Is it good/nice to lower your Shark?

[Stallion]

I just read that a C4 guy lowered his Vette 1 1/2 inches. Have you lowered your Vette? Or not? To me, Corvettes already seem to be pretty low to the ground D). Would it just be for looks to lower a car? Or would it also be a performance gain?

Thanks!

TR

 

[WhalePirot]

Lowering 1 1/2" seems impossible to me. Mine is down 3/4" and I have trouble with driveways and speed bumps. Without serious front end mods, 3/4" is all the C-4 allowed. The spacers between the front spring and frame were replaced with triangular blocks of polyurethane; the Guldstrand GS-80 suspension. The lower CG gives better cornering (like my Z-51 needed help).

The adequate stock ground clearance gets to be an issue rather quickly. With my 3" TPIS pipes, I was scraping even on freeway dips, until I tucked it up real tightly. The California roads are generally smoother than elsewhere, so you have to judge what you can get away with and where you drive the car.

Mike

1984 Z-51 Corvette (white/carmine) 406 cid four bolt, forged crank; 11:1 with aluminum Dart Pro-1 heads
FMS injectors- 30pph @45 psi; BBK 52mm
Lingenfelter Superram plenum, runners & base
Comp hydr. roller- 230 intake; 236 exh @.050
TPIS long tubes feed 3" system through new, stock '84 Vette cat to Flowmasters

Bilsteins revalved to 'Challenge' specs Heim jointed 3.73:1 rear; poly, poly everywhere
strengthened: super T-10 and Doug Nash O/D
Optima battery, inside behind passenger 'export' taillights

 

[Paranoid]

I lowered mine about the same. I cut 3/4 of each front coil.

 

[Stallion]

Thanks for the reply, fellas. I see what you mean. I guess bottoming out would be a problem depending on where you're driving. Even when lowered, is there a way not to scrape the bottom of the car? Maybe some sort of technique/practice?

And, how would you lower a C3? Isn't there just a bolt on the back of the Vette that's pretty easily accessed? Isn't that how you would lower her?

1970 Stingray, is that the original color(s) of your '70? I didn't know that cars other than the anniversaries and pace cars had two tones.

Thanks!

TR

 

[69MyWay]

TR,

I lower virtually everything that I can. I lowered my 69 with the complete VB&P performance plus suspension that had adjustable stud bolts on each end of the front and rear tranverse spring.

I just finished lowering my 90 with a wedgy kit from VB&P

I had lowered my 85, and had trouble clearing speed bumps with the lower part of the headers.

You would be surprised how much lower you really can make all the generations of Vettes. The C5 can be lowered with simple adjustments on the front and rear spring without changing any parts!

They look better, corner better, and did I say look better, when you slam them to the ground.

You always run the risk of hitting the belly of the car on something, or knocking the front spoiler/air dam off the car. That is the part you "pay" to "play" with a lowered car.

 

[Stallion]

I see what you mean. It's one of those, "is it worth it?" kind of decisions I guess. Isn't it pretty bad when you do hit the belly of your Vette, though? I wouldnt' be happy if I did that.

TR

 

[qwall]

like Chris said, lowering the car gives you much improved handling, but i'd be very scared to lower my car more than 3/4 just because of the streets we have here.

q

 

[wichitacorvette]

so where can one find a set of front coils to lower a c3 3/4"? id love to do it to mine, possibly a litte stiffer while im @ it besides VBP's full kit which is a little more than i can spend..... hopefully it might keep the front end on the ground better too....... even with my stock Xfire i had alot of "bounce" on the front end @ high speeds when id hit creases or small holes in the ground......... is there a way to just clamp part of the coil together? ive heard of that being done on some cars.......... dont know if id want to on the shark tho...... anyone have a monospring system? if so, how is it working out? any clearance probs w/the motor or otherwise?

 

[BLACKDOG]

Stallion - when I bought my 80 a few years ago, it was slammed to the ground. It looked really nasty :cool and handled like a slot car, especially running 265/50/15's all the way around. Running the Sierra Foothills on HWY 49 was a total blast !! ... but be prepared to keep a few spare air dams in stock !! I ran from Calif to BG last June and probably scraped off 50 pounds, and also ran pretty hot. Before we made the Labor Day run this year, Rare81 and I took it up over and inch and a half, put on 255/60/15's and the difference was amazing. It also ran about 20 degrees cooler at cruising speeds. If your road crews there keep everything like glass, and you keep aware of speed bumps and all curbs, it looks PURE .

