JakeL

Hey all -

Planning out the winter build for my '97 C5, thought I'd do a quick easy-button post before picking up the phone (especially since it's after Christmas and everybody's at home anyway...).

My car has a set of Penske 8100's on it, and Vette Brakes leafs front and rear.

Thinking of converting the car to coils to make it easier to dink with springrates later on in the year.

Any of ya'll out there know who'd be best to call that'd have the necessary conversion parts to take the Penskes from their current state to the collars/etc for coilovers?

Figured I could call Penske and they'd have all the stuff, but if a Corvette specific vendor knows all the bits-and-bobs that need to go on a Coil-suspended 'vette (LG?), thought that'd be the most expedient route to take.

Thanks all, merry Christmas,

-Jake

Hi Volts Z06

Call the guys over at RE Suspension. When my brand new a Pfadt Coilovers blew a seal on the first outing, the got me out a set of custom Penske Coilovers in time for the following week's race. They a classy, professional and knowledgeable organization and service is awesome.

RBbugBITme

Dont be shy! Just give Penske a call but we obviously work closely with and highly recommend RE too. All you should need are ride height adjusters with set screws, spring retainers, and springs. I recommend thrust bearings as well. LG doesn't sell Penske so they cant help.

BrianCunningham

I replace my springs with ones I bought from Doug Rippie

flash911

There was a well known Penske tuner / dealer named Guy Ankeny but it looks like his site is down.

I have also used and can also recommend Mike Naake -

http://www.naake.com/store/browse-shocks/penske



EDIT: I'd get them dyno'd and valved just to be sure you're getting the most you can from them.

froggy47

Guy is still around but I don't know about his site. He's in Cali.

chetly

Yes, Guy is still around. Just saw him a couple weeks ago. He's working at GMG Racing now. Not sure if you can call and ask for him or not. Might be worth a shot.

JakeL

Thanks for the info guys, I'll give Penske or RE a call next week.

These shocks actually originally came from Guy Ankeny a-wayyyyyy back in the day. I bought them secondhand off a guy named Stan Whitney who ran ASP for a long time, then moved up to XP.

Thinking I might be able to sell the VBP springs and turn these into coil over shocks and be about money neutral...one hopes.

Valving should already be pretty close for the moment, will nail it down better once the rest of the setup is in place (spring rates, bars, aero loading, etc). On all the formula cars, I've used Chris Billings at the Shock Shop (www.shock-shop.com), and what he did for the Penskes (8300's on one, Ti bodied 2000's on the other) on those cars was transformative - the cars were so stuck on bumpy tracks it was amazing.

Thanks everybody,

-Jake

JakeL

Follow up on this one.

I spoke with Penske this afternoon. Conversion is quite simple.

You need the spring perch, SR-81225 ($50 each) and the ride height adjuster, RH-83225 ($60 each), and you're good to go. Add some 2.25" Hypercoils, and off you go. Should be able to sell the VBP springs for the price of those parts and be about $ neutral.

Follow-up question then - not solely related to coilovers - I've seen some discussion out there for what to do about the rubber bushing dealie that goes above the shock - some use the stock rubber mount, there are delrin replacements, and then other solutions. I haven't been able to find a lot of the vendor sites to get an idea - can somebody give me the quick overview?

Cheers,

-Jake

RBbugBITme

edit: Totally misread what you were asking about. Banski has delrin versions and I'm making a monoball version for post mount shocks.

https://www.banskimotorsports.com/Pi...ck_Mounts.html
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https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1588495827