gravytrain

I am just about to to do a frame off of a 66 C2 coupe. I'd like some suggestions from the collective body here on what to do with my suspension. The car will not see a road course, a slalom or autocross event. Will not be bound by rules or regs of a santioning body or club. The bodyis flared at all four wheels and has a 600+hp big block aluminum head motor for power. Manual steering, manual brakes at this time. Front monopsrings, rear coil conversions etc.,VBP kits for a few thousand? What works? What is real and not just a cool visual at a car show? Want to put together a street car that handles at the outer limits of what you could expect to find rat racing through the twisties on a cruising night. Clean slate, how would you guys build it. Really like to hear what TCracingCA thinks. Direction on specific parts and vendors appreciated.

DREGSZ

C2s and C3s are about the same suspension wise if I recall correctly.

VBP or a mid america kit will do you fine w sport valved Bilstiens, and over sized front swaybar.

I believe 550# was the big block front spring rate

The key to handling on these cars is the rear camber smart bar and having a little extra rear toe in.

http://www.mamotorworks.com/corvette?frame=4.3896

I would go with this kit w a HD or sport valved shock

gravytrain

Dregsz...thanks for the suggestions! Seems like it is kinda hard for the stupid and uninformed to get advice. Would like to get this right as it goes back together. As I've gone through a lot of these posts it seems conventional is the way to go. Don't want to end up with a restorod that wins a People's Choice Award and can't be driven out of the parking lot. My learning curve is particularly steep right now.Thanks again.

ghoffman

Talk to Paul at Vansteel. When I visited their shop, they were really into C2's and C3's.

Jason Staley

I posted in the thread shown below some mods that have worked out well for me on the street & track regarding setting up a C3 suspension. I believe the setup would work on a C2 as well. Obviously you don't need the brake cooling ducts, but most are applicable to the track or street. The car is much better balanced and easier to drive than when I bought it years ago. Hope this might give you some ideas .

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=2055511

rfn026

Don't get too carried away here. Btw - the C2 and C3 chassis is the same for all practical purposes. Some idiot PR guy in '97 thought the two body styles had different chassis under them. That's how we ended up with the C5 when it was really the 4th generationn chassis. Then it got worse when they started selling the C6 - which for the most part uses the same chassis design as the C5. Oh well.

I would stay close to stock in the rebuild. I love soft springs and big sway bars. That's the fastest setup. The problem is a car with stiff springs is easier for the average person to drive fast.

I know any number of race engineers that will lock a car down with stiff springs if they have a no-talent driver. He thinks he's really fast and they don't have to listen to his bitching.

Avoid spending money on a bunch of parts that don't do much. Remember the purpose of a magazine is to sell parts for the advertisers - not to help you.

Richard Newton

Corvette Restoration Guide: 1963-1967

How to Restore and Modify Your Corvette, 1968-1982

Jason Staley

I tried this route on my C3 ... stock spring rates with 1 1/4" front and 7/8" sway bars on the rear. The ride quality was horrible, but it would handle very flat until it let loose. Then you were into a spin without any warning. Maybe that is the fastest way for a really good driver, and I'm just a novice. The main thing that I didn't care for was the ride.

I settled on a compromise with a bit stiffer spring with 1" front and 9/16" rear sway bars. The car rides nice, is balanced, and handles pretty good for a street car.

BrianCunningham

If your going to spend that kind of coin check out Guldstrand's catalog.

http://www.guldstrand.com/scripts/pr...?idCategory=54
This is the suspension that Chevy got this idea for the C4's suspension from, only this one's better.

gravytrain

Jason
Thanks for your input. I'm curious about the front monospring. If you were to do it over, would you? I can't pick up alot of comment on it, positive or negative. I don't think you have the whole VBP set up with the upper and lower arms and I don't know if they offered it when you did your install, would you look at it now, or do you prefer the SPC a arms. What are you runing for lowers?

parkerracing

Finish the rear with a VBP F'glass spring and C/F Half/drive shafts from Van Steel. The VBP trans leaf front end is all there and an easy bolt in. Steeroids too. Top it off with brakes from Baer or VBP. If your gong with a larger diameter wheel, you open up your braking options considerably. About 10k later and you'll have a C2 you can drive on the walls if not the ceiling. Isn't spending someone else's money fun?

gravytrain

Probably going Tom's stuff wheel to wheel including the 12 bolt although I wish he had a lower numerical ratio than the 3:73. Pulling the Jerico 4speed and will use the Richmond overdrive 5 speed. The carbon fiber half shafts are really cool and I'm sure lighter than air but it is hard for me to imagine they would outperform that huge hunk of metal in Tom's HD set up.

parkerracing

Weight is not your friend (both unsprung and rotating). You'd be amazed how much quicker your car can be just losing pounds of either (both). /:\

ctk30

If you run steeroids make sure to gusset and strengthen the whole thing overall

It's only made for show and shiners and will not hold up to track time

And too rfn026 I don't really know of any race car that uses soft springs, springs that are considered soft in the racing world are still way stiffer than any factory springs.

A soft spring for the C3 would be the 550 front coils

Danny Popp ran 1200 from what I heard

Jason Staley

I've debated going the coil over route a few times, but I decided to stick to the transverse springs for adjustability. I've found it is nice to be able to adjust the spring rates to find the right balance between the front & rear for good ride and handling. This can be done in about 15-30 minutes per end without disassembling most of the suspension. The other thing that is nice about this setup is being able to adjust the ride hight using two wrenchs in just a few minutes.

I originally started out with VBP's kit but didn't care for how they had it set up. I'm still using their lower a-arms in the front, but switched to the adjustable uppers recently to gain a better camber curve. They have longer ball joints that increase the camber gain. The other thing that I didn't care for in VBP's kit were the sway bars. I thought they were too large and gave the car a really poor ride. So in the end, all I am still using is their springs, lower a-arms, and the smart struts in the rear.

Probably my biggest issue with the transverse springs (which is the same as alot of people have with composite rear springs), was the car wanted to bounce too much in the rear. I found that the bounciness is heavily influenced by the front to rear spring rate balance and what type of shocks you use. I've been though quite a few sets (Delco, Monroe, KYB, Bilsteins extremes, KYB2's and Edelbrock). I found the Bilstein extremes too stiff for the street (probably would be great track shocks but I wasn't into HPDE's at the time), the KYB2's had a great ride but were too soft for HPDE's letting the car roll alot in the corners, and now I am running the Edelbrocks which I find are a good compromise for a non-adjustable shock. If you went adjustable, you could probably do better but for now I am happy with these.

One other thing I forgot to mention in my first post that's not related to the suspension, but you'll need it if you get going pretty quick around a road course is a better oil system. I am using Canton's road racing pan with trap doors and 8 qts of Red Line 15W50 weight oil. I'm also in the process of adding a 2 qt. oil accumulator behind the driver's front wheel due to my oil pressure dropping in long turns.

ghoffman

I just put up a bunch of plots on this and then started a new thread on it. I deleted all of the brand names, but anyone want to hazard a guess as to what is what? I did test the KYB's (for a C4) and they were so bad, I did not even put them in this comparo.



http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=2071172