I've found that sometimes the springs aren't as bad as
people report. I'd be especially suspect if the car
doesn't have a lot of miles or if you know the
original owner wasn't a large person. Make sure the
rest of the rear suspsension is good before you spend
the $150+ for a new spring. Paul Tegler noticed that
the little rubber gumdrop things on the spring ends
caused the rear to sag a good deal. And little things
like radial arm bushings and worn shocks can make the
car act like the spring is worn when it's fine.
But even if the spring is bad, or Grant decides to
swap the spring out for a 1500 spring just to be sure,
you just get an extra non-binding leaf, right? You can
still install it like a swing spring if you don't
throw away that original mounting block. Please,
correct me if I'm wrong.
Just make sure you get a good quality spring. In my
case, the spring replacement helped a little, but I
still have a lot of sag, and it will only get worse
the more I drive. British Parts NW sells an uprated
spring that supposedly does the trick. But then,
you'll notice that your handeling will probably suffer
because the spring is too strong and arched, and
you'll have to remove it and have it de-arched or put
a spacer block in, and then you'll wish you had the
old worn rear spring back.
Hind sight being 20/20. I would replace all the little
pieces of rubber and such in the back first. And see
if that makes a difference (cheaper and easier than
replacing a $150 transverse leaf spring which will
make you miss the old spring). If that didn't work, I
would then replace the spring and get a spacer block.
On the other hand if replacing the worn bushings and
such fixed the sag, I'd invest the $150 I would have
spent on the spring and get the camber compensator.
That way you'd have the most superior suspension short
of replacing with a GT6's or gutting the entire rear
and replacing it with dual wishbone suspension and
coil over shocks.
Just the opinion of an armchair mechanic,
-Terry
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