Coil Springs and Carpet

You'll recall I thought I had the front coil springs sorted out a few weeks ago.  All was good until I bounced the suspension and heard the coils and shocks rubbing together.  I dismantled everything.

 The performance option for the front suspension requires F40/F41 coil springs.  These have 7 coils, 12" free length, .668 wire and are part number 3832518.  I have 4 sets of coils so lets figure out which one is the correct one.  The second coil has 7 full coils but heavier wire.  This one is for a big block and immediately gets eliminated.  

The first spring is the one I just removed from the car.  I looked at the sales description and it says, made with modern day steel with the ride height of the F40/41 suspension.  Look close and you'll see all this manufacturer did was cut one full coil off of a standard spring.  Wrong.  The end of this spring is no longer flat topped and that's the reason why it buckled under compression and interfered with the shock.  That one is going in the garbage.   The middle coil was also sold as a F40/F41 like spring.  Look close and you'll see it doesn't have 7 full coils.  It's another aftermarket want-a-be.  The one on the right is an actual F40/F41 coil spring.  The pair are tagged, have never been used on a car, and they are as authentic as you can get.  These are the ones going on the car.  OEM rules, reproductions suck. 

C2 Corvettes with F40/F41 coils loose ride height over time.  The spring steel used back then is not as robust as today which causes the coils to soften over several years.  Fortunately, our coils are NOS and have never been used. 

I love the ride height and I hope you do too.  The real test is what Jim Q thinks.

We have carpet.  Look at all these pieces.  1963 was the only year to have these many pieces of carpet.  All the other years used molded carpet.  Molded carpet was cheaper but I like this better.

The carpet pieces have been laid in place with no adhesive.  I won't glue or trim any of the carpet until the car has seen several warm days.  I want it to acclimate and flatten first.

It looks really good front and rear.

Here's another great example of why I try to buy OEM vs reproduction.  This is the courtesy light door actuator.  The one on the top is original, the one on the bottom is a reproduction.  The length is obviously wrong but look close and you"ll see the threaded fitting is too large.  This threads into the bird cage frame and won't work unless I drill and tap.  No way.  I refurbished the original.

  Check out the new stance.  It's awesome.

Thanks for watching.