Gordonm

I finished up the install yesterday and I have to say it was an easy install. I did remove the C clips from my axle shafts because they are not needed now you do not have to do this. I started by having everything out already and was waiting for the kit to arrive. Steve from Dragvette originally did not have a kit for the Dual Mount spring. He has had a lot of requests for this so he designed a different bracket so it can mount up. I insatlled the bracket on the rear end housing and then bolted on the crossmember. Everything is fairly tight fit but enough room to get at all the adjustments. I installed the rear end assembly as you see in the picture. I then put on the half shaft loops and you have to drill 2 holes on the trailing arm to mount the upper part of the loop and this is also the upper mount link hole as you can see. My only goof up was I did not center the one pictured and had to elongate the holes and center the upper loop mount. Where it was the loop just touched the battery box. After I centered it there is plenty of clearance. Did the other side and installed the half shafts.
The lower links have to be exactly the same length as the half shafts. After measuring about a hundred times, both shafts I got the links exactly the same as the half shafts. Steve gives you studs to mount the camber bracket and a few different size shims for this. The shims are in case the half shaft angle and drive shaft angle are not the same. Mine took the standard 1/2 plate that he supplies and was dead on. No need for the extra shims. Mount the lower links and it is starting to look like I'm making progress. Mount the upper links on and now start the adjusting. I bought a great little digital angle gauge. It is a Wixey gauge used mainly for wood working and setting your angle on your table saw. This gauge was the handiest little tool for setting it up and I can change my camber and know exactly what degrees I am changing to. You can see it hanging off the drive shaft in one of the pictures. I'm not going into all the details and work on the adjustment as Steves video explains it. It took some time and mine came out perfect. I called Steve to verify the numbers and he agreed they were right on. My camber change over the travel of the wheel is .1 degree now. When checking all the settings I do not have the spring on or theshock installed. This makes swinging the arm up and down much easier. Even when the suspension hangs at full droop the wheel is straight up and down. After buttoning everything up I left the exhaust off in case I need to do anything else. I took it around the block, open headers for a test drive. everything is working good. I do have a lean to one side on the car but this has nothing to do with Drag vette kit, more with the spring and body of the car. My passenger side has always been a little higher than the drivers side.
Hopefully the pictures expalin some of this, if any questions I'll do what I can to answer. Now I have to get some drag passes and some auto X time on the car to see what it can do.

Kit parts


Bracket mounted




Rear assembly ready to be mounted




Loop upper mount


Lower link on and half shaft in


Upper and lower link in




Everything in now


Suspension at full droop


Everything on and on the ground. Still have to adjust ride height. Shafts are not parallel

Eddie 70

Looks darn good. I will steer TNBUSA to this thread today and get him to look at it. Looks so nice and clean. Did you use a shortened spring back there or is it just the offset arms that have the end links off vertical? Makes me want to go out there and tear mine back out and clean it up again. It has been about 7 or 8 years since I did that. Man, time flies, never really thought about that before.

Gordonm

Shortened spring 1 inch both sides with stock arms. Someday I might go with double offset arms but mine are in decent shape and working fine. If he has any questions I can get more pics or go into more detail if he wants.

Z-man

That's a nice setup!

SIXFOOTER

Gordon, that looks way cool, but being an idiot, what is that fancy kit supposed to do for you?

Gordonm

When drag racing when the car starts to squat the camber change makes the tire pull in and reduces the contact patch. If you take the stock setup and go through the arc of suspension travel the camber change can be as much as 6 or more degrees. With this on the car mine is .1 degree over the arc. If you jack up the rear of your car watch to see how much the tire angle changes. If you look at the one picture you can see mine is straight now at full drop.
Plus my halfshaft is no longer a stressed member. If the halfshaft breaks I do not lose control because the upper link is what is holding it now instead of the halfshaft.

cardo0

Wow Gordonm, thats quite a setup. It looks like its designed to limit any side to side movement of the t-arms/halve shafts. But aren't the t-arms limited in side travel by thier mount in the frame anyways? Maybe the t-arms twist some in the box but i don't know for sure. How does the tire camber change without twisting the t-arms in the frame boxes - it must twist some as the frame metal ain't all that thick. I'm sure that 6-link will add a lot stablity to the rear end and congradulations on a nice installation. But IMHO the 6 link still won't tranfger the load from the front end to the rear wheels like good ole' ladder bars.

I expect u will see some good results at the strip. Small/lighter cars like vettes get squirrely as they get faster and can use all the stability help they can get. I imagine that car will handle much better in the turns also with all that support. Can't waite to read the results.

