hey bjuice, have not been here in a while, sounds like a fun car.
If you are at 460 now and 550 is your upper limit the cam thats in it should not be a problem....but you may still push your comfort zone with that 177 and 8lbs.
The suspension question reminds me of a car a buddy of mine and I shared back in the seventies, 63 box car (nova), mono leaf with J bolt bars. Sounds like someone was trying to find a setup that would have some spring travel and still kind of work at the track....those springs do wind up a lot... but if the snubber on the slapper bars is more than a half inch from the spring it sounds like there is to much pinnion angle. Ballpark 3 degrees with rubber snubber touching the spring.