Suspension upgrades are one of the easiest ways to improve the performance and looks of your vehicle. Many classic muscle cars came from the factory with a leaf spring suspension, which was high-tech for the time, but can easily be improved with modern aftermarket parts. Adding a set of narrow leaf springs to your rear suspension is going to make your vehicle handle better and give you more tire options, as well.
Tires connect your vehicle to the road, so the larger tire you can run in the rear, the more traction you’ll have access to. The OEM leaf springs that came on most classic cars limit how wide of a tire you can run, so switching to a narrow leaf spring is going to open the door for you to use wider tires.
If you plan on taking your car to the track a set of new leaf springs will help improve your elapsed times. Upgraded leaf springs are going to assist with reducing how much the vehicle squats and the amount of wheel-hop your suspension has to deal with when you launch. You will also have more control over the vehicle’s ride height, which is an important piece of suspension geometry.
Classic Performance Products (CPP) offers a narrow leaf spring upgrade kit for 1962-74 Novas and 1967-81 Camaros. The kits will give you an additional ½-inch of tire clearance on each side of the vehicle, and don’t require you to relocate the leaf springs. These kits don’t require any type of heavy fabrication work either, so you can bolt them on at home if you want. Check out this video from CPP that shows you how to install the narrow leaf spring kit. You can learn more about these kits right here on the CPP website.