[hewittca]

I think these last two photos you posted are the key to the answer. You can tell from that bottom up angle that the top D loop in your spring doesn't appear to be as complete and defined as the D in a stock spring. It does not appear that your spring would seat and stay put in any orientation. As in, there is a wide enough gap between the end of the spring and the next coil that it can slide off center from the D seat in the upper mount. The spring should extend with a flatter region as far as the paint scraped area you can see in that bottom up photo.