Andrew T Posted March 31 Report Posted March 31 Have 96 supreme with a bum mono spring. Looking to replace it or put spring/struts in place. I have read about the change to spring struts but finding it difficult to find the part or parts and a how to. The mono leave is difficult to find also it appears. I'm sure this has been addressed here before but I'm new and looking for some definitive suggestions. Thanks Quote
White93z34 Posted March 31 Report Posted March 31 There's a shop in Canada that either still does them or did them. Probably worth a call. https://cvmbirch.ca/ Birchmount springs, I want to say back in the day they sold a bunch of them to various members. Other then that its probably used as the only other option. 94 olds vert 1 Quote
55trucker Posted March 31 Report Posted March 31 For those in the states one doesn't HAVE to approach CMV, for me they're not far away, but keep in mind that the company has changed ownership & the staff now there are not the staff who used to fab these springs 20 + years ago. The last time I spoke with the current owner John Geropolous none of the staff had any experience putting together one of these multi leaf springs to replace the glas leaf. When the original owner Alex Vitanoski & his son left they took the know how with them. But that aside any capable spring shop can fab up a replacement for the glas leaf, all they need is the car, the old spring & do the formula to make a 2 leaf or 3 leaf replacement that will be either a high arc or shallow arc, oem height or custom height depending on what you the owner are looking for. The indepth part is getting either outboard side of the chassis mounting points exactly the same arc so the back end of the car sits even. Because of their lack of knowledge I did not go to them, instead I used a spring shop close to home to fab what is currently under the car. Quote
Andrew T Posted March 31 Author Report Posted March 31 Anyone know of the mentioned kit or conversation to coilovers? Quote
White93z34 Posted March 31 Report Posted March 31 All I remember about that was at one point people figured out how to build rear coil overs out of mostly off the shelf parts. There was always plenty of discussion around ride quality, and if the stock upper mounts could take the added forces, but to my knowledge no one ever had issues with that part of it. I was never into lowering my car so I can't speak to it, but I see no reason why it couldn't be used to bring the car back up to factory height as well. It might take a heap of searching old threads on here but the information is likely still around from then. Quote
Andrew T Posted April 1 Author Report Posted April 1 White.. This is what I'm learning but as you mentioned, it appears it would be a (very?) deep dive and likely time consuming endeavor. I'm exploring a replacement but they are scarce. It would cool to construct the coil strut and install but there is just no enough info to feel comfortable attending it. Thanks for the information and insight. Quote
55trucker Posted April 1 Report Posted April 1 (edited) You can look thru this old posting from 2007, there still may be some useful links in there...... the last member I can remember who did coilovers was Imp558, that was near 8 years ago.... or this one.... Edited April 1 by 55trucker pwmin 1 Quote
Andrew T Posted April 1 Author Report Posted April 1 55 .... Thanks! Def the most and most consice information I've read so far. Some of the links are dead ends (of course, there pretty old) unfortunately but I'm going to attempt to connect some of the businesses and I may have a lead on a spring found on ebay. Thanks again Quote
Andrew T Posted Friday at 11:23 PM Author Report Posted Friday at 11:23 PM Finding a spring (and a shop interested in a replacement) is proving difficult. Anyone know of a swap that is the complete spring and strut from another W body or GM car that could 'bolt in'? Quote
55trucker Posted Saturday at 07:49 PM Report Posted Saturday at 07:49 PM 20 hours ago, Andrew T said: Finding a spring (and a shop interested in a replacement) is proving difficult. Anyone know of a swap that is the complete spring and strut from another W body or GM car that could 'bolt in'? Where do you live & what sort of response from the shops contacted are you getting? Quote
Andrew T Posted Saturday at 11:23 PM Author Report Posted Saturday at 11:23 PM Not far south of Albany NY. Local junkyards have nothing and few suggestions. The spring shops say 'fiberglass, we don't do that' and show no interest in helping out further. Found on in Kentucky, place wants just shy of $400 (350 shipping!). I'd just put in spring struts if knew what exactly to get, I'm reluctant to experiment as that may just end up with a bunch of parts and no money lol. Appreciate the reply Quote
55trucker Posted yesterday at 12:35 AM Report Posted yesterday at 12:35 AM Well, a spring shop will only deal in steel items, they can't fab a glas item, this isn't rocket science, any shop can do the job, they just have to show the determination to take on the task. The glas spring is a parabolic design (thicker in the centre, thinner at the ends, making one in a steel configuration is a no-brainer as multi leaf springs are the same sort of design, One selects the single width of each leaf & the thickness to get the wanted spring rate & load rate, It involves cutting the blanks to the required length to make the stack, because the original is a transverse single spring the time consuming part of the job is the mechanic having to arc each leaf individually & get them near perfect in their arc so that each side off centre is near identical & lets the car sit perfectly level from side to side. Quote
Andrew T Posted 4 hours ago Author Report Posted 4 hours ago Agreed. The unwillingness is the problem. It's unfortunate, the car is an otherwise very serviceable vehicle. At this point I'm at a loss for a solution. Quote
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