James,

For the "dead coils," add another helix curve with a different pitch for the "dead" area of the spring. Then JOIN the 2 (or 3) helix curves into a single curve. This Join curve can then be used for a SWEPT surface as explained in the tutorial, or you can use it with a solid RIB (or GROOVE) feature in Part Design.

An alternate method is to create a helix curve using the LAW function to define the varying pitch distance.

I have very little experience with FEA, so I'm not sure if CATIA geometry can be imported directly to PATRAN, but I'm sure you can use the IGES or STEP translations. CATIA V5 has it's own FEA tools: GPS and ELFINI. You could use either tool to make a mesh in CATIA, save the Mesh, and then open it in PATRAN.

Maybe someone who has actually done this can explain it better.