rear spring identification

[autokunst]

As I am cleaning up the rear springs on our 1968 1600-2, I first noticed the white paint stripe.  BUT, then I saw what appears to be a second, brown stipe.?.  And then I noticed there are some numbers and letters stamped into the spring that I can't identify (tried searches here on on the interweb).  Anyone know what I might have here?  Thanks in advance.

 

White and brown? stripe?

 

L&P 68114 H?

 

L&P 66114 H?

[visionaut]

Yeah, the striped colors indicated which spring variant. There’s a thread on here with what the differences are.  ( search is your friend ).

 

IIRC, there’s small spring variations based on vehicle type, for std, HD and Towing applications.

[autokunst]

3 minutes ago, visionaut said:

Yeah, the striped colors indicated which spring variant. There’s a thread on here with what the differences are.  ( search is your friend ).

Yes, the standard BMW stripes are red (only), white (only) and green (only).  These are in order from lightest/softest to heaviest/stiffest.  This was found through search and also in realoem.  But I have not found anything about a second stripe, nothing about a brown stripe, and I cannot find anything about L&P.   I suspect these are an aftermarket spring (like H&R), but from a company I have not identified yet.  Google has not helped, either.

[visionaut]

There’s an L&P Springs Manufacturing, LLC in Carthage, MO….

 

???

[Gurmail]

What was once Red turned into Brown. You have White/Red rear springs made by L&P (they made springs for BMW 1600/02 back in the day). The "114" indicate the body type and "66" "68" indicate years of manufacture.

 

Gurmail

 

[John76]

I thought the front springs were the ones with two paint color marks and the rear springs only had one color.

I think your rear springs are the mid-range (white paint). The brown you see might be a rust/scuff mark ... on all coils??

[autokunst]

6 minutes ago, Gurmail said:

What was once Red turned into Brown. You have White/Red rear springs made by L&P (they made springs for BMW 1600/02 back in the day). The "114" indicate the body type and "66" "68" indicate years of manufacture.

 

Gurmail

 

Love it.  Thanks for that history.  I hadn't found any reference to springs with more than one stripe.  Given two different dates of manufacture, and also I'm not sure the second spring has the second red/brown stripe, I am not certain I'll have the same rate on each side.  But I won't worry about it.

 

By the way, I have seen springs on early 70's BMWs with the red stripe that looked much more red than this.  I had mentally ruled out the idea that this would be a faded red stripe.  But it makes too much sense.  Thanks again.

 

@visionaut it seems the L&P spring manufacturing company in MO makes bed springs. ?

[autokunst]

5 minutes ago, John76 said:

I thought the front springs were the ones with two paint color marks and the rear springs only had one color.

I think your rear springs are the mid-range (white paint). The brown you see might be a rust/scuff mark ... on all coils??

I don't think so.  It looks like a painted stripe with similar brush stroke appearance.  But I should clean them up a bit more to reveal more.  

 

The spring on the right has been cleaned more than the left.  That's the one I posted a close up of above.

[Mike Self]

Per the factory shop manual, there were three different springs fitted to the front with the following stripes:

green/blue --635-656 lbs

white/blue --614-636 lbs

red/blue -- 595-614 lbs

 

for the rear:

green:  776-803 lbs (everything but the automatic, which is 769-791 lbs)

white: 750-776 lbs   or 745-767 (automatic)

red:  725-750 lbs   or 717-741 (automatic)

 

When I re-did my '69 and sanded/repainted the original springs, i reproduced the paint stripes as they came from the factory, and the front springs indeed did have two stripes.

 

mike

[autokunst]

Following up on this, first a clarification.  The stamped letters and numbers in fact both read the same: L&P 68114 H.  As someone suggested, I assume this is the manufacturer (L&P), the year (1968), and the car (type 114).  H?  Not sure.  Presumably oem (see below), so original.?.  I am just glad they are the same.

 

And to follow up with the stripes, there are most definitely two distinct, painted on stripes per spring.  One is white, the other appears brown.  Could be an aged red, but I can't confirm or deny that.  

 

But here's the kicker.  The blue shop manual illustrates rear springs with TWO STRIPES (despite the specifications from the manual that @Mike Self shared).  BMW has been known to have unclear written information.  I think this is a good example.

['76mintgrün'02]

34 minutes ago, autokunst said:

The blue shop manual illustrates rear springs with TWO STRIPES

 

This post by c.d.eisel shows two-stripe rear springs as heavy-duty.  (my car came with the lightest heavy-duty springs installed, along with a trailer hitch).

 

 

"one could alter the ride height of a heavier square tail light car

by using really early round tail car springs.

Springs are designed for body weight and options,

like sunroof, emission controls, impact heavy bumpers,

larger battery....... so later(big bumper) USA heavy cars would have

different springs than the early stripped 1600/1602

trick is to find unmolested early springs-

the paint marks usually remain in addition to BMW part number

might be found stamped on a coil.

You measure the FREE LENGTH, COIL WIRE DIA. , AND HOW MANY WINDINGS

TO IDENTIFY 'STOCK' SPRINGS

some info from my past threads - all in the BMW Blue Binder Repair Manuals:

********************************************************

rear coil spring upper rubber 'damper ring' comes in 3 heights:

28 mm height = 1 dot and green color code

33 mm height = 2 dot and white color code

37 mm height = 3 dot and red color code

Note: always fit top spring damper with 1 dot for Touring models (of course for orig springs)

check availability with dealer, one was NLA reciently.

the bottom rear coil spring rubber damper ring comes only in one thickness = 24mm

ref. 33-0/8 specifations BMW Repair Manual Vol. 2

and from factory manual:

13.28" = Front std

13.58" = Front Heavy Duty

13.17" Rear std.

14.25" Rear for Baur Convertible

******************************************

subject: 02 springs , color code, free length, lb. rate ...

Message: ....here's what I added way back on 01/11/02 on the subject -

Message Title: 02 SUSPENSION SPRINGS rates / colors / wire dia.

Posted by: Creighton D. on 2002-11-01 at 04:59:47 (

stock 02 susp coil spring colour codes & MORE>

this is for oem / stock / BMW factory suspension coil springs !

not aftermarket

stock / oem 02 suspension coil spring colour codes and free length (not mounted length);

REAR SUSP SPRINGS

Green 776-803 lbs

White 750-776 lbs

Red 725-750 lbs

wire thickness 12.3mm (.049")free length unmounted 334.6 (13.17")

Heavy duty conversion ( for trailer towing )

grey/green 769-789 lbs

grey/white 730-769 lbs

grey/red 710-730 lbs

wire thickness 13.2mm (.052") free length of unmounted 324.2mm (12.76")

FOR touring - USE ONLY RED (in emergency WHITE is permissable

always use "1 Dot " rubber top cushion

FRONT SUSP SPRINGS

green/blue 635-656 lbs

white/blue 614-636 lbs

red/blue 595-614 lbs

wire thickness 11.8mm (0.465") free length unmounted 337.2mm (13.28")

Heavy duty conversion (only if rear is also converted)

green/grey/green 606/626 lbs

white/grey/white 584-606 lbs

red/grey/red 564-584 lbs

wire thickness 12mm (0.47") free length unmounted 345mm (13.58")

..........SO, AS YOU CAN SEE , WHEN INSPECTING UNKNOWN SPRINGS, THE FREE LENGTH CAN BE CLOSE, BUT IT'S THE WIRE THICKNESS THAT YOU NEED TO MEASURE CAREFULLY

THIS REF. FROM BMW REPAIR MANUAL (PRINTED) VOL.2

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> HAPPY SPRING HUNTING ! <<<<<<<<<<<<<<"