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best suspension setup

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sscam69

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I would like to upgrade the supension of the car in the front and the rear. I want to replace the rear spring with a fiberglass spring and add a sway bar to the rear. In the front i want to change the springs and sway bar as well.

My question is what is the best setup. What should the spring rates be, diameter of the torsion bars, and spring rate of the rear spring.

I am looking for a soft ride on straight aways such as highways but i want it to be responsive when needed. I am hoping someone has experimented with a similar kind of setup and can help me out.

p.s. i have a 1979
 
Vette Brakes & Products Inc. at www.vettebrakes.com has a lot of nice parts and rates the ride, handling and difuculity of installation of their products compaired to stock. They offer a Grand Touring Suspension System that includes; steel rear spring (upgradeable to composite), front springs, front sway bar, rear sway bar and 4 shocks for 499.00 with an additional 150.00 for the composite spring upgrade. I have not used their products yet but they are on my to do list for my '79.
While you are browsing their site take a look at their front mono spring conversion.
 
VB&P

I went with the Performance Plus complete system for the front and rear fiberglass spring. It has BIG anit-roll bars, poly bushings, adjustable struts, all new joints, and comes with replacement front A Arms for extra strength and adjustment.

Believe it or not, I chose this design for looks! I have seen way too many beautiful Sharks with umpteen thousands of dollars of work the have an ugly ride height. The VB&P allows you to adjust the front and rear ride height as desired. Plus, each spring has four settings for the ride quality. The rear dual mount accomplishs this by definition of the name. The rear spring gets mounted on new brackets to the upper rear cross memeber instead of the diff housing. The dual mounts each have the four adjustment sleeves. Up front is the same thing.

How does it work? I don't know. It will be while before I get to enjoy mine. In fact it is covered in about an inch of dust right now from all the other work.
 
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BudD
:w
 
How did you like the Front Mono Spring ? I took delivery of the VBP Performance Plus for the mono-rear spring -- Great improvement! But a local vette mechanic has taken off as many front mono-springs as he's put on! I'm looking for a smoother ride - so should I stay with coil springs? What weight? TIA !

Blitz
 
i LOVE my VB&P perf plus system!!!! it rides great and handles awesome. almost everyone that has ridden in the car has complimented on the way it rides and handles. also i noticed that VB&P has put the system on sale for CAC members. if you have the money buy it, you won't regret it.
 
I considered the front mono spring setup awhile back, but my research turned up that its not that good an upgrade for a regular touring and light street vette.It radically changes the turning radius and handling style. Its excellent for a track racing C3.
I installed the VB&P 340lb rear composite, 460lb front coils , combo.
Theres alot of threads on the forums about this upgrade, from people who have installed the mono front spring.
Hope this helps..
Tom
 
I'm also trying to decide on what to do with the front suspension. I've been looking at the front composite, but have seen posts that advised like Tom said above. The other solution that I've looked at is front coil over springs which also have some hight adjustment. Has anyone else heard anything about them?
Glenn
 
coil overs? why yes...I have them...but it's different from what most have :)


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First - let me ask this - Have you just considered starting with the tires? Before going into suspension mods - I suggest looking long and hard at the tire (and wheel) options for an otherwise stock or mostly stock setup. Hands down tires are the biggest bang/buck handling 'investment' one can make and improve safety to boot. IMHO that's where the BIGGEST improvements are to be had. THe reason I mention this is that the overwheelming majority of C3s seem to sport basic hard rubber non-performance tires. There's at least 4 or more pretty decent tires avail in 15" sizes for a C3 and of course tons more if upgrading to a 17" tire.
 
Hey! What tires do you consider descent? I have been looking for high performance tires in 15" size for a long time now. What i have found so far is nothing... Maybe they are harder yo find over here (Sweden). If i look in to 16" or bigger there are tons of them. I would like to keep the 8" rallyes that came with the car when new. I am doing some mods to the fame and suspension this winter, welding-reinforcement-polybushings. But it feels stupid to do a race-chassis mod, and then kill it with s**t-tires. So, can you give me some names on descent 15" tires?
 
There's next to nothing available in 16 inch that has a nice aspect ratio, I hate tall sidewalls on the front... which oens are available? I have looked everywhere and most only have wimpy 255 meats or even smaller..I need 295 for the front (I have hoosiers for the rear, about 420/45/16 converted to metric sizes)
 
On my previous project I did the usual VB&P Perf+ kit thing. After 5000miles or so I'm still pleased with the product, nothing really wrong with it.

Still on my current project I have opted not to use any leaf springs, I'm using full coil overs in every corner and some other neat not-VB&P-stuff...:D
 
what are you using? Jim Meyers stuff?
 
Twin_Turbo said:
There's next to nothing available in 16 inch that has a nice aspect ratio, I hate tall sidewalls on the front... which oens are available? I have looked everywhere and most only have wimpy 255 meats or even smaller..I need 295 for the front (I have hoosiers for the rear, about 420/45/16 converted to metric sizes)

Hey Twin Turbo
Hoosier also do a 275/45/16, not quite the 295 you want but close.
Part No 46630: DOT Road Race Tyre.
Not sure if this helps, but thought it worth the mention.
:beer
 
Oh..is that a street legal tire? I assume it is since it's DOT approved.... if it has anything resembling a groove pattern it'll be gine. I would rather run hoosiers all round than those BFGs..and 45 aspect ratio, awesome :) 275 won't be a problem, I'll jsut have to whip a 10" rim together instead of the 11" I have now (gotta love modular wheels)
 
just looked, there's no thread pattern on those whatsoever so it's a no go for the street, I'll slap a set of slicks on my 2nd set of rims but I need a street tire to be able to drive this thing on the street.
 
We have run then here on the street (not that large mind you), but we get our own grooves cut to S01 or S03 pattern by the local tire/race prep shop. (A Race or Rally crew is another option for getting it done for a small donation to thier race budget)

Wear rate is an issue (5 - 7500km life), but if you want to go round corners fast, they do stick like s*it to a blanket!!!!!

:beer
 
I'd have to have a thread cut into them, 7500 km...they'd last more than 1 year for sure then. They're probably spendy right? I could use a set for hot summer days and to make the car look good and some ugly BFGs for the rest of the driving...hmmmm
 
Just an idea.........

Sorry, I dont know cost of that size, but the ones we used 245/45/16 on the RX7 were $ 250 - $280 US each from memory (12 months ago), dependant on the dollar.

I also must add the RX7 was only about 1100kg, in relation to wear factor, my 1981 is 1550kg, so might be a little less if you drive .....with vigor, shall we say!!!!. ;LOL

:beer

PS: Rim to tyre ratio, I thought anything over 83% was good, are you going for nearly 100%??? eg 11 inch rim = 269.5mm & 275mm tire/ 24.5mm (1") = 11.25"
 

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