Gotta question on springs

[usetaboost]

Called the local stores and asked for prices on springs for my limited and my turbo t. They never asked which suspension package each car had, just gave me a price. Also said the rear springs in the T where the same as the rear in the limited, only fronts were different . Does the n/a cars, Ts, and GNs all have their own suspension package? Does anyone else find this a little weird? When I put springs in my camaro their was a zillion choices for springs, and they were considerably cheaper than the ones for the buicks. Almost 75 bucks a piece for the front on the T and 50 some each for teh rears I was thinking about just putting the new ones in my T and putting the old ones in my limited. If I remember right I have the F41 suspension in the T.

 

[Road_Agent]

Car Quest lists the 87 GN as the FE3 suspension package as of yesterday. About $132 for the front springs (pair)and $92 (pair)for the rear. Mine are on order to try to get rid of a clearince issue on 245/60/15 tires.

 

[Dreamcar86]

Don't know if this helps but I purchased mine from Kirbans and have been happy with them.

 

[Road_Agent]

Thanks for the reply. Over the years, Dennis has seemed to me a little pricey, which is why I no longer subscribe to his newsletter. How much were your springs?

 

[Gary Wells]

Help support the turbo Buick community, our hobby, and TB.com by supporting the suppliers, vendors and / or shops that are TB.com SponsorshipTeam members.
My car also wears Kirban Performance springs on all corners and I am quite happy with them. I purchased Kirban springs primarily because he is one of the very few known established retailers that sell a stock height slightly stiffer front & rear spring set. However, quite a few of the TB.com supporting suppliers, vendors & / or shops sell both front & rear springs. Brian @ GBodyParts.com, Paul @ HRParts & Stuff, & I am sure that there are some that I am missing.

 

[usetaboost]

I'm looking for stock replacement for each car respectively. So is there any truth to what I was told about the rear springs being the same and the front being different?

 

[cabech984]

I may be in the spring/shock ballpark next season, but for my Firebird. Dont know if any buick support can be had there!! I bought alot of stuff from the vendors during my build, but sometimes you cant beat the prices of the big chains like jegs and summit.

 

[Gary Wells]

I'm looking for stock replacement for each car respectively. So is there any truth to what I was told about the rear springs being the same and the front being different?

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I think that your best source of info will be "Turbofish38" on this board for whether the rear springs were the same and the fronts were different. I chose Kirban as I wanted a stock height stiffer spring. Several companies make stock height springs, but getting the correct part # will prove interesting.

 

[usetaboost]

well we'll just have to wait for the answer. With 3 different suspension options I find it hard to believe that the turbo t's have only one spring, which would mean getting the same spring for a GN also beings there is no listing for it at the YOCAL parts stores, let alone n/a and turbo cars share the rear springs find it hard to believe.

 

[Dreamcar86]

Help support the turbo Buick community, our hobby, and TB.com by supporting the suppliers, vendors and / or shops that are TB.com SponsorshipTeam members.
My car also wears Kirban Performance springs on all corners and I am quite happy with them. I purchased Kirban springs primarily because he is one of the very few known established retailers that sell a stock height slightly stiffer front & rear spring set. However, quite a few of the TB.com supporting suppliers, vendors & / or shops sell both front & rear springs. Brian @ GBodyParts.com, Paul @ HRParts & Stuff, & I am sure that there are some that I am missing.

I fully agree with this statement and that is why I went with Kirbans. The price was around $82.00 bucks for the rears and $140.00 for the fronts. I plan on staying with this hobby for quite a while and would like to see some GN vendors stay around as well. I have price shopped just like anyone else and most of the time the savings are marginal and if you need support they know our cars best.
We are all on a budget of some sort so you have to do what you have to do.

 

[ITSNOTAGN]

pull up the moog chassis cross reference, they are only like $28 a piece from your local napa dealer.
this one particularly
Moog Springs for High Performance Monte Carlo and G bodies
figure out what ones you want. i would personally go up one range in stiffness in the front, as it rides just as good but your handling increase will be huge. I run 5662s in mine, and it is a little rough.

The Monte Carlo Mailing List: Tech Articles
Gary

 

[turbofish38]

I've been researching the springs for the G-bodies. First all of the OEM springs are discontinued. From what I have documented there are or should I say were about 50 different part numbers for the front springs and maybe 20 or so for the rears. The only difference is the rate which I am assuming was matched to a particular suspension package based on the weight of the car. The TR springs are broken down by year. 1986 and older use the same numbers more or less and 1987 is all by themselves. Rate wise anyway. This is only on the fronts. The rears are the same for all years. Remember that the 87 sat a little higher in the front. From what I can tell,you can narrow the FE3 TR springs down to 2 different numbers on the front on any year. Unfortunetly I couldn't find what the numbers are on any of the springs. I'm guessing what seperates them is only something as small as 5 pounds per inch in the rate. Most option combinations used a matched set on the fronts with only a few mismatched combinations. In other words on some combinations the right front spring was a tad stiffer. The rears are always a matched set from what I can tell looking at the 100 or so SPID labels I have on file. So more or less a Limited uses the same springs as a GN or even turbo Regal. As long as they are turbocharged and have FE3 than they are the same. Now here's what is weird. One would expect that the G-bodies with the 15 inch wheels and hi-po motors(i.e. TR,442,MCSS) would have the firmest springs available but that isn't the case. I've arranged my spring chart by part number assuming that GM did it that way. The lowest part number would have the lowest rate and each succeding number would be 5 pounds or so firmer. Well, my research indicates the TR springs in the middle of the group along with the other 15" tire models. I even pulled some springs out of 86 Bonneville a few months ago that still had the tags and they were only a notch or two firmer than our FE3 springs. If I had to guess I'd say GM fine tuned the suspensions to what ever sway bar combination that was on the car. The FE3 uses the biggest bars out of any G-body. If I only had what the rates are for each spring I could probally narrow down the formula used which determined what car got what spring. I dont have a clue what Moog or aftermarket spring cross references to what OEM spring.