the control arm.
6.Remove the old spring.
7. IMPORTANT There is a ledge in the control arm base that acts as a stop, this is where the end of the spring needs to be before starting it up! This is tricky because the spring is not seated in that place when starting because of the extreme angle. I needed to eyeball it, it wont be seated till its been jacked way up. After the control arm is close to being back in position, I stuck my finger in there to insure that the end of the spring was in its slot and not hung up on the ledge.

8. Bolt everything back up, washed it all up while under there, lubed the joints , after doing the other side, got the car back down on mother earth...walla , done deal.

At first I tried using a springcompressor to help, I found it just got in my way and wasted time, it kept hanging up one place or the other in the control arm tower. So I bailed it. These springs are several inches shorter than stock..another reason a compressor may not be of much use?. By all means use a compressor if you see fit!!

Anybody good with front ends want to elaborate on anything Ive said here or didnt say here, please feel free, Im not proclaiming to be a pro by any means.

TC
 
which springs TC?

Tom:
Sounds like you did pretty good ... congrats. Do you recall name of spring manufacturer & their part number?
JACK:gap
 
Hi Jack,
The springs had a metal Tag with info on it. I took it off and trashed it without paying much attention. They are the 460lb ones VB&P sells. If I come across any details on paperwork, Ill let you know.
Tom

PS.... Jack, Is there something important I should know regarding that Manufacturer info??
 
So Tom, what is left to do on the car now? You have really covered the spectrum of cool upgrades and minor repairs.

You must be planning on some major cruising this summer. You are going to Shark Fest, aren't you?
 
/TC PS.... Jack, Is there something important I should know regarding that Manufacturer info??
No problem Tom ... Just being anal ... I note pn's associated with others' projects so I can either compare with my similar ones or to projects I dream of. I did the same thing & compared my spring #'s to those Len (1970 Stingray) used on his. I'm first to admit I tend to make mistakes ... so I try to glean what I can from others' experiences.
JACK:gap
 
Chris,
I finally replaced the hulking 7leaf rear spring with the VB&P composite. The spring sits almost parallel with the ground (hardly any bow)when the ride height is adjusted to where I want it. This adds to torsion stability that was mostly handled by the antisway bar, The smart struts geometry also help.
The overall handling and Ride difference is amazing. She literally Dances nimbly down the road. No mush in her anywhere now. I can gently push anywhere on the body and the car responds, kind of vibrates on the 255's , like a tuning fork.
4 new SS Calipers and all the upgrades are done. The U-joints seem fine, Im leaving them alone.
I feel Ready to tour anywhere this year, So Im going to try for Shark Fest too. Ill be watching for schedule posts when the time draws near.
Gotta get back to looking at Steve Kamis's build. Truly awesome, thanks for the link..
TC
 

Corvette Forums

Not a member of the Corvette Action Center?  Join now!  It's free!

Help support the Corvette Action Center!

Supporting Vendors

Dealers:

MacMulkin Chevrolet - The Second Largest Corvette Dealer in the Country!

Advertise with the Corvette Action Center!

Double Your Chances!

Our Partners

Back
Top Bottom