Rear Spring Selection for '72 Satellite Wagon with 440

[Steve Wood]

I'm in the process of helping my son drop a 440 into his wagon that had a 318 in it originally. The rear springs have lost most of their arch and will need to be replaced along with most stuff that is original.

This car, in theory, will be a cruiser so I don't want to get too carried away but it obviously needs higher suspension rates no matter how it is driven. I am thinking of 1.00-1.03" torsion bars up front but I am uncertain at which rear springs to pick for the rear.

I am looking for rear springs that will be comfortable when the family is along but will handle well enough when opportunity arises. I am guessing it weighs close to 4000 lbs altho most published specs say less.

Not many wagons out there so it is hard to do a search and come up with an answer. Mopar still offers XHD sets at a reasonable price as say compared to Hotchkis which I have on my E body and I am not sure they would fit the cruiser role on rough streets anyway. Current Mopar springs don't seem to have a great rep for longevity.

Anyone have any suggestions as to which direction to go? Thanks!

 

[YY1]

We're gonna need to see pics of that wagon, friend.....

 

[Carcinogen]

I'd give https://www.springsnthings.com/ and ask chat online for better answer than I can give, running their HD/RT springs now but not on a Family Cruiser.

 

[69plywgn]

I would recommend Springs N' Things also. I bought leaf springs for my '62 Savoy Suburban from them. They offer optional setups like stock ride height, +1", +2", number of leaves per side, etc.

Many years ago, I put new Mopar XHD leaf springs on a '70 Satellite wagon, thinking that a B-Body is a B-Body, right? Wrong! The rear sagged badly.

 

[66Satellite47]

I would also suggest the ESPO springs from Springs N Things. They have a variety of things available.

 

[Steve Wood]

We're gonna need to see pics of that wagon, friend.....

My son saw it here at Christmas three years ago https://barnfinds.com/outerspacious-1972-plymouth-satellite-wagon/ On his way back to Houston from here, he swung by and decided to buy it. I forget what he paid but it was 3k plus as I recall.

It had the 150 hp 318/904 in it and actually ran pretty good after a little tweaking. Was not the best thing for merging onto the freeway or pulling out of a parking lot onto the feeder, tho.The rust is not too bad but it definitely needs some holes fixed and some dents pulled out.

I had a 440/727 sitting in the shop that I had pulled out of my Challenger a few years back and I told him it would be an easy swap. I should know better than that at 79 years old, but, hope springs eternal. I used all the brackets on my stroker so we soon found out that trying to buy a matching pulley set was expensive! It turned out to be cheaper to go with the CVFRacing set as shown in the picture. Pretty sure we could have built a fresh 360 for what all the replacement things cost but we probably would have upgraded it as well...

I just walked out to the shop and took 3 pics to go with the link above.

 

[Steve Wood]

I would also suggest the ESPO springs from Springs N Things. They have a variety of things available.

I had completely forgot about ESPO. That is the way we will go. I think they will be better quality and give us closer to what we want. thanks!

 

[Triplegreen500]

I've been running the Mopar SS/D super stock springs under my '72 wagon, for about 20 years. Back in the day, it was a high-12-second street car with a MP 360/380 crate motor and a reverse-manual 727, and on street tires it pulled consistent 1.60 60' times. Also drives great on the street and has made countless trips from Maryland to Key West, FL. Those springs, and a set of old-school Monroe air shocks, were all that was needed to make it an awesome daily driver, and weekend track toy. The springs transfer power well, and the air shocks would compensate for floor-to-roof luggage packs with no problem.

I wish I still had my front bench seat....but its long-gone. I have to figure a way to get my '05 Magnum front buckets to fit the B-body floor...

 

[Triplegreen500]

...nice GN on the rack, too, by the way ;)

 

[ckessel]

Since you have a wagon, see if any of your car buddy connections have a set of scales so you can weigh it. Might be very beneficial to give the spring companies some specs. Get total, corner, front and rear. Will help on the torsion bars too so you can get that area squared away with proper rates.

 

[Steve Wood]

Triplegreen 500, I'm sorry to be so late but I really appreciate your comments. I really like your wagon! I like to hear from guys that actually drive their cars. With a little modern technology, these old cars drive better than they ever did.

Thanks for the GN compliment. I have two-one I bought new back in '86. The one on the rack is one I built for my son when he was in high school back around 1999. He is here for a couple of days and we finished up the pulley
install.

 

[Steve Wood]

ckessel. That is a good idea. I'm pretty sure I have a friend that has a set of scales. I used to have a set but I sold them when I got tired of laying on the floor all the time

 

[ckessel]

I attended a Goodguys show years ago with the primary quest of getting my 65 weighed. RideTech was there and they would scale any entered show cars for free. Got the total, front/back and corner numbers. I needed those to order my $3k tee shirt from Firm Feel. They gave me all my suspension parts since I bought the shirt. LOL! When I was first talking to Dick, he suggested I get it scaled as he said the car is heavier than I thought. I figured it would be around 3600. It was 3941 with out me in it. Having your numbers is very beneficial when getting bars and springs spec'd out for your intended use. Mine is autocross, track events, twisty road fun and some drags along with basic driving fun.

 

[Steve Wood]

I agree completely. Also, I have never found any of my cars to be as light as was commonly reported. I always seemed to be about 10% heavier than the numbers floated around.

 

[66Satellite47]

Very few Mopars were near the published weight figures. It took lots of work/parts removal to get my '65 Coronet near the those weights.