In a world crazy about coil-overs, it’s important to remember that a great many lifted wheels came courtesy of Chrysler’s asymmetrical leaf spring design. Instead of having the rear axle centered on the springs, muscle era Mopars had them biased forward to effectively create a short spring portion in front and a longer one in back. This highly-engineered and cost-effective performance package resulted in protection against axle windup on hard launches and brake dip on short stops.
Mancini Racing is well-aware of the advantages that those aforementioned front spring segments offer, right down to the details on length and application. “All A body springs have a 20” front segment and B/E Body 1966-up have a 22” front segment. Mopar Super Stock springs also have a 20” front segment,” says Mancini’s Rob Cunningham. A multitude of front hangers are available for the varying segment lengths, but bushing size is another consideration entirely.
B and E-bodies were factory-fitted with 1” shackle bushings while the smaller A-bodies received correspondingly-smaller 7/8” pieces. Mancini’s new conversion shackle and bushing sets make up for that difference to allow the performance-minded to install short segment A-body springs in B/E-bodies.
They’ll also work the other way in that B/E-body Super Stock springs (also short segment) can be adapted to an A-body. Dropping down from a 22” to a 20” front portion should put power to the pavement with less windup and more wheels up.
