Question: leaf spring
- Thread starter PEAHAT
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bill81vette
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the "81 had a single mono leaf fiberglass spring,
if you had a manual trans,or a FE7 option,then you had a 9 leaf design that was light gray.
have you checked any of the corvette vendors????
other wise you may have to check the corvette salvage yards.
if you had a manual trans,or a FE7 option,then you had a 9 leaf design that was light gray.
have you checked any of the corvette vendors????
other wise you may have to check the corvette salvage yards.
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Thanks for the response, I have the fe 7 with the 9 leaf design, all the suppliers go up to 1979 on the liners and no further.
Thanks
Scott M
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- 1959 black 270hp (9/2/69) 1981 Beige L81(10/20/80)
Spring Liner
It isn't uncommon for the aftermarket to have years and applications wrong on these parts. They usually all get many of their parts from the same supplier. If the supplier has it listed incorrectly that seems to transfer to the parts company's catalog, in many cases.
From the GM Corvette Parts Catalog:
The FE7 rear spring part number for 1976 through 1979 is 462598.
The FE7 rear spring part number for 1980 and 1981 is 14021604.
The spring liner part number for 1978 through 1980 FE7 is 3794113.
Even the Chevrolet catalogs can be ambiguous.
From these listings we can surmise that the 3794113 liner fit back to 1976 because the spring was the same as 1978 and 1979. We can also surmise that the same liner fits up to and including 1981 simply because it fits 1980 and the 1980 and 1981 part numbers were the same. If GM had made any design changes to the spring between 1980 and 1981 the part number would have changed.
I feel that you would be safe using the liner listed for 1979 through the parts vendors. I's hard to say if it will be identical to what GM used originally or if it's just a service part that matches the spring width. GM sold this in a roll and it was a "cut to length" installation using the old part for measurement. Most larger cities have automotive spring shops that sell and service everything related to car and truck springs. If you have one close by they would probably have liner on a roll that would be very close to the design you need and maybe even lower cost than a part listed as a Corvette restoration part.
Tom
It isn't uncommon for the aftermarket to have years and applications wrong on these parts. They usually all get many of their parts from the same supplier. If the supplier has it listed incorrectly that seems to transfer to the parts company's catalog, in many cases.
From the GM Corvette Parts Catalog:
The FE7 rear spring part number for 1976 through 1979 is 462598.
The FE7 rear spring part number for 1980 and 1981 is 14021604.
The spring liner part number for 1978 through 1980 FE7 is 3794113.
Even the Chevrolet catalogs can be ambiguous.
From these listings we can surmise that the 3794113 liner fit back to 1976 because the spring was the same as 1978 and 1979. We can also surmise that the same liner fits up to and including 1981 simply because it fits 1980 and the 1980 and 1981 part numbers were the same. If GM had made any design changes to the spring between 1980 and 1981 the part number would have changed.
I feel that you would be safe using the liner listed for 1979 through the parts vendors. I's hard to say if it will be identical to what GM used originally or if it's just a service part that matches the spring width. GM sold this in a roll and it was a "cut to length" installation using the old part for measurement. Most larger cities have automotive spring shops that sell and service everything related to car and truck springs. If you have one close by they would probably have liner on a roll that would be very close to the design you need and maybe even lower cost than a part listed as a Corvette restoration part.
Tom
Vettehead Mikey
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No GM springs on C3 Corvettes had bands.
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I am replacing the mono spring on my 81 auto transmission and a bit confused in that I think the original spring is the 340 but does the 355 use the same mount kit? I assume it might be different if auto or manual transmission but not sure.
Thanks
Chuck
Thanks
Chuck
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