Phew! That sucked. I replaced the 30+ yr old springs over the weekend. That was no fun.
I put heavy duty springs on and man what a difference. The ride hide is about 1.5" above where it was before, but the handling is like night and day. I love it. Now all I need is a sway bar for the butt end...
I do that most days at work. I work in a spring shop 3 days a week. Most times its adding an extra leaf, but on the old muscle cars, (Camaro's mostly) the springs are so shot they need new ones, or I make them new ones. Its cheaper if we make them (and more painful to me, I use a 40 pound BFH) and hammer them for the arch. Its fun though. We mostly do Big Truck exchanges (Kenworths, Mac,etc.) and off road truck lift kits.
New springs front and back, shocks, and sway bar bushings will make your old car handle like new. Dont skimp on the suspension, and those rear shackle lift kits are dangerous, please dont use those.
evilmess
the height increase with new spring will depend greatly on how old or worn the ones are that get replaced. I had new ones installed on my 73 and it looked about 1" to1/2" taller. I got mine from johnsclassiccougars.
Yeah, my old springs were pretty worn. Made for a cool stance for the cat, but pretty horrible driving down the street with as much power as she has.
These springs were from John's Classic Cougar's. He has a local shop make them up to order. The difference in the springs is the spring rate. The heavy duties have a higher spring rate for a stiffer ride and more load capacity than the stockers...
I'm really happy with the new stance which turned out to be exactly where I wanted it.
This was the last piece of the suspension to replace. I've already rebuilt the front end with new coils, shocks, control arms, polygraphite bushings, tie rods, ball joints, etc. For the rear, everything's new. New leaf's, new perch pads, new u-bolts, new front eye bolt, new rear shackles and bushings.
It handles really well, I still want to put a rear sway bar and some traction control units back there though. A new rear-end and A/C for the cat comes first though...
When I did my springs I got them from Eaton Detroit. The rear sat too low with the new springs, and I ended up doing them twice. It only cost me shipping back to get them rearched and a 5th leaf added. They do come off much easier the second time.
hahahah... My garage floor has a nice epoxy finish on it. I put the runners down so that I don't get rubber marks all over it from the tires... Works well.
The big window is because that end of the garage is the forward most wall of the house and would look really stupid from the street if it was 100% bricked up. Soooooooooo... My garage looks like a living room with a Cougar in it as a result.
I think my garage probably gets the majority of the attention in the house when it comes to being kept clean.
hahahah... My garage floor has a nice epoxy finish on it. I put the runners down so that I don't get rubber marks all over it from the tires... Works well.
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