[riverboatman]

I have spent two days on this and I am no closer to solving the problem than I was before I started. I took these springs that I am using off of my ’65 Nova two years ago. I have photos of the bottom of the coils sitting in the bottom of the coil shock with the ends sitting at the tabs. I didn’t take any photos of the top cup tab sitting in the holes but I know they were both sticking out of their respective holes. Looking at the spring cup tabs holes from the firewall perspective, the passenger side cup hole is on the lower left side of the shock hole closest to the firewall and the driver’s side hole being on the right top side of the shock hole closest to the radiator core support. These two holes are clocked 180 degrees from each other.

I bought new spring shocks and when they came in, I compared them to the originals that came off my Nova and they were identical. Both pieces were identical to each other also. I cleaned up the top spring cups and painted them for reuse. I have 4 of these and they all look identical with the top tabs being in the same location.

I read on another thread that the coil springs are suppose to be clocked opposite to each other being the end of the spring on one end sits 180 degrees opposite so the ends would effectively be at 12 o’clock and the other end at 6 o’clock. Mine do no sit this way. When I took the photo of the spring sitting up I sit it the opposite direction, my error but the results is the same. They are not 180 degrees from each other.

These springs actually show one end is sitting at 12 o’clock the other end at about 8 o’clock . See the photos. With the spring in place, I set the top of the spring cup in place and secured the tab into the hole with a vice grip so it was held in place. When I did this the bottom spring absorber bolts was nowhere near going into the two mounting holes on the top control arm.

So, I took the spring back out and turned the spring upside down and compressed it again. I sit it in the driver’s side and the same thing occurred. I move the spring over to the passengers side and the same thing. I know these springs came out of my car and were being use before I took them out.

Anyone got any idea of what I’m doing wrong here?

Please see my photos.

 

[Pmotion]

Please don't take my post as being a know it all or smart ass. I just finished installing CBR upper control arms on my 65. I used the Chevy ll Only spring compressor, it looks like you have one too. When they say the springs install 180* from one another it simply means they are identical to each other so one upper locating tab faces forward and one backward, the lower spring tails are also opposite. When I was reinstalling my spring packs I inserted the lower mount bolts into the control arm holes first and then jacked the control arm up as I worked the upper spring plate into place. With the CBR arms you will need the shock to hold things together before removing the jack.
My car had the CPP lower Mini Sub Frame kit installed when I bought it but had the stock uppers. The CBR uppers made a big difference in the way it handles, especially cornering.

 

[the tree man]

That's a puzzler.I had a similar issue with replacement coils when I was still running the stock clip.The ends of the new springs were clocked in different positions than OE.I butted the one end in the lower spring mount properly so I could bolt it to the lower arm.I flattened the locating tab on the upper mount,positioned it on the spring correctly and installed a self tapping screw through the tab hole in the shock tower into the upper mount once everything was buttoned up.If you've exhausted every position possible with no luck I wouldn't over think it.It's a spring and the clocking at the top doesn't matter for function.If it were me,I'd get them in there and move forward.

 

[Jim383]

X2 the stop on the lower perch is the important one, remove the tab on the upper seat and line it up and put a sheetmetal screw through the tab hole. It is common for aftermarket springs to not clock correctly. Or shorten the coil so that it lines up.

 

[riverboatman]

Thanks for the info guys. I guess I’ve been going about this from my perfectionist point of view. What is the major puzzler to me is these springs came off the car positioned in what I thought was the right order and now they won’t go back the same way.

Last night I did find photos that I took showing the upper cup tab sticking through the hole and the spring end mated up to the lower spring shock mount stop on the driver’s side. It came out that way but most certainly is not going back that way. I don't have a photo of the passenger side spring shock or a photo of the upper cup and tab on that side assuming that all I took the one photo for was to see the orientation of the shock tower for reference. These photos pretty much assure me these springs were mounted correctly but being one of the great wonders of the universe, they no longer mount back in the way they came out.

Something else that is a puzzler is in the thread that I was reading, the author mentioned that one end of the Nova spring was flatter than the other, meaning that if you sit the spring up one way, it would fall over and set up the other way it was flatter and would rest upright. My springs do neither. They tend to fall over no matter which way I sit them.

If anyone happens to have a set of Nova springs they have taken off of their car, I really would appreciate seeing a photo of them. I really want to solve this great mystery.