 

[Stallion]

>> but be prepared to keep a few spare air dams in stock !! <<

What exactly are "air dams"? So, pretty much, if you are careful, it's good and fun to lower your Vette.

TR

 

[Corzvette69]

i REAAAALLY have to lower my front end.. car feels like a damn rail car when it comes to taking turns

 

[Stallion]

:eek That's a really nice Vette, Corzvette69! Really beautiful. What are you going to do to lower your front? Would you have to somehow modify the springs or replace them? How would one go about that?

TR

 

[LITEVETTE]

Vette Brakes sells slolom springs for the front and longer bolts for the rear spring. All total you'll spend about $80 and will squat 1"

 

[Stallion]

Isn't the real spring a leaf spring the the front springs are coil springs?

Thanks!

TR

 

[Mako]

I just read that a C4 guy lowered his Vette 1 1/2 inches. Have you lowered your Vette? Or not? To me, Corvettes already seem to be pretty low to the ground D). Would it just be for looks to lower a car? Or would it also be a performance gain?

Thanks!

TR

I just can't resist chiming in on this one Ok, here's the deal, lower away BUT:

- The frame, not the fender lips, should be the same height off the ground at all four corners.

- Mind the half shaft angles carefully, binding the u-joints is bad.

- After lowering, have a 4 wheel alignment done by a Vette literate shop. Be especially mindful of camber.

My car is high in the butt, despite the frame being square with in a quarter of an inch at all 4 corners and having 8" spring bolts installed. I suspect it's the Guldstrand shortened rear spring keeping the tail end up higher than I'd like visually, or the body wasn't put on with the proper shims in St. Louis. I'm not going to attempt to fix either situation however.

With the frame square to the ground, the car handles very well indeed. Dropping the rear with 9" bolts would look great but the frame would be angled "up hill". Not good.

Save the ultra slammed stuff for the show cars. Real world cars need to handle speed bumps, driveways and pot holes without leaving expensive parts scrapped off on the road behind them.

CYa!
Mako

 

[LT4hitsthespot]

Isn't the real spring a leaf spring the the front springs are coil springs?

Thanks!

TR

Yes, that's right. As far as one of your earlier questions, to get around the scraping problem you do learn "new" techniques. My rear spring is in bad shape so it is too low. I bottom out on everything. You take any dip or bump slower than normal and try to take things at more of an angle when possible. You also look further ahead and anticipate more. Not a big deal unless you don't drive the car all the time and forget. You will be reminded quickly tho.

Lowering is a personal taste for just a driver vette. If you are going to do some racing it will probably help your cornering somewhat. Right now I have exhaust that are only 2-3 " off the ground so I can't. Even with the front sitting high, if I'm not careful I hit it on speed bumps.

 

[cruzer99]

I have heard that lowered Vettes, Cameros, and TransAms have overheating problems because of air not getting under the car........

 

[Cream79L82]

I have the big meaty BFG's on my vette, but there just still seems to be way too much space between the top of my tire and the inner wheel well. I would like to lower her about an 1" for better handling too. Is it possible to lower the front and leave the back as it is? Would the camber and trim just have to be adjusted? If so, I hear some of you guys saying you just 'cut' off a 1/2" or whatever.... is that really a feasible option, taking out the stock spring and just hacking a section off the end of the coil?? I'd like to see how, well, I'm afraid I have to say cheaply I could get it done before I can look into it. I know that's against Corvette Law, but I'm still in college and I want to drop all my money into the engine at this point. Be waiting.

Thanks,
Jon

 

[LT4hitsthespot]

I think you can buy some front springs out of one of the magazines fairly cheap and they are a little shorter than stock. I have thought about getting some because mine are old anyway and these should be a little stiffer. Might help keep me from bottoming out.

I also saw the kit they claim gives it handling closer to the C4. It is adjustable for height. Has anyone tried one of these?

 

[LITEVETTE]

MAKO,I understand what your saying but... I saw Chris at the NCRS show and we discussed how low his car (69MyWay) was. He said yes he does have to be a little carefull but, he also said the car did handle great. There was also a guy there with a slammed 73' and he also seemed to have thought he did a good thing. Both he and Chris seem to put a lot of miles on their slammed rides and enjoy them a lot. I seems by your website that you may spend more of your time at the track than others so, no slammed wouldn't be right for you. But from my contacts with others it seems that if you do it right then low is the way to go. I guess it all depends on how and where you'll drive it and what your personal tastes are. Cheers!