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002/003 SS springs; edumacate me please #2671417
06/29/19 08:02 AM
06/29/19 08:02 AM
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Lincoln Nebraska
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RapidRobert Offline OP
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are these for drag raceing or spirited street use (or both)? Is the ride height uneven? is their longevity acceptable? iirc the later ones were made in mexico & were inferior? If so, how to discern the difference. Thank you for your time. PS please hurry I wanna nab em.


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Re: 002/003 SS springs; edumacate me please [Re: RapidRobert] #2671425
06/29/19 08:26 AM
06/29/19 08:26 AM
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Ride height IS uneven. These are shorter than a stock b-body spring and require different front spring mounts for use in a b-body. They have VERY stiff front segments so the ride is very harsh. Not what I'd call a "street" spring !!

Re: 002/003 SS springs; edumacate me please [Re: Stanton] #2671427
06/29/19 08:35 AM
06/29/19 08:35 AM
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RapidRobert Offline OP
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That WAS fast. Thank you! they would be going in an A body. Any info on the made in mexico deal? So these are more of a drag race setup?


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Re: 002/003 SS springs; edumacate me please [Re: RapidRobert] #2671433
06/29/19 08:53 AM
06/29/19 08:53 AM
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I’m not sure if FCA has gotten its act together but if it hasn’t then any S/S spring made in quite a while are inferior.

The fact that they were made in Mexico is not the only reason, it’s because the process is not correct.

002/003springs are called ProStock springs but they share much of the same design as the SS springs, 20” front segment, same as early B bodies and same as all A bodies, I believe a 35” rear segment, but they have a much thicker mainleaf.

I beleive the name came from them being designed and used on the early 1970 ProStock cars, but I may be wrong on that.

If I recall they have much less chamber than most SS springs so you shouldn’t get a nose bleed from getting in your car.

Last edited by Transman; 06/29/19 08:54 AM.
Re: 002/003 SS springs; edumacate me please [Re: A727Tflite] #2671436
06/29/19 09:03 AM
06/29/19 09:03 AM
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They work well...for about a year, then they lose their arch.

The Superstock Springs were originally designed for the early 62-65 B-bodies. '63 has the same spring segments and lengths as an A-body.

We've had more consistency and longer life out of Cal-tracs and split mono's.

As for ride, we had the 456/457 3400 lbs. springs. The shock you use makes a big difference in ride quality. My Calvert 9 ways ride like crap on #9 setting but calm down and ride comfortable on the #4 setting but the launch goes away.

Last edited by GY3; 06/29/19 09:03 AM.

'63 Dodge 330
11.19 @ 121 mph
Pump gas, n/a, through the mufflers on street tires with 3.54's. 3,600 lbs.
10.01 @ 133mph with a 250 shot of nitrous an a splash of race gas. 1.36 60 ft. 3,700 lbs.

Re: 002/003 SS springs; edumacate me please [Re: GY3] #2671451
06/29/19 09:42 AM
06/29/19 09:42 AM
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Had a set on my 9 sec Duster for 10 years. They didnt go bad after 1 year, they don't ride harshly, and they were engineered nicely by Mopar to do what they do
I dont get where people say some of this stuff


69 Dart GTS A4 Silver All steel, flat factory hood, 3360race weight
418 BPE factory replacement headed stroker, 565 lift solid cam
Best so far, 10.40 @127 1/4
1.41 best 60 foot
6.60 at 103.90 1/8

Re: 002/003 SS springs; edumacate me please [Re: B3422W5] #2671460
06/29/19 09:58 AM
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Originally Posted by B3422W5
Had a set on my 9 sec Duster for 10 years. They didnt go bad after 1 year, they don't ride harshly, and they were engineered nicely by Mopar to do what they do
I dont get where people say some of this stuff


This isn’t a design issue - it’s a manufacturing issue.

Yes, they were engineered correctly back in the day, the process appears to not being maintained in regards to heat treatment and processing the arc. This has been supported my many people claiming the springs lose their arc - not over a decade but in as little as a year. This statement has been made by people in the know, using springs properly spec’d for the vehicle.

I’ve personally had two sets lose arc in less than two years and both cars weren’t even being used yet - they were being assembled.

This manufacturing issue also applied to the restoration springs in the past but I have no info on those as of late.

As for ride quality, any spring with increased spring rate will make the car more harsh. And any spring with increased chamber will too.
That’ a design issue that you have to live with if you choose to use this spring on the street.

Re: 002/003 SS springs; edumacate me please [Re: A727Tflite] #2671468
06/29/19 10:21 AM
06/29/19 10:21 AM
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i put some 3400lb SS springs on my coronet a few years ago, haven't driven it much but it's had weight on the tires the whole time.
got them hoping that they would settle like everyone says they do...same arch as when i put them on...
i even have ~100lbs of tools and parts in the trunk and they are still holding...

also, i think there is some good info on the SS springs in the tech archives here. i forget where i read it. maybe a chassis manual or something.

