Rear suspension question

[BDD]

When my car was delivered they had some problems getting it off the trailer. I wouldn't recommend this hauler because they did some slight damage to the car and would not use the insurance they claimed was on it to cover the damage.
When the car was finally at my house I noticed that the rear right spring was partly out of the cup that holds it at the top. When I jacked the car up at that tire, I was able to take the spring completely out with no problem and reposition it. Shouldn't the spring be held in more securely?
Should I have different rear shocks that would hold it in place even when the rear end was jacked up and no weight was on that spring?
Otherwise if you hit a bump driving couldn't the spring just pop out?

BDD

[Scott McDonald]

They shouldn't fall out, unless of course your going to be doing something along the lines of the famous chase scene in, Bullet. It sounds like your rear springs have been cut. If it bothers you, get some replacements from OGTS and that should solve your uneasiness.
FYI-cutting rear springs makes them stiffer, and can throw geometry off.

[BDD]

Scott:
I'll have to check into that. The car, by the way is a 1972 Opel GT. I forgot to mention that. In what way(s) are the geometry affacted by cut springs?

[Travis]

BDD,

You could have cut springs or aftermarket springs. As for preventing them from falling out. You could extend the inner sleeve attached to the body at the top, wire the top of the spring to the body at the top, use shorter shocks or lower the shock mount at the axle. The BEST option would be to lower the shock mount at the axle as it will help to increase the effectiveness of the shocks that was lost through lowering the car.

As for geometry, the rear roll center has been lowered through lowering of the front of the torque tube and lowering of one side of the panhard bar. The rear roll steer has been increased by lowering the front of the trailing arms. The anti-squat has been decreased through lowering the front of the trailing arms. The effectiveness of the shocks has been reduced as they are now more 'horizontal' through lowering of the body. With the exception of lowering the roll center, these are all bad, and even lowering the roll center could be considered bad depending on the specifics. This is not to say that lowering the rear of the car will necessarily cause it to handle worse, but it won't be as good as if you had ALSO fixed the itmes that were hurt.

-Travis

[BDD]

Travis:
Thanks for the reply and the advise. I will probably get original springs back in the car and later look around for a rear sway bar. This has got to be the better way to improve handling and not screw up suspension geometry.

BDD