It was a valve cover leak. I had the valve cover off just before that pass. They were cork and didn't like to be taken on and off. It ruined a good picture. Fixed it by getting better gaskets but don't remember which ones. That picture was from around 1995.

Make your choices on spring rate vs the car's weight.
Getting a 002 or 456 because you want the car to sit at a certain height is leaving a lot on the table.

The ride height can be corrected by, as said, flipping the front hanger, which is another tool to change the leverage of the front segment. Like D50, use lowering blocks. Or my favourite, have a local spring shop re arch or de arch to your liking.

As for front shocks, loose on extension and tight on compression. For the rear, they must be long enough to not prohibit travel on a launch and tight enough to control the extension.

Something different than antiquated 60s technology would be my choice. Like a mono or split mono spring

I'm all up for new and improved designs but how is a single leaf supposed to control axle wind up?

If its strong... but also.. those springs are meant to use
with the caltracs.. as long as the front section in front
of the caltrac is strong it will work fine... years ago
I made up my own set of springs with a 3/8" thick spring
steel mounted from the axle housing to the front eye and
left the back segment totally stock... the rear segment
is the ride rate and holds up the body..I drove that
every day so I didnt want a rough ride

Cal tracs will take the job of controlling wind up. As long as we all undertand you can not use mono leaf in place of Super Stocks.

I do like the idea of a mono spring weighing less than a SS spring but add in a set of Cal tracs and its probably just as heavy.

Cal-tracs work to the tune of a 1.04 60 ft. and the car sits and leaves nice n straight. I wouldn't ever want to go "backwards" personally........

Super Stock springs are VERY old tech. Yeah they may work decent, but there are better options. Seems to be pretty common knowledge that the springs just flat are not as GOOD as they used to be either, like the quality of the spring steel isn't what it was.

If I wasn't going to a Cal-Trac or similar, instead of buying Super Stock springs, I would scrounge some junkyard springs and build my own spring packs. There is NOTHING special about them. Stiff in the front, loose in the back.....nothing more. That's why the front segments are usually shorter, in an attempt to stiffen the front

FWIW.....I use the 456/457 springs on my 71 Demon.Has a 440 in it.

I backed my Caltracs off in a mis-guided attempt to make them livable on the street. The car quickly bent the front spring segment of the mono-leaf due to spring wrap. I ended up pulling and selling the set-up. They are great for a smooth race track, but brutal on the back on the open road.

My buddy had Cal Tracs on his street car and they were pretty noisy and rattled some. No big deal but I always like how the SS springs rode for me in my cars over the years so I went with the SS springs on my 63 and the car rides and drives very nice on them. I agree there are better options out there and if my car was a race only car I would have looked at it different. But the SS springs were much cheaper then the full Cal Trac setup and they do work fine for a mild street car like mine that see's the track once or twice a year at the most. I am not out to set a record and I can still race in some NSS races that use a full tree and even cut some decent lites on a full tree. Can I run on a Pro Tree ? Sure but I will get my butt kicked as I know my car wont do well on a Pro Tree with SS springs and no trans brake but I dont race on a Pro tree. I guess my point is that yes SS springs are old 60's technology but they do still work ok for me and what I do and I am sure they fit the bill for some others. If I was a serious racer I would be running Cal Tracs for sure but I like the ride the SS springs give me and I can still go to the track and have fun and do ok. I completely agree they are not the best in todays world but for a guy on a tight budget with a mild driver street/strip car like me they work ok. Ron

The JRS springs that Mancini sells as USA made SS springs sagged about a year or so after they were installed. They worked okay but not optimum and as you'll probably already know, weight was not the culprit.
Like 383 said, they are okay for a mild to warmer/street/strip combo. Keep in mind that these newer springs may work better on some cars more than most and that is factored with many variables like convertor, driver, tires, track conditions, tuning, etc etc.....
The old original USA and Canada made SS springs were the darlings of yore, but only a true few NOS specimens are still around in peoples basements and are the likes of a treasure hunt to find.
I know of a 002-003 set of springs still in possession of someone here in Brooklyn since the 70's, but he does not want to sell 'em even though he is not racing anymore.

I personally love the old stealth look and to a certain extent, the old performance of the old original SS springs, but to try and catch up with today's technology, the only viable set ups that I have seen that work are the Tri-city launchers. Surprisingly, they are maybe a pound or two in weight over the Mancini SS springs and like Monte mentioned, it's all about the main spring, the thickness and the spring rate at front compared to the rear.
I have recently SPRUNG for a pair (They are up to or just under the cost of a Caltrac system) and we'll see how they fair after more TNT. So far, they are potent.
I bet some people have made their own and come off with good numbers.

Just the other day when I was calibrating my
speedo I had my buddy ride along...he commented
how nice my car rode.. thats with ladder bars
and struts in front. with coil overs in back..
he thought it was gonna be a rough ride.. he said
it rides better than his truck with caltracs and leafs

Here is the thing many miss, even the guys with Cal-Traks, ladder bars, struts, 4 links, whatever. The car does NOT ride bad because you have one of the above for suspension. It rides bad because MOST people grossly overspring their car. You put log wagon springs on it, don't be surprised when it rides like one. Guys with cal-tracs, it's NOT the bars that makes it ride rough, it's the spring. The rear segment of the spring is what the car rides on, with bars and if it rides really hard, you have too stiff a rear segment most likely

Yep.. I think I have 100#/per inch springs on
my Rampage.. they might be 110#..I had to get
a different set for both ends of the car.. the
fronts were too stiff and the backs were a bit
light(with a full tank of fuel).. I missed it by
10# on the rear springs