mikey

Has anybody here installed the shark bite suspension kit on a C2? I installed a vansteel kit, complete with glass leaf spring and bilstein shocks, but considering changing it all out.. my dilemna is my wife can't deal with the harsh ride of the vansteel street and slalom kit which contains 550lb front springs and 360lb rear. my rear is cranked up higher due to a clearance issue with my wide rear tires, so probably riding a lot stiffer than nominal design.

i chose the vansteel kit originally because i wanted much better handling and i must say from that perspective i am happy. however my dear wife has an injured back and i need to compromise. i thought the shark bite with single adjustable shocks and 350lb springs up front would be much softer, with the ability to stiffen the dampers up for the occassional autocross. i am going to re-order my wheels to fix the clearance issue(s) as well..

i'm looking at both the front and rear kits, now that i've re-discovered the joy of long roadtrips with this car, i could re-adjust ride height when it is loaded with luggage for 2 weeks plus change the shock stiffness.

thoughts/comments?

Tcom

I have the shark bite suspension front and rear in my 67. I have the cruiser setup which is the most street friendly setup. I am happy with the system but not sure it is right for anyone with a bad back. The ride is far from cushy. The car handles great but does not like rough roads. Most of the ride height adjustment is from stock down. Not much up adjustment in my opinion. Tom

mikey

Tom,
What spring rates did you choose and what shock setting are you on? It would seem this system with the soft spring choices should be a LOT softer than the 550lb front springs and 360lb rear leaf spring I have now.. plus reduced shock stiffness ..

Do you have any pictures? Is the rear setup very visible from behind the car?

Thanks for responding!

Tcom

I have the 400 lb springs in the front, 200 in the rear. The shocks single adjustable and set 1 click off the softest setting. My car has a 402 small block with AC so the speed direct guys recommended the 400 lb front springs. I am happy with the cars handling. Now I see they have 250lb springs which I think are new. As far as visibilty goes, the pivots are visible from the rear with side exhaust. I dont think you would see anything with an under car exhaust system. The system might be good for you in that the springs are easily changed, you could have 1 set for your wife, 1 set for autocrossing. I will get some pics for you. Tom

mikey

thanks Tom. the relative ease of spring changes was one of the big attractions for me. your spring choices and shock setting was what i thought would help smooth the ride. can't say i'd ever expect an old frame corvette to ride caddilac smooth, but .. would you characterize the ride as "soft" (relative to corvettes normally?)

looking forward to some pics.

Beach Dude

Mikey, you may also check the C3 section, I would think there is more running that setup.

Tcom

When I first drove the car it seemed like a very frim ride. Now , maybe I'm just used to it, but it seems good. More like a c4 than a c2. This is my first attempt to post pics, hope it works, Tom
http://s1080.photobucket.com/albums/j338/tcomm/

mikey

link worked, thanks for the pics. looks like a clean install.

-mikey

Ghost7

Hello,

I installed the Shark bite front suspension on my 63 coupe, it did not fit correctly, the hardware was kind of cheap, the first place that aligned it had the upper a-arms hitting on the frame, can not get it anywhere near the specs for alignment. I repeatedly contacted The Shark bite guys for help and they were no help at all. A waste of my time, a waste of my money. The idea seems good, with the new stuff on my car and aligned as close as 4 shops could get it, it rides and handles nice, but you open the hood and there is a huge stack of washers on each side to get it to go straight down the road. I wouldn't buy anything from them ever again.

JohnZ

Just another example of how unsuccessful "out-engineering the factory engineers" can be; redesigning the suspension on a street-driven car seldom has a positive outcome.

00fxd

I must agree, once again .... I ofter liken it to the old saying of "making a silk purse out of a sows ear". I have that mono leaf front, supper stiff Bilstien Sports, urethane bushings, spherical rod ends and a bunch of other things. Rode in enough bouncy rear 'glass mono leafs to scare me off. The owners swear that its an improvement ['cause they spent the money]. Occasionally something helps a bit but usually not worth the effort.

cbacejr

When you install the rear shark bite kit are the original rear shocks still used?

65-StingRay

mikey,

I have the shark bite kit on the front minus there lower control arms. The front shocks are double adjustable with 450 lbs. coil-overs. On the rear I have the VanSteel offset trailing arms with single adjustable shocks and my coil-overs are 500 lbs. I'm going to change the rear to coil-overs to 350 or 400 lbs to lighten the load a bit.
I run the front shocks at a setting of 6 clicks on the rebound and 9 clicks on the compression.
On the rear the single adjustment is set at 6 clicks on the left side and 8 clicks on the right side - stiffer for the launch - so the car goes in a straight line.

When I changed my suspension a couple of years ago it was stiff when new so I had the shocks set at their lowest limit which is 1.
They are now at what's mentioned above as the system softened with use.

For me the rear is a little to stiff but the front is about right because I run an aluminum BB.

My ride is pretty good - definitely not as stiff as it was with my 7 or 9 leaf rear spring.





I'm a fan of the coil-over system over leaf springs be they composite or steel. If you get the correct adjustable shock and coil-over I'm sure you and your wife will enjoy the ride.

65-StingRay