First Generation Firebird-L Mailing List ......................................................................... Brett, I was converting my 4 wheel drum brakes to 4 wheel discs (another story entirely), so it seemed like a good time to replace the coil springs which were obviously not doing the job. They had spacers installed and the car would bottom out going over dips at speed. The engine in my 68 convertible is a 454 BB Chevy, which was in the car when I bought it. I probably could have used Camaro springs, but any springs that met the requirements of spring load, compression rate, unloaded spring height, and the correct type of ends (tangential) would have worked. I have no idea what the comparative weight is between the Pontiac and Chevy engines, but I weighed my car; 4020 pounds total and 2260 pounds of that is on the front axle (the all cast iron 1977 BBC, air conditioning, etc.). So the springs had to be able to handle 2260 pounds and the 67 GTO coils (part TRW 5244 from OPGI) were manufactured for a load of 2273 pounds (if I recall correctly) and they had tangential ends. I did all the research at the time but now I have forgotten all of the details, but it basically came down to the math. The GTO springs unloaded height was about 14 inches with a compression rate of several hundred pounds for 1 inch of spring compression. So the front end weight of my car compressed the springs from the unloaded 14 inch height to somewhere between 10 and 11 inches, which is about the installed height of stock 68 Firebird coil springs (for an all stock car). I wanted the stock height, and my car looks level even though the front wheel well is about ¾ of an inch lower than the rear. However, if you want to lower the ride height, you can simply cut off some of the coil to lower the height. You can only do this on coil springs with tangential ends, but by cutting off ¾ of a coil, you will lower the car height by 1 inch. Just don’t use a blow torch and ruin the spring. Timothy 68 ‘vert Colorado Springs In a message dated 12/3/2008 4:29:42 P.M. Mountain Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
First Generation Firebird-L Mailing List ......................................................................... Tim, just curious as to your engine combo from your comments below? Is that a Pontiac motor or a BB Chevy? All the Pontiacs should be close to the same weight (326 - 455) which should only be aproximately a 50lbs -100lbs difference than a BB Chevy if I remember correctly? So I was just wondering... If it is a BB Chevy, I would have thought BB Camaro springs would have been the chioce? I've just never heard of anyone using the GTO springs and found it interesting... Thanks Brett - 67 Drop Top 455! (with an electric Fuel pump helper & a stock pump) **************Make your life easier with all your friends, email, and favorite sites in one place. Try it now. (http://www.aol.com/?optin=new-dp&icid=aolcom40vanity&ncid=emlcntaolcom00000010) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Submissions to Firebird-L: <[email protected]> Unsubscribe from Firebird-L: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Help: <http://FirstGenFirebird.org/firebird/Firebird-L.html> Classifieds: <http://FirstGenFirebird.org/ubb/> Owner Pictures: <http://FirstGenFirebird.org/show/> Donations: <http://FirstGenFirebird.org/store/cart.mv?999999> FGF Merchandise: <http://FirstGenFirebird.org/store>
