Coil over spring selection

[cob427sc]

I am building another car (1959 Austin Healy Bugeye with an Oldsmobile 215 V8) and an contemplating replacing the quarter eliptic rear springs with coil over shocks. My question is how do you compute the spring rating for the coil spring? In this case they will be pretty light as the entire car weighs in around 1200 pounds but obviously most of the weight will be toward the front. Any help is appreciated! Car will be like a min cobra when complete.

[Jeff Kleiner]

Curb weight is only part of the equation. Also at play are unsprung weight , the length of the arm and where along that length the spring is located and the angle of the spring. Here's a quick calculator from Ridetech to get you started.

https://ridetech.com/tech/spring-rate-calculator/

Jeff