Don'tknow if there is much of a Mav restoration crowd but thought i'd throw this out.

Discussion in 'General Maverick/Comet' started by wv72grabber, Mar 24, 2011.

  1. wv72grabber

    wv72grabber Member

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    Swapping out front and rear 4 lug drums for front and rear 5 lug discs.

    Last night we finally got all our parts rounded up and pulled the front springs on our 28k mile '72 mav.

    There were two orange stripes the length of each spring.

    The appeared to be brushed on, hard to tell through 40 years of grime.

    On both springs the stripes were on the shock tower side of the springs, not visible until we took them out.
     
    wv72grabber, Mar 24, 2011
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  2. Acornridgeman

    Acornridgeman MCCI Wisconsin State Rep Moderator Supporting Member

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    Yes, Ford used several colors like orange, green, pink and I think brown. The color pattern would indicate what spring rate a particular spring was rated at. They also marked the rear leafs and the sway bars in a similar way.

    Someplace I remember seeing a chart that would tell you by color combination what spring you had. Don't remember if it was online or in a Ford manual.

    (y)
     
    Acornridgeman, Mar 24, 2011
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  3. wv72grabber

    wv72grabber Member

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    Yup, went through this with my '66 Fairlane.

    Just thought I would post if anyone was interested.

    Unlike the majority of threads I've read on here I'm interested in raising the front and rear a little.

    I have the 4 leaf General Spring rear leaves and a set of V8 coils on the floor waiting.

    I was born in '64 and most of my memories of 70's era's cars consist of them sitting a little higher than is the trend today.

    Any hauling will be done on a dovetail trailer, and the camaro subframe connectors eat up valuable clearance ...
     
    wv72grabber, Mar 24, 2011
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  4. rthomas771

    rthomas771 Member

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    Probably both... http://www.1bad6t.com/Maverick/repair/coilsprings.html About 3/4 down the page is a chart showing the color code. Starting in 74 the color code gave away to a plactic ID tape.

    [​IMG]
     
    rthomas771, Mar 24, 2011
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  5. mojo

    mojo "Everett"- Senior Citizen Supporting Member

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    I have the same rear springs and 6cyl w/ac -8cyl no/ac and it raised my car front abt 1.5" and rear abt 2.5". The rear springs on the car when I got were shot; the frt were fairly new but someone had cut some coils. I did'nt like the way the car rode w/ the cut coils - I like it a lot better since the change. Also, the General 4 leafs ride a little stiffer than I prefer, but, a lot better than the old ones.
    Im may remove a leaf when I get arnd to it and see how I like it.
     
    mojo, Mar 24, 2011
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  6. Acornridgeman

    Acornridgeman MCCI Wisconsin State Rep Moderator Supporting Member

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    That is one of them Jeff, thank you ......... :tiphat:

    There is a rear leaf spring color chart too someplace. Do you have that one?

    :thumbs2:
     
    Acornridgeman, Mar 24, 2011
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  7. sgaugeguy

    sgaugeguy Bob Kraus

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    Here is a pic of my car with a 250 6cyl wair. It has V8 ac front coils and General spring 4 leafs on the rear ...

    maverickinthe_park_012_original.jpg

    It sits kinda high and I have had a few people ask if its a 4X4 LOL. I think it should settle down a little after awhile ...
     
    sgaugeguy, Mar 24, 2011
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  8. sgaugeguy

    sgaugeguy Bob Kraus

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    Oh yeah, I forgot to mention I also installed the roller bearing style spring perches. Not sure if that affected the front at all ...
     
    sgaugeguy, Mar 24, 2011
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  9. rthomas771

    rthomas771 Member

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    http://www.1bad6t.com/Maverick/repair/leafspring.html

    If you study the numbers in the chart...you can see spring rate can be higher on some 3-leaf springs than some of the 4-leaf springs. That being said...you can't go by the leaf count to know the spring rate, also you can't tell the coil spring rate by how many cylinders your engine may or may not have.
     
    rthomas771, Mar 24, 2011
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  10. Craig Selvey

    Craig Selvey Indiana State Rep - MCCI

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    The paint colors also corresponded to the colors listed on the build sheet. Build sheet says to install "orange" coil springs....the line worker would go over to the bins and grab some "orange" coil springs.


    Here are the tags on my 1974 Maverick LDO:

    [​IMG]


    [​IMG]
     
    Craig Selvey, Mar 24, 2011
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  11. wv72grabber

    wv72grabber Member

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    great links rthomas771 ...

    mojo and sgaugeguy big time thanks ...

    it'll probably be a little tall right now ...

    hopefully a V8 swap will lower the front a little ...

    once we recover from the purchase, suspension upgrades and tire/wheel $$$:rolleyes:
     
    wv72grabber, Mar 24, 2011
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