[charlie66]

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

Fairly certain the springs are what are called 'open' on one end, and 'closed' on the other.

The closed end goes towards the frame, and open end gets indexed in the lower control arm groove. You should be able to see the end of the spring at the beginning of the hole for proper orientation.

Closed and 'flat' ground are pretty interchangeable.


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I just took the spring out and it is the same on both sides. Theres an indentation in both the frame pocket and control arm so I'm not sure if this will work or not. What do you think? Have you ever heard of this working, ok?

Thanks

[HWYSTR455]

Interesting, not sure I've seen a GM car from the 70s use open on both end springs, but guess so. Are you sure it is open on both ends? Can you post a pic?

It's possible it's been changed before is what I'm thinking. I know some GM cars came with a pigtail at the top, but still I have never seen any open on both ends.

Well, to answer, you 'can' use a closed end on an open end location/pocket, but it can move around some. Unless there's enough psi from compression, which would help keep it from moving.

If ride height isn't as critical, and you could deal with it being a little lower, you could always cut the spring to where the one end would be open.

When you cut a coil, the basic rule of thumb is, 2:1 ratio, as in, if you cut 1 inch of free height of a spring off, it drops the car 2 inches.

A cut of a 1/2 an open end coil from a spring generally drops it 1 inch.



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