Btw, just a little while ago I found that thread again. Here it is if anyone is interested in reading it.

https://www.stevesnovasite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=654441&highlight=front+springs

 

[the tree man]

I still have the original springs in the shed from my 65.I haven't posted pics on here since Photobucket crapped the bed so I'm not up to speed on that yet but I'll do my best.Maybe I can help you sleep better.Need a day or so.

 

[riverboatman]

It's easy. When you post a reply just write your text and then scroll down to where you see manage attachments, click on that and it'll open a page so you can browse to your file, click on the photo file and then click upload. When it's through uploading it'll show the link and then just X out. When you are through click submit reply. Easypeezy.

 

[Nova Thug]

I believe that your springs are clocked differently then mine. If you look at the tops of your spring towers the hole that the spring pockets line up in should be different. One locating hole is on the rear of the spring pocket and the other side of the car the it should be on the front side of the spring. This will put your springs with about a quarter turn more spring in the proper orientation.. You’ll have to look at your springs and the location cups to figure out if they are right and left sided or are universal fit.. the lower perch mounts should be the same as mine with the spring stop tab set inboard towards the engine..

If you look at the pictures I posted in the other thread my car has two sets of holes. The ones I’m using which are inboard towards the engine and the others art like yours.. I will have to guess that your car is set up just a little differently.. It should go together though..

 

[riverboatman]

OK guys, I think I've had enough. My hands are sore and my mind is give out. I made four adjustments of the top spring pockets (cups) today and finally hit on the space that would be needed to align the pocket tab so it would go into the tab hole. I've decided that this is way to much trouble if I'm going to use the springs I have.

The pockets I am now using were not the originals but were identical to the originals I still had in a box. Apparently, my springs are not like what others have in their Novas as mine were never seated up to the stop in the top pockets on both sides. See the first photo of where they were located on the originals. It seems at the factory both springs had to be slide back about 1.75" in order for the tab to sit in the hole on the driver and passenger sides.

On the passengers side it looks like the springs were slide away from the bottom and top stops in order to get the top tab to go into the hole. See the second photo.

The third photo is of the pocket as it sits on the spring after I had taken it off and put it back on all those times.

As you can see there was something really weird going on here but after all this, I think I'm gonna take your advice, knock off the tabs, seat the springs into the stops and then drill that hole for a screw.

My car was manufactured the second week of July, 1965 so the factory was sticking whatever would work in those cars just to get them out the door before they had to start the new '66 Nova production. My car has some other peculiar things about it that nobody has been able to explain so why should this be any different.

Thanks for the replies guys. Maybe I'll get done with this car one day!

 

[the tree man]

Can't find my old springs.Must have thrown them in with the stock clip when I sold it.Sorry riverboatman but it looks like you made peace with the situation and plowed forward.

 

[riverboatman]

Yes, I had to make a decision and that was the easiest one. I can't explain about the springs and why they weren't pushed up against the stops except the possibility they were not the correct springs to start with. If there is going to be an oddball in the bunch, I'm going to get it. :yes:

 

[Nova Thug]

Dude, you have a ‘65.. That is the he oddest of odd.. There’s a whole lot of odd stuffs happening on that transitional year car.. The springs could have been replaced at some point or they could’ve been original.. I suspect that front end has been apart a few times in its life.. For me certain things like suspensions are critical to pay attention to when disassembling unless you are completely changing it out to something different.

When I pulled my front end apart I found that the passenger side spring was installed upside down.. So the tangential end of the spring was on the lower perch. The spring would get plucked like a guitar string by the bump stop mount when the suspension cycled over bumps in the road.. The whole car acted as the body of a guitar resonating with the spring..

It was definitely not beautiful music..

 

[riverboatman]

Thought I'd add this info FYI, my Nova was built 07E, which means the last week of July. Since GM started shipping the '66 Novas out to the dealers in late August '65, it could have been the last one off the assembly line for all I know but it appears it was built very late in the '65 process. One day I'm going to post a thread about all the anomalies I've found that nobody has been able to explain.

Back on the subject, both springs look identical and one of the springs actually had the remains of a GM sticker wrapped around the spring up close to the top pocket.

I put the end of the spring that goes away from the coil on the lower spring absorber so it would mate up with the stop and the upper part of the spring that continued to follow the coil mated to the pocket. I broke off the tab from the pocket and now have the springs mounted without any more problems. I haven't drilled the hole for the set screw to hold the pocket in place yet but will do that tomorrow. I really do not think these were the actually springs intended for a '65 owing to what I've seen and been told but they worked with some slight misalignment's.

Stay tuned for a thread about the shock towers and how to mount the shocks. :yes: