Thread: Weak Corvair Springs

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I just bought a 36 Terraplane Coupe with an old Corvair front suspension conversion. The thin coil springs do not hold up the car and SB chev. Lack of funds prevents me from having pro shop weld in a new MII today. QA1 says they can set me up with coil overs if I want, but I have heard nothing but bad about this front end conversion. MAS will set me up with a dual spring tubular straight axle if I want to go that route. I like the Gasser vibe, but want it to be easy to drive. The 36 stock axle, radius arms and possibly springs appear to by unique to that year, and haven't been able to find a wreck to get them out of. Any advise?

Thanks for leting me know that MII springs will fit. It can't cost to much to find out if it will work. Check out the link for photos of the car.

I bet there hard to find. before i bought my 31 A i was bidding on a 34 Terraplane 5w cpe. Just a hour north of me also . I found only 3 pics of the body with the shark gill hood. Even a guy from a terraplane parts site was looking for a deck lid. Sharp car looked just like this one

But for the springs you could look for some in a heavier coil and cut them down some . Visit a salvage yard and spend a day wandering . I dont know the diameter of them but bet is other GM cars has something really close to handle V8 weight. We have a you pull it nearby and they still have alot of the older cars in there . I see em back to the 70's in there at times.

A spring manufacturer could also make some the same size but heavier weight class. There is a place called Grant Spring , i think in Alsip ,ILL , i know they do this type of work .

Good luck post a pic of the cpe

i have a QA1 and can not say any thing good about them the guy was a 1 class ass he would not sell me a heaver spring for the kit i have in my GTO he told me that they would not sell me the springs?but would sell me the hole kit ? and the kit was not a good fit had to make blocks to get it off the ground . i would get a spring book car quest or any parts store will have one and will show wire size wind and pounds per inch and all you need to know about the springs by number you should fine some thing

Give these guys a call, they can make any spring you want, pronto.......
http://www.eatonsprings.com/

Terraplane 36:
I put a Corvair front end in a Model A about 10 years ago and the biggest problem was finding a rack that had a long enough travel to turn lock to lock. I think I finally used one out of a Peugeot. If I remember correctly I used Mustang II springs from one with a V-8. I bolted it in. It drove OK. I had 16" '35 Ford wire wheels and bias ply WWW tires. The guy I sold it to put 15" wheels and radials on it and said it drove much better. It had a Buick V-6, 350 turbo and LTD II rear with coil springs. I have a couple of '48 Hudsons now, a coupe that is stock and a 4 dr with a Camero clip and a TBI 305 V-8, 700R4, 9" Ford rear. I like Hudsons.
Bob T

We used to do this conversion in the 70's in our 32-34 Fords. We used Pinto 4 cyl springs. I am pretty sure we cut them 1/2 a coil.