73 Caprice springs

I have a 1973 Caprice and looking to replace the factory coil springs with new ones that will lower my ride height 2" and do away with the factory spongy ride. Problem is I cant find any aftermarket springs  

gettn,
the aftermarket has forgotten about your boat. There are tons of lift springs for running 26" wheels.

You do have several options though. The coils are the same diameter as the later model Cap's (80's -90's) so you could get a set of aftermarket springs for those years and install them. Unfortunately, I do not know if there is a height difference between the factory springs for the different body styles.

Another option is to use a set of factory springs from the 95-96 Impala SS. These are an inch lower than the standard Caprice and have stiffer spring rates. IT should give you a mild drop and give the car better feel.

The next item to address will be shocks. I do know that the shocks from the 90's Caprice/Impala SS' will fit your car with minor modification. This opens up a huge selection of shocks, everything from factory replacement to performance oriented with stiffer valving and thicker shafts.

On a big car like yours a good combination is a spring that is a little stiffer than factory and stiff shocks. This allows the springs to soak up the minor bumps (sop the car does not beat you to death) and the stiff shocks control the larger bumps.

Jake  

What brand of shocks and springs would you reccomend? Not looking to go broke but want something to do the job. Its not a daily driver yet but it will be by spring time.  

+1  

Eibach makes a good set of springs with a mild drop. Always good quality and good road manners.

Shocks can come from different sources. KYB makes good performance oriented shocks. Monroe will be more of an OEM replacement. QA1 have awesome performance shocks (some with adjustability)but you are looking at $130 or so per shock. KYB's can be found relatively inexpensive through several different sources.

Best thing to do is google suspension parts for 95-96 impala SS, that should get you performance oriented suspension components from different manufacturers, and allow you to compare prices.

Jake  

Thanks for the info  

No problem. It seems that not many people on the board are concerned with other aspects of performance. Seems that all anyone wants to know about is how to get more power, which is fine as long as the chassis/brakes/suspension are upgraded to handle the new found power.

Nice to have a topic about suspension.

Jake  

What about bigger sway bars? Got any suggestions?  

I do not have any good info on swaybars. I think Aadco might be your best source.

Jake  

sounds good. I'll check into it  

I'll do some checking for you on sway bars. You may get lucky and there is a factory modern bar that will fit.

Jake  

It would be nice if a stocker would fit the bill  

I would bet a larger bar with urethane bar mounts and end link's would go a long way toward getting rid of the spongy. I have had it make a big difference on a A body.  
Jim
70 El Camino
461 solid, m20,
pics in readers rides

No doubt about larger swaybars my problem has been finding a source for the suspension and body parts  

I have cut front coil springs before. But then rims front rims kinda sat at an angle because i didn't use lowering spindles. That was on one of my 3rd gen camaros though.