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I'm anxiously awaiting the road test. I'm looking at the coil over setup as well for my 'pure street machine' 71 big block. Cool looking with a better ride is exactly what I'm looking for. Really impressed with the thread's detail, pictures, even the scholarly banter among the engineers (I learned a lot!). My car will never see the track of course, but handling normal bumps, sitting a little more aggressively, along with just being a little more comfortable would be a great outcome (along with the bling). Very much looking forward to the continuation of this thread.
I'm anxiously awaiting the road test. I'm looking at the coil over setup as well for my 'pure street machine' 71 big block. Cool looking with a better ride is exactly what I'm looking for. Really impressed with the thread's detail, pictures, even the scholarly banter among the engineers (I learned a lot!). My car will never see the track of course, but handling normal bumps, sitting a little more aggressively, along with just being a little more comfortable would be a great outcome (along with the bling). Very much looking forward to the continuation of this thread.
Unfortunately Wallison, this thread was one of my few that has been left pretty much as roadkill, as I really don't post too often here these days. Unfortunately for a great many, some of the company that lives and lurks within these threads has made it simply not worth my time and effort for me to continue. It had became more of a waste of my time and energy which can be positively utilized elsewhere. Too many people with far too much time on their hands and nothing better to do with it than pitch a bitch from the safety of their armchairs, which unfortunately removes any fun in sharing. Psychologically speaking, this behavior is known as "***** envy" within the professional community, usually leads to nowhere and unfortunately has no positive outcome. If you do a little research you'll see the same pattern I did emerging with a few of these "players". To each their own, but it was time for me to move on. Most of my "sharing" now takes place at "the other place", and you can bet a full road review with dialing in the system will be in order.
this is how alot of these threads end up, many people chime in to be helpful, with good intentions. the discussions get heated because every one wants to be right, and everybody is usually right. to some degree,personally i love the look of the shark bite system it has a lot going for it appearance wise but, i look at it like a fake 6-71 blower sticking out of the hood.i just installed a new 360 VBP composite spring on mine with new hardware new half shafts (painted black) and new QA1 shocks and people comment on how good that looks.is it as neat looking as the shark bite ? no its not but I'm happy with it and i am sure the op will be pleased with his. :hide :
It's a spring that holds up the car and is nice to look at.
For me I like the ride better with the Sharkbite then when I had a 360 Fiberglass spring and Bilstein shocks. I also installed the VBP HD camber rods with non adjustable bracket.
So it works for me but I don't race. At this point tires are my limiting factor.
Guys, sorry the thread died. Really interested in the continuing story and will try to pick it up elsewhere. Although I'm pretty new at this compared to others, it seems that all of this is emotional. I know that every thing I've done to my car has been the subject of debate at the coffee shop, bar etc. I guess it's all about want, not need so attempting to apply logic and rational thought to the subject can be at best only partially effective. To thine own self be true and rock on brothers
Unfortunately Wallison, this thread was one of my few that has been left pretty much as roadkill, as I really don't post too often here these days. Unfortunately for a great many, some of the company that lives and lurks within these threads has made it simply not worth my time and effort for me to continue. It had became more of a waste of my time and energy which can be positively utilized elsewhere. Too many people with far too much time on their hands and nothing better to do with it than pitch a bitch from the safety of their armchairs, which unfortunately removes any fun in sharing. Psychologically speaking, this behavior is known as "***** envy" within the professional community, usually leads to nowhere and unfortunately has no positive outcome. If you do a little research you'll see the same pattern I did emerging with a few of these "players". To each their own, but it was time for me to move on. Most of my "sharing" now takes place at "the other place", and you can bet a full road review with dialing in the system will be in order.
That's the problem. You're speaking from a psychological viewpoint. Several of us are speaking from an engineering standpoint. Guess which perspective results in faster lap times on the track?
Understand the engineering angle totally and respect/agree with that perspective. In my particular case my car will never see the track, hence the orientation of my comment.
That's the problem. You're speaking from a psychological viewpoint. Several of us are speaking from an engineering standpoint. Guess which perspective results in faster lap times on the track?
I bought a 71 this spring do not how to adjust the back suspension on the 71. when I hit a hard seam in the road it has no give. I have talk to speed direct & got how to mount the suspension, it is not mounted right, the center mounting bracket is not tight against the rear end they put washers on back bolts need for them to come out, the adjustable eye bolt in fig. 3 & 4 are not screwed all the way in. I tried to do some adjusting. where I have things now. I tighten the spring to 3 inches from bottom of spring to the center of bolt on mounting bracket. I have only one adjusting valve and was set as far to the + side of dial I turned back to- side 7 clicks, I still have a walking cast on my right foot so could not take it for test drive. I am wondering if I am close to a starting point. thanks
I am working on two things at the same time. I can only put 20 lbs. on my right foot so getting around is not to good yet. I have car show sunday and would like to get it to ride a little better. my problem could be that I have to heavy of springs, I have no clue as to what mine are. thanks for the info
I just got delivery on the Shark Bite package for my 1964/1965 C2. I also got the Steeroid package. Your pics are great and inspiring. I hope my install goes as well as yours.
my wife drove it to car show, by adjusting the valve on the shock it is not rock hard, but still rough ride. so I will have to buy the lighter springs. my 72 vet does not have power steering. so the 71 with speed direct rack & pinion steering is like the best thing ever.
Ordinarily, I refrain from reopening older threads, particularly train wrecks such as this one had become. However, I feel the following (posted in another thread started by our resident troll) merits response.
Originally Posted by Patro46
You should have seen the thread I posted on a Sharkbite Rear Suspension kit I put on my car. I had more armchair engineer retirees informing how it simply wouldn't work.
