sothpaw2

Title says it all--was over in the C5Z forum and someone was indicating that folks that track these cars change the springs every year. I'd be really surprised if that was true for a stock car (cam, springs, etc).

Any opinions/experiences? I changed mine a few years ago to new stock springs and never had issues before or since.

Andy

froggy47

Never changed mine. Should I change them 5 or 6 times this year to catch up?

JimbeauZ06

Nope, not me. I do change the air in the tires though.

Aardwolf

They will get weak in time. If you want the most HP then freshen the engine up.

95jersey

Get a cam that is a good reason to change the valve springs.

Also, if you run an XE-R lobe cam (ie. LG cam), it is recomended to change them after a certain period of time, as while those cams product lots of HP, they do so at the longevity of the spring life (or so I am told).

CHJ In Virginia

The stock LS-XX Motors are pretty robust, but have been kinown to break springs with sustained high RPM usage It all really depends on how you use the car. If you track the car a lot, freshening the springs is cheap longevity insurance. I have 36K miles on my 03Z of which about 7K are track miles. I just changed the springs this winter. The change woke the motor up at high RPM, it now willingly spins to redline. Modified motors with big cams and other work are an entirely different story. Expect to change out springs fairly frequently on these cars.

John Shiels

I was changing mine every 3-4,000 track miles and still broke one. i run the thing real hard at high rpm's and usually 1 gear down in corners below 95% at the event.

GettReal

Wait till the motor (#7) grenades from oil starvation... then replace springs

Half kidding - I didnt replace mine until my last motor swap, the springs held up ok.

sothpaw2

Thanks guys! Good info. here. I hadn't heard it discussed so assumed it wasn't a big issue. Thought since it was mentioned in the C5Z section that it was worth discussing.

I try to shift early before getting into high revs. The car still has a lot more in it than the driver currently.

Zenak

why shift early in road racing??? your torque and power band even with good headers is above 3000 to apx 5500 RPM in most cases. If you are running too low RPM then you are losing time.

Springs are good for a long long time, unless you are fixing, upgrading or refreshing the motor.. .wait until you have issues :-)

UstaB-GS549

I got nervous and replaced mine last summer at 24,000 miles. Stock yellow springs were $60 for the set from Gene Culley. It took about 2-3 hours with a Crane spring compressor and air hose.

I don't know how you could predict that your springs are at the end of their fatigue life.

longdaddy

55k on the ls6 motor, probably about 10-12k track miles. factory stock everything from the intake to the muffler, no motor issues ever.

longdaddy

you should buy a new car, just to be sure!

longdaddy

it used to be pretty helpful for me to shift early or take corners one gear up so I could practice holding down the pedal all the way without things getting too sideways. of course, eventually you need to transition to a proper gear/powerband, but it can be a good learning tool.

sothpaw2

Another motivation is keeping the oil temps down (I'm just now installing a cooler for that) and also not agrevating the clutch hydraulics(one day I'll pull it and replace the slave, master, etc etc but for now just changing the fluid). Plus--Yeah--I'm willing to bet that higher rpm means shorter engine life due to higher stressing of parts and perhaps reduced oil flow. I just don't see the need to push it so hard until advanced group.

VetteDrmr

With a stock motor (either LS1 or LS6) and rev limit I don't think you need to worry about valve springs breaking. I changed mine a couple of years ago somewhere north of 150K miles and 6 years (at that time) of autocrossing. Primary reason was to eliminate some valve float that had showed up when I got my car dyno'd. Not enough to worry about getting into the heads, but enough to make the engine struggle up at the top end.

And, as many have mentioned, stiffer aftermarket springs DO require much more frequent replacement.

HTH, and have a good one,
Mike

Jason

Cheap peace of mind.