66' Front Spring question

[Gary N.]

I have a 66' small block AC coupe. I'm putting new A-arm bushings in and thinking of replacing the front springs while I'm at it (there was a little sag on the left side). I have one side off and noticed that there is a horseshoe shaped metal spacer at the bottom of the spring. I looked in the DR. Rebuild catalogue and it states that a factory GM spacer was used on big block Air cond cars and can be used on other cars. Has anyone ever seen them on a small block AC car? I'm also wondering where to buy the correct or at least the right replacement springs. My springs look like they are original and they are not a progressive type spring. I don't think they have ever been replaced, but the lower ball joints were relpaced so I'm not 100% positive. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Michael H.]

Re: 66' Front Spring question

I have a 66' small block AC coupe. I'm putting new A-arm bushings in and thinking of replacing the front springs while I'm at it (there was a little sag on the left side). I have one side off and noticed that there is a horseshoe shaped metal spacer at the bottom of the spring. I looked in the DR. Rebuild catalogue and it states that a factory GM spacer was used on big block Air cond cars and can be used on other cars. Has anyone ever seen them on a small block AC car? I'm also wondering where to buy the correct or at least the right replacement springs. My springs look like they are original and they are not a progressive type spring. I don't think they have ever been replaced, but the lower ball joints were relpaced so I'm not 100% positive. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Front coil spring spacers were never used in any C2 Corvette that I'm aware of. Also, if the spring that you removed isn't progressively wound, I would say it's been replaced at some point in the car's life, and likely with a non GM spring.
All 66 small blocks used the 3851100 coil spring, even with A/C. They sat a bit low in the nose right out of the factory.

[John H.]

Re: 66' Front Spring question

As Michael noted, all '64-'67 small-blocks used the #3851100 front spring; they were variable-rate and progressively-wound, as shown in the photo below. Big-blocks used constant-rate springs with even coil spacing.