1970 Replacement Rear Leaf Spring Questions

[Carr C.]

I am working on a 1970 LS5 Convertible and the rear spring has sagged considerably over time, so I have to do something.

The car currently has a 7 leaf spring, but the TM says the only 70's with the 7 leaf spring were ZR-1's. The spring has 31-209 stenciled on the bottom, under the mount plate, in yellow paint. I can't verify that the spring is original to the car or not. It does have clamps on the ends.

The original order copy (tank sticker) shows 03G32EA Rear Springs.

So the first question is:

Is this an original spring, and what spring should the car have for judging?

The second question is:

What is the quality and "correctness" of the replacement leaf springs offerred by the Corvette vendors?

I know that the individual leafs should be gray primer, but if you dissasemble and paint them would they be okay for judging?

Thank you in advance for your help!

[Joe L.]

Re: 1970 Replacement Rear Leaf Spring Questions

I am working on a 1970 LS5 Convertible and the rear spring has sagged considerably over time, so I have to do something.

The car currently has a 7 leaf spring, but the TM says the only 70's with the 7 leaf spring were ZR-1's. The spring has 31-209 stenciled on the bottom, under the mount plate, in yellow paint. I can't verify that the spring is original to the car or not. It does have clamps on the ends.

The original order copy (tank sticker) shows 03G32EA Rear Springs.

So the first question is:

Is this an original spring, and what spring should the car have for judging?

The second question is:

What is the quality and "correctness" of the replacement leaf springs offerred by the Corvette vendors?

I know that the individual leafs should be gray primer, but if you dissasemble and paint them would they be okay for judging?

Thank you in advance for your help!

Carr-----


No original spring ever used on a 1970 Corvette had "end bands". So, by itself, this says that the spring is not original to the car.

The correct spring for the car is a progressive rate, 9 leaf spring. This spring has 3 "flat" upper leaves and 6 "curved" lower leaves.

Probably the most correct spring available today is the one manufactured by Eaton Detroit Spring. It's not exactly like the originals, but it's closer than anything else you can get.

The Eaton spring is supplied coated with some sort of "cosmoline-like" material. You can disassemble the spring, remove the material, and coat the leaves with Ionoklad (as available from Quanta and as originally used) or gray primer.