Nice work Gordonm.
cardo0

Hadez

Looks like an awesome setup and I hope it does help your wheel hop and improve your ET's. I am going to give some Q1-A's in the rear a shot at eliminating my wheel hop and if that does not work then I will install one of these if it works for you. I have tried just about everything else and can't get rid of the hop so maybe this will do the trick for me if the Q1-A's don't.

stingraymaniac

really nice setup!,how much is that kit selling for?

CorvetteDave01

Very nice setup. I bought the Dragvette 6 link setup last summer and will install it over the next month or so. My differential brackets are different since I have the standard spring mount setup. Couple of questions...
1. Why did u remove the differential and did you have to?
2. Why did u remove the C clips from your stubshafts?
3. I need to install the stub shaft/cap kits to replace the straps, can u do that without removing the differential as well?
4. How did u get your shock mounts removed exactly or do you have to?

Let us know how it works for launches and at the dragstrip.

Thanks,
Dave

kayosnes

Looks gooood.
Is your car hight the same at both sides, when the bolts on the kit is adjusted at the same length??

Gordonm

I'll try to answer some of the questions here.

Cordo0
The trailing arm when it is by itself can swing a lot from side to side. It is definitly mounted ridgid at all. The lower link and halfshaft keep it ridgid in the stock setup.

Stingraymaniac
The cost was around 800 for the setup. I did it in two stages. I originally paid for a set of half shaft loops then found out he was designing a 6 link kit for the Dual Mount so I waited and paid him the balance when the kit became available. So I can't say wha tthe exact price was.

CorvetteDave01

1. Yes I had to remove the diff to get the bracket on. If you look at the picture of just the diff bracket there was no way it was going on without it being removed.

2. Because they are not needed anymore and it allows for better adjustment. Steve recomended I try it this way. The adjustment is slightly different than his video shows but it is quite easy to do.

3. Yes you can do that without removing the diff.

4. Yes you have to remove the shock mounts. Mine have been out recently so they come out with a slight rap of a rawhide hammer. There is a tool for removal of the shock mount. It basically just protects the threads while hammering the mount out.

Kayosnes
No it is not at the same height. I am working on tha tnow. My drivers side has always been a little lower the the passenger side. It is a little worse with the Dual mount spring but Iam adjusting it now and have it within about 1/2 inch so far. The nut is definitly different from one side to the other.

I'll post about wheel hop in another thread.

73jst4fun

Geez, it's hard keeping up with you, good job as usual... looks great Gordon, how much weight did you think you added to the rear now, the six link will definitely help you in the turns, and I like the idea of the four rods controlling the camber and less stress on the shafts when there parallel, be interesting to see if it helps your wheel hop issue.....

Gordonm

The only parts tha tare added are the loops and the upper shafts and the bracket for the rear. I was able to REMOVE the C clips so that saved some weight. With the dual mount spring also in the rear maybe 15 to 20 pounds.

1coolC2

Gordon,
Looks like a bad azz set-up!! Have it ready to ride when I get there I picked up a SUPER nice 92 LT-1 car last weekend, guy had to get rid of it...will fill ya in later on details and send ya some pics. Looking foward to getting a ride in your car next weekend.

73jst4fun

Count me in also, Jeff, got that C2 finished yet.. Gordon said he'll finish it for you[QUOTE

68 NJConv 454

When installing my dual mount spring and had the differential out I noticed how easy it was to mount the strut bar bracket upsidedown ontop of the diff and could easily be made to bolt right on.
I'd prefer a VBP style strut bar bracket over a stock one but they want over $200 just for the bracket. Then I could weld some struts onto a standoff on the TA top. I really like the idea of making the halfshaft a non-stressed member.
Good work.

Soooo I see how Steve used the half shaft loop bracket to tie in both the lower and upper strut rods. These rods are now a few inches shorter than the stock setup or even the VBP upgraded smart strut system. Looks like the Dragvette lower and upper struts are same length as half shaft. Is that really important? I'll admit, I know debits and credits but not much about geometry.
What if you left the lower stock length strut in place, no half shaft loop and mounted an upper strut (same design at lower adjustable strut) to a standoff ontop of the TA pocket. Both struts would be the same length but both longer than the halfshaft. All would move parallel. Would that work or is it really that important that the halfshafts and struts be the same exact length??
Nice work Gordonm. I'll have to check ur car out this summer once mine is on the road and Bob's cruisin in his new custom.

shafrs3

Have you noticed any other improved overall handling benefits?

jerome1979

i can't find price because their site is down right now
but will be a next mod i think!

1coolC2

I just dropped off the body for paint this past weekend. Now I need to disassemble all of the suspension and drivetrain to paint the tube chassis, coat/polish all of the components and "tune up" the new LS7!!...(gonna be nasty) I hope to have the body and chassis reassembled by the end of May and final assembly done by the end of July...just in time for Corvettes at Carlisle in August! Let's see how that works out