Re: 002/003 SS springs; edumacate me please [Re: krautrock] #2671482
06/29/19 10:53 AM
06/29/19 10:53 AM
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Alright it sounds like I should pass on em. Thanks guys, you guys are great!


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Re: 002/003 SS springs; edumacate me please [Re: B3422W5] #2671493
06/29/19 11:12 AM
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Originally Posted by B3422W5
Had a set on my 9 sec Duster for 10 years. They didnt go bad after 1 year, they don't ride harshly, and they were engineered nicely by Mopar to do what they do
I dont get where people say some of this stuff


Personal experience, maybe? shruggy


'63 Dodge 330
11.19 @ 121 mph
Pump gas, n/a, through the mufflers on street tires with 3.54's. 3,600 lbs.
10.01 @ 133mph with a 250 shot of nitrous an a splash of race gas. 1.36 60 ft. 3,700 lbs.

Re: 002/003 SS springs; edumacate me please [Re: RapidRobert] #2671496
06/29/19 11:15 AM
06/29/19 11:15 AM
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Chargerfan68 Offline
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Not the 002/003 springs, but i put brand new 3800 lb b body superstock springs on my charger back in 2006 and after a few hard hits with M/t street drag radials on a deserted street, the front segment was bent in a very slight “s”. The springs wrapped up so much that the axle moved forward and the tires hit the quarters and cut the brand new mt tires. And i did have an adj pinion snubber adjusted right below the floor. I pulled them right off and put Caltracs mono leafs on. The mono leafs have been on since 2006 with over 100 track runs and quite a few thousand street miles and still sit like new. Very very impressed with them. I could never run the mp super stock springs again after that experience

Last edited by Chargerfan68; 06/29/19 11:18 AM.

1.50 60Ft. , 10.75@ 127MPH Hauling 3900 LBS.
Re: 002/003 SS springs; edumacate me please [Re: GY3] #2671511
06/29/19 11:37 AM
06/29/19 11:37 AM
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Originally Posted by GY3
Originally Posted by B3422W5
Had a set on my 9 sec Duster for 10 years. They didnt go bad after 1 year, they don't ride harshly, and they were engineered nicely by Mopar to do what they do
I dont get where people say some of this stuff


Personal experience, maybe? shruggy


And maybe not too. You get Caltrac lovers who have started endless threads on this forum over the years where they cant get them to work on 10sec cars where S/S springs have no such issues yet they made the “ smart” buy on something that isn't the holy grail that they thought.
Each to his own


69 Dart GTS A4 Silver All steel, flat factory hood, 3360race weight
418 BPE factory replacement headed stroker, 565 lift solid cam
Best so far, 10.40 @127 1/4
1.41 best 60 foot
6.60 at 103.90 1/8

Re: 002/003 SS springs; edumacate me please [Re: B3422W5] #2671515
06/29/19 11:44 AM
06/29/19 11:44 AM
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Originally Posted by B3422W5
Had a set on my 9 sec Duster for 10 years. They didnt go bad after 1 year, they don't ride harshly, and they were engineered nicely by Mopar to do what they do
I dont get where people say some of this stuff

I had a similar experience with a set of the 002,003 SS springs I bought new in the mid 1990s that where made in Mexico on my 1969 Dart BB bracket car, I did end up clamping the front and rear segments on them to get the best performance out of them also up scope
I race that car with them and drove it on the street with no sagging or bending, 1.42 60 ft. times foot braking with a best of 11.17 at 122,.+ MPH weighing right at 3150 Lbs. with me in it shruggy
Maybe I got lucky, maybe not shruggy

Last edited by Cab_Burge; 06/29/19 11:45 AM.

Mr.Cab Racing and winning with Mopars since 1964. (Old F--t, Huh)
Re: 002/003 SS springs; edumacate me please [Re: Cab_Burge] #2671528
06/29/19 11:59 AM
06/29/19 11:59 AM
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Originally Posted by Cab_Burge
Originally Posted by B3422W5
Had a set on my 9 sec Duster for 10 years. They didnt go bad after 1 year, they don't ride harshly, and they were engineered nicely by Mopar to do what they do
I dont get where people say some of this stuff

I had a similar experience with a set of the 002,003 SS springs I bought new in the mid 1990s that where made in Mexico on my 1969 Dart BB bracket car, I did end up clamping the front and rear segments on them to get the best performance out of them also up scope
I race that car with them and drove it on the street with no sagging or bending, 1.42 60 ft. times foot braking with a best of 11.17 at 122,.+ MPH weighing right at 3150 Lbs. with me in it shruggy
Maybe I got lucky, maybe not shruggy


I went 1.34/35 with mine. Cheap 3 way CE shocks at all 4 corners. Car was ultra consistent. Tons of people on this forum know the car and know how it worked.
I think people consider the springs “ settling” meaning they are going bad. That isnt the case.
Until i sold it the car ran the same as the day many years earlier i installed them. Raced with a lot of guys who ran/ run them, and hearing they go “ bad” in a year is a first hearing about. It definately isnt the norm.


