i've searched the forums but could not find anything on this. i have an 86 camaro. heres the major mods that affect weight: cowl fiberglass hood, aluminum intake manifold, mechanical carb, lighter air cleaner aluminum heads, tubular headers, no ac condenser, lines/hoses, evaporator, compressor, air pump, cat, charcoal canister, egr and all emissions and hoses. and all the wires and sensors have been removed. basically the front end of the car sits up really high i have both a set of front v8 springs that came in the car(one coil has between 1/2 and 3/4 coil broke off somehow) and a set of v6 springs from a 92 rs with a v6. would i be better off to cut cleanly 3/4 coil off the v8 springs or install the good v6 springs? any comments would be great especially with a reason to back it up thanks alot

 

I have unmodified V6 springs in the front of my car. My front axle weight is about the same as a SBC V8 weight.

 

so your front end is unmodified with a sbc v8. you just put the springs in to lower the front? do you have any pics or comments on how the car rides ? thanks

 

My front end is a stripped down race car with a BBC. The nose weight of my car with the BBC is about the same as a typical factory V8 SBC street car. I have about 1800 pounds on the front wheels. The unmodified V6 springs carry the weight just fine but I also don't street drive it or have to take any high speed corners where a higher spring rate spring will keep the front end from sagging too much. The picture in my sig is deceiving. My front tires are 27.5" tall.

Springs are springs. It's all based on spring weight. How much they will compress when a specific amount of weight is placed on them. A higher spring rate means it takes more weight to compress them. Low spring rates give a soft ride. Heavy spring rates give a more firm ride since they're harder to compress. You could get a low spring rate with more coils that could give the same ride height as a stiff spring rate. The difference would be in the ride comfort and the handling. WS6 and Z28 cars have stiffer springs than lower model cars.

To see the difference, go and measure the thickness of the spring wire on different V8 and V6 third gen cars. Smaller wire normally means a lower spring rate.

 

ok thanks dude i think i'm going to try the v6 springs first and see how they work. it will be a while before i get everything back together with all the body on but i'll take a pic and let you know how it turns out thanks again

 

I had a V6 Firebird that I put a TPI 350 in. I never changed anything in the front end. It sat lower than with the V6 but rode OK. The one thing you should have checked once the car is back together is the camber and front end alignment.
Mine was real bad off and started wearing the inside edge of the tires. Didn't help with handling either. Highway driving was "interesting". I didn't keep the car long enough to bother fixing it though.. it was a no dollar pieced together type deal from parts I had laying around.

 

I had my car on the alignment rack last year. I got as much caster as possible without getting in with a die grinder to make the slots longer. My camber is ball park. We set it with the car at rest but I can easily pull up on the front end and lift it 2-3 inches and it stays there. That's the way my race suspension works but when it's lifted like that, the camber changes. It was close enough for what I needed. I was more concerned about getting more caster and setting the toe.

I need to get on an alignment rack again this spring. I swapped spindles and the toe was out. I adjusted the toe using old school methods with a string wrapped around the car but I need it closer than what I can do. I also need to make sure the diff is square after putting in the 4-link over the winter.