Going to do a rebuild on the rear suspension on my 79 L48 auto. Would apprciate comments and experience in this area. Metal spring vs composit and size, rear sway bar and size, rubber vs poly bushings, rear contol arm rebuild. I have read the discusion on shocks, have heard that the Koni's are best with a composit spring. Any help in this area would be greatly appreciated.

Mine has had the glass spring on it for over 12 years. I ma pretty rough but havent had any problems. Don't know much about it because it was on the car when I bought it.

My 78 came with a glass spring when I bought it,it rides great.The glass spring is a lot lighter than steel,and easier to install,I've heard pros and cons about urathane bushings they are easier to install but supposedly they squeak after they have aged,I guess they hold up longer,dont know I did put new strut rods and bushings in my 78,and they have urethane bushings in them.as for the shocks,mine came with new Bilsteins,I dont like them,I think I am going to switch them out for Delco gas shocks.I am not sure what you want to know about the trailing arms do you want to completely rebuild them or just replace the bushings,I haven't replaced my trailing arm bushings yet,but from all I've heard on here the best way to get the arms off the car is with a recipracating saw to cut off the bolts at the frame,and go from there.any other questions let us know

The glass spring is a better ride. Urathane bushings are harder material and as such handle better, but transfer more road harshness into the car.

Ken Styer

i installed a fiberglass rear spring from VBP with poly bushings all is working great 1 1/2 yrs now

Jim, I would highly recommend the VBP 330# composite spring. See my other post on ride height problems that I had before using this spring.

I'll second the vote for the VBP spring. I went with the TRW composite spring and my ride height is completely off. I've seen the same complaint from others.

Jim

I put a VBP 330 lb mono spring on my 80 last spring. The metal spring was about 50 lbs, the mono is 8 lbs. I got the kit with all the bolts and hardware. The new spring going on wasen't bad, but the old spring bolts had to be cut off. Remember after about a week of driving to go back under and retorque the bolts holding the spring to the rear. My kit came with the longer spring end bolts, made it easer to install and gives you more ride adjustment. The ride is fine, if your not worried about keeping the car original go with the mono spring.
Thanks Glenn