planing my 32 coupe . thinking on a buggie spring rear but wondering if coil overs are better. anyone like or hate one? show some cool rear ends. thanks
Personal preference but coil overs are considered a little too street rod for most of the guys here although some use them,,I have in the past but my most recent build I used a transverse rear spring. HRP
Have you ever sat in PigSnarf or Stale Sandwich for a couple of days chatting with all the country muthers waiting for the UPS truck to arrive? That is how you decide which one is better. other than that there is no comparrison. They ride different and behave differently. I like them both but you can find a sprin shop in about any podunk farm town or a spring that will get you home in a pinch. Good luck finding a coil over.
Buggie spring all the way. There are probably thousands of pics here with them. Coilovers and 32.....this says street rod with a large S...jmo.
We used one of Posey's dual spring setups in Burl's 32 3W and it works really nice. I like the conventional transverse spring from Ford too.
You want a traditional rod feel? Buggy spring it. You want an adjustable smoother ride? Coil overs. Since this is a traditional rod site, and I'm a traditional rod kinda guy, I vote for buggy spring.
My A coupe has coil overs and my 32's have buggy springs. From a packaging perspective, it's way easier to fit the exhaust and stuff under a coil sprung car. They're easier to build. The buggy sprung cars ride better over bumpy roads.
Hmmm...My 2 cents goes for coil overs. I had them in my 32 coupe, and on a 29 roadster I had, and I liked them. I liked the fact that I could adjust them to the type of driving I'd normally do...On a paved road. On a 40 coupe I built, I kept the ole buggy spring, with more modern rear shocks, and late model shocks on the front. I seriously doubt that very many here would be driving their newly built pride down some dusty, muddy, country washboard road. (Not counting these pot hole highways we have to drive to, to get to the ice cream stand) The ole ugly, "It's got to be traditional" keeps coming up. Well..then keep those ole mechanical brakes on your ride. That's what most of the old coupes came with. Keep those bias ply tires on. As a matter of fact, why not buy some re-capped tires. Then learn to drive your ride like we used to. You had to think ahead of your ride. Are you going to fast for the brakes to stop you? Are your going to lean as you go around the curve in those bias tires?. Buggy springs are fine, if you're only going for a 200 mile ride or less. But most folks here are the over 35 + crowd here. The ole body just can't take the beating we used to. So a little more cushy ride is not necessarily detrimental to being traditional. Lever action shocks and buggy springs...No... I think I'll p***, thank you. HellRaiser
Hellraiser, I doubt that either one of us is old enough to have driven any mech brake cars at least no farther than the garage to convert to juice brakes. They were converting to juice brakes as soon as they came out. The learning curve on bias ply tires cannot be that big, I ran them on the first dozen or so cars that I owned and drove them like I stole them. I'm still here. A buggy sprung car can be made to ride as smooth as you like or you could just put a decent seat in there. I have driven both as I know that you have and I am a long mile type, just like you. I don't think that coil overs are too modern there was a g***er guy ( I don't recall who) that ran coil overs in the early '60s before the rule change and had to get the manufacturer to submit a letter calling them stock replacement parts to get past the NHRA techs. I do like the weight difference and appreciate the ride but they are not an over the road suspension. If you break one and you will in some podunk town you are there buddy. Anyway durability and replaceability is my only beef with coil overs and I know that you can make a buggy car ride more than well enough to go with my broken body.
My '32 had coilovers, my '31 was buggy sprung, the '32 rode like a cadi compared to the '31, but the coilovers did bottom out.
coil over will give better ride.. but, im going to use buggy spring.. just because i own one already.. was given to me at some point in my life. finally get to use it.. think its a model A spring.. now if i could find the rear of the frame for cheap.. would be so much better than using square tubing.. would look better, square tubing would probably be stronger. chris.
I have coil overs in my '32......HATE THEM!!!! My 30' is set up with buggy springs from So-Cal Speed, I have driven cars with them and it is night and day ride and appearance wise.
How about some plain ol coil springs? You could put Air-Lift bags in them to fine tune the ride and handling. Larry T
I could use those Tempurpedic seat cushions and my ole **** would still bottom out.. No, as I say, it's was only MY 2 cents worth on the subject. Yes 1937 is about when hydrolic brakes started to come into vogue, but before that....Well.... The thing about all of this is it's what ever a person wants...not me, or you, or your significant other wants., If you as the builder want to go with buggy springs, knock yourself out. If you want coil overs, knock yourself out for that one too. Hey ******,, and here all this time, I thought you were like me....built for comfort, not for speed HellRaiser
Hmmm, same time headlights were mounted in the guards. Crazy fools. Brothers A has buggy, and coils in my coupe. Long trip, coils anyday. For looks, buggy.
A stock seat in my original old cars has a lot of movement, but what would be a good hot rod seat for an A with leaves. Sorry for the little hijack.
I'm using a So-Cal 32 frame with my 29 Model A roadster. Buggy spring is from Ch***is Engineering, I think. Seat is from Glide, and has good springs in it. Car rides very nice considering its small size.
I don't recall ever being comfortable. But on that subject I will choose a coupe over a roadster anyday. The Ol' man is rolling over in his grave right now. Actually someone mentioned it but to further expand the thought I am putting coil springs under the '38. Its not like I don't have the buggy spring and a lot of fellas use parallel springs on 'em but I am going for a '60s vibe and coils were king if you could muster the cash. And yes indeed I will no doubt use good old fashioned Air Ride bags in the springs as load levelers. The old trick before 4 wheel scales were available in everyone's garage was to use a spring that was close but perhaps on the light side. If you guessed right you were good and if you didn't Air Ride has been making bags as long as I can remember. But that is a side trip from the subject. I would still go with the buggy spring if my choices were coil overs or spring. Just because of the reliablity factor. I guess they don't take nearly as much room as a spring you could just carry a spare on a cross country trip.
This is a bit of a personal choice thing - like beer and women. And a lot has to do with the complete setup. I've noticed more than a few builds lately using a triangulated 4 link with a transverse rear spring. Kind of new meets old thing. Traditionalish look from the back with good adjustability in the setup.
Anyone who says that a coil (coilover) has a better ride than a buggy spring on a hot rod has NOT taken the time to fine tune the spring pack. Sure it takes time to get it right (and the possibility of removing the springs a few times to add or remove leaves or shorten and polish a couple to fine tune to the last CH) but hot rodding has always been about MAKING something work in an application or environment that is foreign to OEM. Back when Pete and Jake's first started I installed the first ladder bar rear suspension that became their standard fare that was sold east of the Mississippi and during that time I spent a few hours on the phone with Jake learning the ins and outs of buggy spring suspension as applied to hot rods. A college course would not have been more informative. The first go-round seemed like it took forever but when it was finished RIGHT a luxury car owner would have been pleased with the ride. Now, I can dial in one of these in less than 1/2 the time it took then................still way longer than a "take it out of the box and hit the road" coilover. The satisfaction......priceless!! Frank
Just because you think its traditional doesn't make it traditional nor does it make it the best thing to do. I still run into guys around here that think that mechanical brakes are good and cool and traditional, if you can believe that. I'm one that believes that you can run hyd. brakes, even disc brakes, coil overs and a four bar set up and still be traditional. In some cases I believe that what some of these guys call a traditional car almost makes them cookie cutter cars because they are all very similar. I like innovation to improve the ride, handling, performance and safety of the car, while maintaining an old timey look. Isn't that what hot rodding is all about? Just my thoughts.
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