My original plan was to take springs from another car and put the pinto ends on them.. Bill I think thats what you were describing, right? Ive got to replace one shock in the front so I thought it might be easier to do all 4 at once.
I am not so sure now, but yes??
I was only talking about the rears. The main leaf (the ones with the 'eyes') is critical, all the others can be swapped as needed. I would not use coil-overs or air shocks for various reasons. You COULD also remove the rubber assy. to give you a little elevation.
NOTE: I have done this myself, but I have seen it done WRONG numerous times. IF not done correctly, you stand a good chance of having the rear 'walk' around (BAD). If you do almost ANYTHING to it, REMOVE ALL the rubber. The safe and easy way to do it without modifying the axle or the car is to cut the top off of the channel that the rubber and springs go into, and weld a plate inside of it that has a small hole for the spring pin. This will allow the rear to stay where it needs to.
I never did any modifying to the fronts are other than swap springs and change the geometry.
Bill