Help! What Have I Done Wrong

[rgtrough]

Hey guys, I have installed a Vette Brakes and Products front spring in my neighbors '86 convertable. It is a sport model. The problem is that it does not seat in the control arms If I seat it in one side the other is sticking out about a half in. Was I suppose to retain the rubber peices that were on top of the original one?
Thanks for any info.

 

[Schrade]

Hey guys, I have installed a Vette Brakes and Products front spring in my neighbors '86 convertable. It is a sport model. The problem is that it does not seat in the control arms If I seat it in one side the other is sticking out about a half in. Was I suppose to retain the rubber peices that were on top of the original one?
Thanks for any info.

There's a spring swap photo how-to on the web somewhere. Someone here linked it last week or so; search a few spring/suspension threads here.

 

[Ugolino]

I changed out a front spring on my old c4 a few years ago and it was pretty straightforward. Not sure if I understand your question correctly. The rubber pieces are there to keep the spring from rubbing against bare metal, which will eventually destroy the spring. Also on a convertible the factory used additional aluminum shims, which you might have noticed while taking off the old spring, I think they used 3 of them, many people just remove them to lower the front end a little more. I think the factory used 3 shims to raise the car a little more because of the x-brace.

Anyway, the geometry of the front spring looks a little weird when you're installing it, you look at it thinking that no way is it going to look right when it's all tightened up, but once you tighten the crossmember bolts it all falls into place. It's practially idiot-proof, this coming from a certifiable idiot. I have a hunch this is what's bugging you. Be sure to put some lithium grease on the control arms where the rubber ends rest.

 

[vetteoz]

There's a spring swap photo how-to on the web somewhere. Someone here linked it last week or so

Master Frameset
That was the one he was using :ugh

 

[rgtrough]

hey guys, thanks for the replies. I found out my problem was thinking that the spring we had was suppose to seat in the control arms. I talked with gary at vette brake and was informed that the sport spring is not going to seat all the way in both control arms. Just center it and bolt it back up. Done and done.