Spring plate ID help

mickey356

After talking with Cory tonight I'm trying to determine if I have a single or a dual spring plate set up. Cory was explaining to me what to look for and I was trying to get under my car to look and if I was seeing it correctly it looks like a dual plate set up. However, it's stated that the IRS single plate set up started in 71, which to the best of my knowledge is the year of my chassis.
Does anyone have any pics of either one so I can compare? Or a schematic? Or can direct me to a place I can look?
I've got this big "shorten the rear for wider tires" project thing going on and I want to make sure I've got all the parts I need before I get started. And I don't want to end up havign to wait 2 weeks for parts I don't have with the ass of my car laying all over the place.

Also,
I need input on rear shocks. I have a 3/4" rear sway bar going in with the other project and I'm putting "lowered" front shocks on. Here's the deal - the rear has been lowered, and I mean lowered. The top of the well sits about an inch below the rim. When I drive I feel EVERY little bump in the road. The bigger bumps are spine trembling. What can I put on the rear that gives a smoother ride without sacrificing performance? Thanks, Mickey

6/11/088:12 PM

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mickey356

6/11/088:12 PM

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Former Member

For consideration, I suggested Mickey look into oil shocks to soften the ride.
Mickey, you might want to see about adjusting that ride height back up the old fashioned way, by using the torsion rods inside the torque tube. If you change your suspension pieces to shorter ones, you'll have to put the longer, non-adjustable blades on anyway.
The blades and their caps are one adjustment, and the rods themselves are another. You really can fine-tune the suspension to within a quarter-inch of what you want that way, and I think Mr. Swika probably knows how. You may also want to replace your axle bearings while you have it apart, and do something about replacing the rubber bushings with the red urethane ones.
If you shorten the torque tube, you can retain the IRS caps and weld them onto the blades to keep the overall side-to-side length the same as it was. Then you can use the longer torsion bars that exist in your car already -- and avoid the "Princess and the Pea" ride where every bump is a jarring hit.
Thank the Doctor that he made them that way. I had to hack the crap out of the pieces to accomplish the same thing after my conversion.