Thats right.... handles like its on rails...
Now I am not saying it was easy getting there..

All Poly.....All......
550# VBP springs up front cut 1/2 coil
Bilstin Sports all around
1 1/4 front swat bar
5/8 rear sway bar
TRW ~360 composite spring
GOOD 4 wheel alignment via VBP specs
whole car dropped 2-3"

New 18" rims, and rack and pinion, coming in February... Paint this month.

Also own a C5.... and while the ride is not as smooth and mellow... it will handle VERY close to the C5,

This C3 is not squirrely, has no over or under steer and no sway...

O, one more thing... my C3 will kick the sh%$ out of the C5 on any straight away up to 140mph....
And NOBODY gives you the looks and when you are rolling in the C5, like they do when rolling in the C3...
I would let my C5 go way before I would every part with my C3...

 

 

Done any track days with that yet?

 

My specs are similar except that I have a front composite monospring set to the Gymkhana-equivalent rate and I ditched the rear sway bar to get an earlier warning that I am approaching the limits of the 255/40-18 UHP tires. I can't compare it to any other gen/year of Corvette, but I know it's a hoot to drive, especially on a winding road.

 

No... Just driving and enjoying it. About 1200 mile since finished but some of them quite spirited street miles.

I did do some 1/4" Tuning passes but only ran 13.3 at 114 (2.5 60' ) on street tires on a cold day granny shifting it with my laptop and wideband hooked up to get some readings.

 

My car drove like it had a mind of its own before I had the front end rebuilt including a new ps control valve. Now it drives like the 71 I use to own back in the day that I won autocross races with, which is great.

 

Good stuff here

 

Mine is horrible - but then again - it needs shocks on all corners - perhaps this summer .........

 

I just got my car back from Guldstrand a couple of weeks ago. I'm VERY happy with the improvement. I had a bunch of work done years ago, but it needed new trailing arm bushings (poly). I also had Dick install bump steer blocks, tighten up the steering box, and perform an alignment. HUGE difference!

List of the previously installed Guldstrand components:

Front springs (550 lb.)
Polyurethane front control arm bushings
Front sway bar, 1” w/ brackets
Front sway bar poly bushings and endlinks
HD Aluminum tie rod sleeves
Rear spring (7-leaf, shortened)
Long rear spring bolts
Polyurethane rear bushings (except for trailing arms)
Shocks, Bilstein Sports (front and rear)
Camber rod kit (w/heim joints)
Locator Kit (Aluminum discs for rear crossmember)
Front spreader bar

I'm happy with the handling now...it just needed some TLC from Guldstrand and $$$

 

My '79 handles pretty good for what it is. Someday I will add a newer vette to my collection (Probubly a C5). But for now I wanted a nostalgia vette. Fun to drive, but definately a long way from cutting edge. And the view over the fenders of a C3 can not be duplicated by any other car. It is a thing of beauty

 

This is my first one and I was surprised at how well and flat it handles compared to other "muscle cars" of similar vintage.

Go test drive a late 60's Mustang if you want to be scared out of your wits and wonder how you ever drove cars like that.

I owned a Lotus a while ago. That car had insane handling and by comparison my Vette is like a covered wagon, but then that car broke every 10 miles to the tune of $1000.

 

i am used to aiming the camaro straight and hitting the pedal its a L78 very heavy in the nose around corners. my 70 vette is a 32,000 original handles very nice and its tight. no match for the camaro in a shootout. its fun driving the old beasts. the new cars are unreal as far as handling goes. the best car i have been in so far was a carrera GT porsche 10,000 rpms that thing sounded like a huge chainsaw on steroids.

 

Need to put a G-meter on it, but as an indication of my C3's cornering capacity, I've experienced so much trouble keeping the oil pump from loosing prime in long sweepers, despite gated RR pan and crank scraper, that I'm installing an oil accumulator ("poor man's dry sump") when I get it back together in hopes that will finally solve the problem. From my experience driving other cars which were capable of anywhere from 1-1.5 to as much as 3.5 G's, the sensitive instrument on which I sit says my shark likely pulls just over 1.0 (yes, on street radials) when the stars are properly aligned.

Bearing in mind that the real trick is to sort out transitional handling, as for balance at the limits (not to be confused with what it does when only pushed to 7 or 8 tenths) it's just on the understeer side of "neutral"; which I've found through experience to be preferable on the street. Given it has had ample power ever since receiving its first BB transplant, and given I'm an avowed trail-braker, it's no problem to rotate the car into manageable oversteer when desirable. That said, the significant changes in weight and weight distribution which are on the menu will have me back to sorting it out again...

As for ride comfort, should that be of interest to anyone, I've got a Cadillac (STS) for that, but IMHO I've never felt it (the C3) to be overly harsh, despite the Daytona springs. Of course, not every backside is built the same...


TSW

 

Noooooottttttt Toooooooo Gooooooood !!!!!!!!!

.....but what I would expect and actually like from a 1970 model car!

 

I did all the usual modifications over the years (springs, shocks, bars, polyurethane bushings, yada, yada, yada), but I finally just got tired of bandaiding an old (and very heavy!) suspension design. A couple years ago I bought a spare C3 frame and spent some serious time modifying a C4 suspension to fit under it (I didn't want to cut up the original frame or bodywork to install this suspension). The suspension change is undetectable from the outside, but the handling now has the predictability and control of a C4 on the track. (I actually wanted to put a C5 suspension in the rear, but that would have required cutting into the rear storage boxes to make room for the A-arms.)

Wish I had done this change twenty years ago.

 

How much trouble would it be to put say a 1972 convertible on a 1982 frame? Anyone tried anything like that? I hear that behind the dog legs about at the rear axle the frame is different for the bumper muonts.

 

ziplock, IMHO it would be easier just to change out the diff cross-member to the late C3 batwing, as CF'er BeeJay has done, which would still require adapting your hog-head to the cover if you want to retain the stronger 10-bolt. Here's some info on the evolution of the frame...

http://www.71corvette.com/frames.html

 

I have an 80, last year I swapped to a 360lbs glass spring and poly bushings in the rear and what a diff, handles great , this winter I'll do the front suspension, and maybe a rear sway bar!!! Ron