This is the setup just installed on the rear suspension.
It's a 8" long 225lbs main spring and 300lbs tender spring. Front coilover suspension is now finished but the rear arguably took more thought. I really wanted to avoid the situation where the rear springs are loose at full droop. It's difficult to avoid with these cars given that the spring is located behind the axle to accommodate those big soft, long travel springs. I also did not want to go through re-engineering the car, so changing suspension pickup points (like moving to a real coilover) was not an option.
Since I am going lower, I moved to this shorter shock. It's almost an inch shorter than the Gaz shock but has the same overall travel. So that gets me an inch lower and ensures that that the shock is roughly centered in it's operating range at ride height. Simply moving to shorter spring with a 17" or so shock means you start to run out of travel and the car rides like shit.
Here is the wheel at full compression - this is without springs fitted and using late type 240 bump stops with one 'rung' cut off. The shock has not run out of travel here, but the wheel has! Some minor clearancing to do to make this work :-)
Testing fitting when the springs arrived. The combo of these two springs keep the spring assy captive at full droop and together result in about 118lbs spring rate at ride height and then when the tender spring collapses and bottoms out while cornering the suspension utilises only the 225lbs spring. So far the ride quality is very good with very little roll.
Here are all the bits and pieces that make this work. With the help of my mate Stu, we made some alloy couplers to join the 5" spring and the Eibach tender. There wasn't a lot of room for 2 x C-spanner nuts so we come up with a single steel nut that is split with a locking grub screw. Smooth Suspension or Top Perfromance in Vermont can supply the threaded coilover tube in many different sizes.
Steel bushes for the bottom mount, adapting this 1/2" ID shock eye to 12mm.
Here is the assy installed at full droop. It's easy to bolt up and uses the stock upper spring perch with rubber isolater so it runs quiet. You cannot feel when the spring combo switches over only the 225lb spring in roll, it just feels firm but not crashy. Will likely have shocks revalved as they are pretty weak in terms of bump but are doing well so far!
Sits quite nicely now:
Front end is now 1982 flat front bonnet and grille I picked up from the Wreckers a year or so ago. It's not as nice as my original bonnet condition wise but it's a 37 year old panel and paint that I bolted straight onto the car without painting. Cannot complain! The paint on these cars out of the old Clayton plant was pretty good for the day.
