Question: Suspension upgrades.

[upinsmoke]

I am getting ready to start upgrading the suspension on my 68 coupe. I was wondering if anyone out there has seen a C3 with transverse composite monospring front suspension? I am looking at the one sold by Vette Brakes and Products, Vette Brakes and Products | High Performance Corvette Parts, Brakes & now with Raybestos brake & chassis | Vbp, Arms, Kits This car is my daily driver but when I am finished with all of the mods I want to do to it (bigger brakes, rack and pinion steering, suspension mods) I will do some track days, autocross and what ever else comes along. I am just wondering about living with this setup on a daily basis(8- 10,000 miles a year) . Is it trouble free? Is it an upgrade or just different? I enjoy working on it but driving the Hell out of it and often is where I get the most enjoyment. I hope some of you have seen this setup and can give me your thoughts.

My gut tells me to keep it simple, coil spring, tubular A arms, sway bars, shocks and a composite monospring in the rear.

The car will have a 427 sb gen 1 (almost finished ) 6 speed, and factory air, no body mods, biggest wheel tire combo that will fit stock fenders.

I forgot to mention this was not a numbers matching car (don't want any hate mail) LOL

Thanks again for any information or thoughts.

 

[Shouth Shore Shark]

I have a "77 that was updated with the front and rear VBP packages...both are the dual mount types with the a-arm assembly and smart struts and such. All the work was preformed in the front driveway...no suprises envolved. It really has made the car handle better that that I could have ever hoped for...Should you desire to make this happen for yourself...besure to get the catalog so that when you have the alignment set-up using one the available spec's they have listed in the back... Also, you should get the new shim/spacer kits for the front and back suspensions for the 4 wheel alignment... I have mine set-up for autocross spec's and drive the car on the steet on a regular basis....You may also have to replace your shocks...play with the system to fine-tune it to your needs..and keep a wrench on the the bolts and nuts for a few hundred or so miles, untill every thing has a chance to get what I would call "work hardened"....
Then, you will be going out to look for the kind of roads that can make driving fun....completely under control...enjoy..."See you down the Road"

 

[upinsmoke]

I have a "77 that was updated with the front and rear VBP packages...both are the dual mount types with the a-arm assembly and smart struts and such. All the work was preformed in the front driveway...no suprises envolved. It really has made the car handle better that that I could have ever hoped for...Should you desire to make this happen for yourself...besure to get the catalog so that when you have the alignment set-up using one the available spec's they have listed in the back... Also, you should get the new shim/spacer kits for the front and back suspensions for the 4 wheel alignment... I have mine set-up for autocross spec's and drive the car on the steet on a regular basis....You may also have to replace your shocks...play with the system to fine-tune it to your needs..and keep a wrench on the the bolts and nuts for a few hundred or so miles, untill every thing has a chance to get what I would call "work hardened"....
Then, you will be going out to look for the kind of roads that can make driving fun....completely under control...enjoy..."See you down the Road"

Thanks for the reply Shouth Shore. How long have you had this setup on the car? I am looking at their "Big Daddy" system which come with just about everything. What shocks did you end up using on yours. They have an upgrade from the Bilstein shocks to QA1 double adjustable. Thanks again for the reply, I was beginning to wonder if anyone out there had heard of this setup. Hope to see you at an event some where here in the Lone Star State soon.

 

[catbert]

That front end setup has been around forever, and very popular with the aftermarket crowd. No telling how many hundreds or thousands they have sold. When I was racing, back in the day, guys were using that front end with good results. If you are going to be mainly street driving it, the Bilsteins should be perfect.

 

[Shouth Shore Shark]

To answer your questions' I purchased the packages at diferent times ...first the rear set-up then, later the front set-up with the Offset A-arms... Smart Struts and no front sway bar upgrade, no sway bar on the rear set -up.... Then I purchased the shocks local...Monroes front and Monroe air shocks on the rear, so that I could add ground clearance to get over the speed bumps on the road out to the highway...and to also allow me to pull our 15' BAJA Runabout boat. So, that is what I have, and the suspension rigging has been on the 'Vette since March of 2005....Once the componets were set-up to "Gulstrands" alignments spec's, the first thing I did was take a 90' corner at 30 to 35 M.P.H. the tires held their ground, and the car stayed in lane.... in total control ...money well spent as far I am concerned..... However, I do not recommend doing these sort of things with a "Chick in the 'Vette" unless you want to see them get MADDER than a STOMPED on FIREANT MOUND...ad AND