69 Dart GTS A4 Silver All steel, flat factory hood, 3360race weight
418 BPE factory replacement headed stroker, 565 lift solid cam
Best so far, 10.40 @127 1/4
1.41 best 60 foot
6.60 at 103.90 1/8

Re: 002/003 SS springs; edumacate me please [Re: RapidRobert] #2671534
06/29/19 12:14 PM
06/29/19 12:14 PM
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I run a pair of the passenger side 3200lb SS springs on my 3700 lbs A & E bodies. The ride much better than my Caltracs did on significant road bumps.

The cars would bend the front spring segments without the properly adjusted slapper bars I fitted to them. The slapper bars make both cars hook dramatically harder than any other combination I've tried on the street using Nitto Drag Radials. I'm using Billstein shocks on the E-Body and Koni shocks on the A-Body.

I've not had an issue with sagging on either set of springs, but I did bend a front spring segment when I first tried the light spring rate SSs. The slapper bars were an experiment to stop that from happening, and I was shocked how good they worked.

I am going to experiment with a set of 2800 lbs SS springs in the next few weeks. I have a pair of the passenger side springs that I am going to have re-arched even more than they are stock to compensate for the cars weight. The 2800 lbs springs compress an inch and a half too much making my ride height on the E-body too low.. I'll post my results once I get them.

slapper bar 2.JPGCuda29.JPG

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Re: 002/003 SS springs; edumacate me please [Re: RapidRobert] #2671537
06/29/19 12:21 PM
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I've had the same set of SS springs on my '65 Coronet for 30 years. (Put them on in 1988) SS springs were unusual at the time and they are very unusual today. Today most mfgs sell parts that are "fool proof" since most customers have short attention spans, don't read instructions, etc. The SS springs are unusual since they are left and right hand (confuses a lot of people), they don't bolt in (confuses a lot of people), and they make the car sit funny (confuses a lot of people). I'd hate to be the person on the phone line at the SS spring factory. Why does my car sit funny? Which spring goes on which side of the car again? How come these things don't bolt in? I have a '74 Charger, which SS spring fits my car? I have a Volare, which SS spring fits my car? The phone calls would go like that all day long.........

Re: 002/003 SS springs; edumacate me please [Re: AndyF] #2671543
06/29/19 12:33 PM
06/29/19 12:33 PM
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I've been running the 3800# S/S springs in my street/strip Roadrunner since 98. They've lost a little arch, but still work well.


72 Plymouth Roadrunner 11.08@123.25
Re: 002/003 SS springs; edumacate me please [Re: AndyF] #2671559
06/29/19 12:49 PM
06/29/19 12:49 PM
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i wanted to get the "look" of super stock springs when the "hustle stuff" catalog came out, but couldn't afford them. then, the direct connection chassis books came out, so i copied what i thought was the recipe.
i used a pair of 1/2 ton truck main leaves, then cut the eyes off, using this as the second leaf. the forward part of the truck leaf supports the charger spring eye, and the truck leaf is slightly thicker, but i forget by just how much. [it's been since 1973 or so biggrin]
i then added four leaves from a B-body station wagon to each spring, plus a half leaf [from what, i don't remember] to the passenger's side.
although this has never been any kind of a high horsepower car, it hooked good at NU-BE dragstrip with 5.38 gears [eek] and 11:00-15 mccreary bias slicks back in the day.
it rides nice on the street as well with long 1/2 ton truck shocks.
doing this back "in the day" when i owned my junkyard, using the parts available.
your mileage may vary, and this may not pertain to the topic at hand.
beer

IM001661.JPG
Re: 002/003 SS springs; edumacate me please [Re: moparx] #2671565
06/29/19 01:07 PM
06/29/19 01:07 PM
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I love that color scheme on your charger - did you try to capture the look of the UFO ran in the 60’s and early ‘70’s?

Very nice.

Last edited by Transman; 06/29/19 01:08 PM.
Re: 002/003 SS springs; edumacate me please [Re: A727Tflite] #2671567
06/29/19 01:12 PM
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As for the unusual being the case - if the program was being properly managed someone would have included what we call an “II” sheet which advises the user/installer which side is left/right, how to adjust the torsion bars correctly to benefit from the design of the spring, which hanger to use for what car,etc.

The program hasn’t been managed properly for decades.

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