Well, works great. Adjustable ride height. Adjustable compression and rebound. Works like its supposed.to work.
I can remember hearing the story about the guys wife who always cut her roast in half before putting it in the oven. Her husband asked her why she did this. She didn't know, only that her mother did the same thing. The son in law asked his mother in law why she cut the roast in two pieces before placing it in the oven. Her reply was that her mother always did, so he went to his wife's grandmother and asked her. "Why silly, she replied, it's because my oven was too small so I had to cut it in half".
So now we know how myths get started and carried on for generations....
Well, I did see this thread, but hadn't chimed in with my $.02 as it had already become apparent that you were more concerned with being right than actually listening to or learning from what those "armchair engineer retirees" to whom you refer had to offer. IMCO it would far better serve you to become somewhat more studied of vehicle dynamics than you've illustrated here before getting into future debates pertaining to the subject, rather than to have nothing more substantive on which to fall back than blustering about the size of one's manhood. There happen to be some fairly knowledgeable sharks roaming these waters who know the difference between such floaties (floaters?) and swim fins.
That said, tho I've chosen to speak up in defense of those whose opinions and experiences I sincerely respect, I have no intention to enter a pi$$ing match with the OP here. It's a shame that this one went south, as it might have proven a far more worthwhile thread. So, while I'm always up for meaningful discussions on chassis setup & tuning, or anything related thereto, best IMHO if any further conversations relevant to these matters are opened elsewhere.
Sorry I'm joining this thread so late. It's a shame the OP's thread was hijacked. Some of us really did want to follow his experience with his Shark Bites. But the engineering discussion was excellent too; it just would've been much better in a different thread. Oh well, too late now.
I'm an alpha geek engineer and I have something to contribute to the engineering discussion. In Jason Staley's excellent post, he writes:
Originally Posted by Jason Staley
Now as far as the Speed Direct's Shark Bite Rear Suspension goes. First let me say it is pretty and does add some bling to the rear suspension (very important for street machines - seriously). I'll admit, mine isn't anything to look at, which is why I still run the spare tire carrier . However, if your talking improvements to handling here are two areas that I have concern with their design.
The pivot points decrease the shock travel and makes them less effective.
The springs/shocks are now forcing on the rear cross member horizontally instead of vertically like the leaf spring did. This will increase the side to side movement I mentioned earlier and increase the worst flaw in the rear suspension - the "rear steer" or toe out condition of the heavily loaded tire.
I would love to see a C3 with this suspension on a road coarse to see if my concerns show up as real world results .... I hope not, but the mechanics of the system just are not in your favor.
Like Jason, I would love to see objective comparisons based on road course data. Lacking that, I want to play Devil's Advocate for a moment and push back on these two points.
On the first point, does it matter if the shocks are "less effective" as long as they are effective enough? Reports from owners seem to indicate that they have easily adjustable damping with an entirely adequate, very wide range. If owners can easily get the damping they want, how is this a problem? Is there something else to this point that I'm missing?
On the second point, it's clear that the coilovers will dump very large lateral loads into the crossmember but those loads will be perfectly reacted at the bracket connected to the bottom of the differential housing. The load path between these two points seems more than capable of handling these loads without significant deflection that causes adverse consequences at the wheels, at least after the differential is mounted with polyurethane rather than rubber, as Jason helpfully suggested elsewhere. So are these large lateral loads through beefy steel really a problem? I doubt it but I'm interested in the technical opinions of others.
The reason I think these two points are important is that it seems that Shark Bites are getting an undeserved reputation for being substandard suspensions. It's reasonable to knock them for being too expensive or unnecessary because they are. But I'm not yet buying the arguments that they aren't an excellent rear suspension system.
I too would have liked to see the completed project. The Shark bite is a good looking setup and if you polished the aluminum parts and changed out some bolts it would have a lot of bling!
I've noticed that these threads get confusing because some of the car owners are into drag racing their vettes and your mind is fixed on road racing or autocross. when you here what they are doing your first thought is wtf!
I too would have liked to see the completed project. The Shark bite is a good looking setup and if you polished the aluminum parts and changed out some bolts it would have a lot of bling!
I've noticed that these threads get confusing because some of the car owners are into drag racing their vettes and your mind is fixed on road racing or autocross. when you here what they are doing your first thought is wtf!
I just watched Season 4, Episode 15 of FantomWorks. They did a 68, exactly like mine. They are a kick *** shop and could have chosen any suspension setup. They went with Sharkbite. That is pretty cool.
I am going with SharkBite this winter for my 68 BB.
I just watched Season 4, Episode 15 of FantomWorks. They did a 68, exactly like mine. They are a kick *** shop and could have chosen any suspension setup. They went with Sharkbite. That is pretty cool.
I am going with SharkBite this winter for my 68 BB.
They don't state it clearly, but my impression was that the suspension was chosen by the owner of the car, not the shop.
I've been using my Sharkbite for several years now, and have upgraded from around 500 hp to around 750 now.
Even with how fast a positive displacement supercharger builds instant boost, my Sharkbite has never failed me, albeit thats in 295-50-15 street tires.
I did put a lighter set of springs on, and have since upgraded the front to semi-coilovers.
A Tom's 12 bolt conversion is now in the works, as well as a 6 link.
I've been using my Sharkbite for several years now, and have upgraded from around 500 hp to around 750 now.
Even with how fast a positive displacement supercharger builds instant boost, my Sharkbite has never failed me, albeit thats in 295-50-15 street tires.
I did put a lighter set of springs on, and have since upgraded the front to semi-coilovers.
A Tom's 12 bolt conversion is now in the works, as well as a 6 link.
06-23-2014, 09:32 PM
can't wait!
:hide :
. However, if your talking improvements to handling here are two areas that I have concern with their design.
