LS6Vette02

I've done some searching for the right alignment specs for road courses, but it seems like everyone's is a little different depending on their setup. I want something a little more agressive than stock, but not something that will wear out the tires since i'll be driving the car to and from events. It is basically a stock 02 Z06 with the stock supercars. I did lower the car yesterday afternoon on the stock bolts. The front instantly went down 3/4" on both sides and the right rear has gone down 5/8", while the left rear dropped only 1/2". I'm hoping after a week or so both rear sides will be even and have dropped closer to an inch. I'll wait until then when I know it is level before getting the alignment. Do I need to worry about the cornerweight right now and the sway bars or will I be ok for the track with just a good alignment? What alignment spec would you recommend? Thanks!

Kyle

Solofast

What tires are you going to use on the track?

I run -2 degrees of camber up front and -1.5 in the back.

I have 18k miles on them and I just flipped the fronts on the rims so that I can use the rest of them up. The backs are almost worn out, and more so on the inside, but it really wasn't worth it to flip them, I will just replace them in a month or so.

These tires never saw the track and while I likely got less life out of them than if I ran a less aggressive camber, the life wasn't really bad.

If you are going to track the car on the street tires, then you are going to find that the wear is going to be pretty even, across the tires even with a more aggressive alignment.

If you watch the tires and flip them on the rims earlier than I did, you will get plenty of life out of them.

Much more important for tire life than camber is front toe. I run 1/8 of an inch of total toe in for the street and then unwind exactly one turn of toe out on each side for the track. Mark your tie rods and it only takes two minutes to change the toe trackside.

If you compromise on the alignment for the track you will end up with less grip and beat up the outside of the tires pretty quickly. My guess is that if you run -2/-1.5 front/rear and track the car a couple of times a year you will end up wearing pretty evenly and have more fun doing it.

Finally you really should get it corner weighted. Raftracer and I found that just "dialing the screws" even an equal amount all around resulted in a messy corner weight situation. And that was going from a properly cornerweighted starting point. Find somebody who has a set of weights and pay $200 bucks to get it right. Also, don't get to greedy on the lowering unless you have shorter rear shocks, or you will find yourself bottoming the rear shocks and the car will handle funny.

Good luck and have fun.

Solo2GS

My car is lowered slighly too. Best I could managed was -2 camber front and -1 rear. They could not get more out of it.

Your results may very, but get as close as it can go.

MattB

Hey, I'm trying to figure this stuff out myself, but I get the feeling that there is no "one" perfect setting. Some tracks are high speed and some are twisty, I think the appropriate settings for each would be different. What are your normal tracks like?

I just set my chamber back to a little move than -1 up front, mostly to get my caster back . When I installed a chamber kit I got -2 static chamber, but my caster dropped to 4.4 & 4.9. I think this caster setting maybe good for autox as the lower speed turns were great, but I was a little unsettled on the high speed turns (lost a LOT of time last track day). So, I think I'm now closer to the stock caster setting and hope this will help me out in the high speed turns.

So, be careful with changing the settings, changing chamber will effect your toe setting but it could also negatively impact your caster.

I'm afraid to alter my ride height until I have access to some scales, if you just drive around town I'm sure it does not matter much, but I don't need to mess anything else up

Good luck!

wtknght1

You have now most likely really screwed up that car. As was stated, you are now going to bottom out the shocks and you've certainly changed the rake, suspension geometry, cornerweighting, etc, etc, etc. I'm also guessing you don't have adjustable sway bar end links so you could be "preloading" your bars which is also bad. Take it to a pro shop, have them set the correct ride height, cornerweights, and zero your sway bars (if possible). It will make a world of difference!!!!!!

