For those of you who have installed this spring, please post any mods you did to the control arm bumpers and shock mount to accomodate lowering the front end.
Did you cut down or remove the rubber bumpers?
Or did you lower the shock mount with longer bolts or?
Thanks.

 

None of the above. I simply ran the adjuster bolts out until I hit the desired ride height.

 

Same here...I actually got it too low and had to raise it a bit.

 

69myway and Zman,
Are you using VB's steel tube A arms or GM's stock control arms?
Can you check for me and see how much clearance you have from the top of the rubber bumper on the lower control arm to the frame just above it?
thanks a million.

 

I removed 1/2 the height of the VBP lower control arm bump stop after lowering the car to gain a bit more travel back.

Dave

 

Dave,
How much clearance do you have now between the top of the bumper and the frame above? About how much wheel travel does this allow before the bumper hits the frame?
Thanks.

 

I just installed this system,lowered the car, and am in the process of making adjustments. First Herb Adams strongly advises against cutting the bumpers since they are progressive as designed. On the steering stops, after I put the car on the ground and set the toe I checked tire clearance with VBP steering stops in place. This easy for me to do since I have a tilt nose and can look straight down at the top of the wheel with the hood open. I have about 1-1/2" clearance, since I plan on putting on wider wheels and tires, I'm going to wait untill I do this before adjusting the steering stops. So far it looks good to go. One other note, It looks BAD XXS !!!!!

 

Hi Jiimmygmartin,
How much clearance do you have between the top of your bumper and the frame above it?

 

This will vary with ride height, I set mine at a 1" Z dimension (center of lower trailing arm pivit and the top of the spindle mounting point for the lower ball joint). I will measure the distance between the bumper and the frame tonight and get back to you.

 

Since I set up mine quite low, I fabricated some spacers to lower the shock mount on the lower a-arm to gain some of the travel back. I think their like 5/8" thick bushings with longer bolts. Just make sure that the side of the shock doesn't hit the a-arm under full travel, since its protruding thru the hole more than it was originally intended to.

 

Is there any issues with this setup ,like ground clearance>.

 

Spring is under the frame, but my oil pan and transmission is just as low. I've never hit the spring on anything in the 5 years its been on the Vette.

 

Hi Jason,
I could sure use some advice on setting these things up.

I've had my transverse spring for a while and have never been satisfied with it. I set it up for 1" Z and softest spring setting. I tried Bilstein Sports (too bouncy) and am now running VB's KYB GR-2s. Initially, I cut down the rubber bumper by 3/4" per John Greenwood's instructions in the Vette Improvement Program. He also recommended spacing down the shock as you have done. I haven't done that yet.

Until a couple of days ago, I only had about 5/8" clearance between the top of my cut down bumper and the frame so I'm pretty sure that the rough ride I was experiencing was the bumper bouncing off the frame before the spring and shock could react.

I measured the amount of shaft showing on my shock and cut down the bumper so that the space between cut down bumper and frame equals the amount of shaft showing.

I also raised the front about 3/8" by unscrewing the nut on the spring bolt. The front spring is now set at the next to softest setting. I now have 2" between the top of bumper and frame.
Ride is much better but still not as good as I'd like.

I'm curious about your setup.
How tall is your rubber bumper and how much clearance do you have between the top of your bumper and the frame above?
What shocks are you using?
Waht setting do you have your spring set on?
Any suggestions?

Thanks for your help........

 

ttt

 

I'm using the VB A-arms. I'll have to get back with you on the measurement...

 

Flynhi, I'm glad you asked this question, when I measured the clearance it was only about 5/8" like yours was. I haven't driven the car yet and I am glad I checked this before I did. Herb Adams and John Greenwood seem to have differing opinions on how the suspension should be set-up. Since I am setting the "Z" dimension according to John Greenwood it makes sense that I should follow his other recomendations as well. I'm going to remove the spring and bump stops, put a jack under the tire and check out for clearances and binding through-out the suspension travel. I was experiencing U-joint breakage due to an inadaquate bumper in the rear and was reluctant to make changes in this area.

 

Hi Jimmy,
We need to call VBP and ask them about this. I spoke with Gary from VBP at the Houston Corvette show about other issues and he seems knowledgeable. Let's both call Gary and compare notes
I'm just going into a full day of meetings so I cannot call until tomorrow.
.
Thanks.
Will

 

Very interested in what you guys find out.
I was going to install this VBP kit within the next month.
Please post your findings.
Thanks

 

Well, I also changed my shocks to KYB2's like you. The other thing I did that helped the ride quality out alot was to reduce the sway bar size. I found that no matter what spring setting I put the system on with the original sway bars, it was just to rough riding even on a straight road. The problem I had was that the bars were so stiff that when the wheels hit bumps in the road (and rarely do both wheels hit the same bump at the same time, so the sway bars do come into play here), they made the effective spring rate too high. I ended up dropping the sway bars down to Frt = 1", Rr = 9/16" ... end result far better ride quality.

I have mine lowered quite a bit, but I can't remember the details about the rubber bumpers. I'll have to check on those later. I do have increased bump steer right now due to the car being lowered, but I'm correcting that this month with VBP's anti-bump blocks.

As far as the spring settings, I put the front on the 2nd softest, and the rear on the softest setting. I find this is a good compromise on the bumpy Indiana roads.
http://temp.corvetteforum.net/c3/greatwhite/

 

Hi Jason,
I'm runnin a 1" front and a 5/8" rear sway bar. Both have a spring end link on one end of the sway so that there is some wheel movement allowed before the sway bar kicks in. Both are in greased bushings so they are not binding.
I'd sure like to know what your bumper situation is.
W.