LS6Vette02

I'm running the stock size goodyear eagle f1 supercar tires. I may end up raising the car back up so i'm not lower than 10-15mm from what it originally was, but why does the owner's video recommend lowering it for track use if it screws things up that bad? It's under setting up the z06 for racing about 30:00 into the video. I am having a shop work on it as soon as the tires come in.

wtknght1

These things have a sweet spot, but arbitrarily lowering the car won't hit it. Trust me on this one, it makes an enormous difference when it's set up correctly. Getting the correct height and rake and then putting it on scales gets the corner weights right. Then you zero the sway bars so they're not preloaded...and you do this with your weight in the driver's seat and fuel in the car.

The video also recommends running 1 quart over the full line too...and that's wrong. All that does is force the engine to "eat" that extra oil, which means you're not burning the appropriate air/fuel ratio, etc, etc (sweet spot). The LS6 doesn't suffer oil starvation problems like the LS1 so you don't need to do that.

freefall

Wait a minute - don't the LS1 and LS6 both run the same gull-wing oil pans? Are you also suggesting that an Accusump is not needed?

LS6Vette02

The video sounds like it makes sense to add extra oil, but you do have a point there since it would also seem like that would raise the pressure as well as oil temp. Well, I lifted the car back up to where it originally was because i'd rather be safe than sorry. Now my question/concern is what are the steps I need to take to make sure it is truely back to normal and what do I need to check to see if I messed anything else up? What is the proper rake? Also if you know of any reputable shops near northeast TN please let me know. Thanks

wtknght1

Oil pans...yes. Oil pick up and distribution system...no! The LS6 started off with basically the same system, but here's the rest of that story. I was teaching a school at Road Atlanta years ago, when a bunch of GM engineers rolled into the track facility with some brand new Z06s...for testing. They flogged the cars pretty good and then somebody got the bright idea to run the track counter clockwise instead of the typical clockwise direction. Results: They began detonating engines. Because of that, they redesigned the oil pickup and distro system in the engine and the problem was fixed.

I don't honestly believe an accusump is needed...on these cars. I've put well over 60K track miles on my 89, 98 and my 01 Z06 and have never detonated an engine...never. I have never run an accusump. When somebody can definitely show me that the stock oil system is not adequate enough for these engines, then I'll run one. Until then...

I routinely twist my engines above 6600 rpms, lap after lap, and they just keep running fine. I put 4+ seasons on my original 01 before dropping in a "newer" 04 engine. I didn't have to...my 01 was fine and pretty strong, but I thought I'd get more power by swapping. Huge mistake. It wasn't as good.

Again, I just don't think an accusump is needed with these LS6 engines...unless you really start making serious mods to it. As I have said many times on this forum...keep it simple...bolt on a set of Kumhos, Carbotech brakes, a set of T1 bars and learn to drive the car as it is. It'll be reliable, you'll get lots of seat time, and you will dust most everything else out there.

wtknght1

There are several threads on this forum talking about the correct ride heights, etc., but the only way to know for sure is to take it to a group that knows for sure. I don't know of a shop in your area, but I take mine to the Phoenix guys in Pennsylvania. Trust me, it's worth the trip! If you need, Joe will even come and get your car and deliver it back to you!! I doubt you will ever spend better money than to let them set up the suspension and tune the engine. The car will be balanced, easy to drive (at any speed), easier on tires, and really, really fast.

SouthernSon

There are many good shops in the country and one of the best is in Smyrna, Tn. (Nashville area). VetteSport - 615-218-2823, Dr. Jerry Onks. JO is an SEC SCCA champ, T1 competitor and all around good guy. I have never heard a negative thing about him since knowing him over the last few years. He has full service shop with an in house dyno. Whatever the mods or service, he has probably done it to one of his own vehicles in the past.

LS6Vette02

Thanks for the info, I talked to a guy today who does that type of work all the time here in town. He has done a lot of different style racing in the past, SCCA, etc. and is helping me out. He's going to set the proper ride height on Thursday and i'll drive it a couple days and take it back to him for a good alignment. He's using the factory ride height specs so the rake, cornerweight, sway bars, etc. will be as they should and he'll also give me a little more agressive camber/toe settings. Man i'll be glad when it's all done!