I've had my 1981 for about a year now, and I'm finally ready to have some work done on her. One of the first things I want to do is a suspension upgrade. I'm not looking for anything race-worthy (I've got a 2017 Mustang GT that's been modded and tuned for high performance driving), I just want to be able to corner well, avoid road obstacles without going into a ditch, and drive at highway speeds smoothly without worrying about a wheel coming off.

I will not be doing the work myself, I don't have the mechanical inclination or time to do it. I'm taking her to a very reputable local mechanic who specializes in antique car restoration/restomods next week to get an assessment.

Any information anyone can share that will let me go in with some advance knowledge would be greatly appreciated. Recommended upgrades, brands, etc, especially rough costs for having the work done. While I trust the shop's reputation, knowledge is power, and I don't want to go in blind.

Appreciate the assistance!

 

That depends on a lot of things. One of the best ways to improve the handling of the car is having new bushings and shocks rather than 44 year old pieces underneath. Next would be getting a good alignment with specs set up for modern radial tires. A spreader bar is a relatively cheap way to stiffen up the front and remove a lot of frame flex.

After that it goes off the deep end, how much are you looking at spending? How much ride quality are you willing to give up to improve handling? And are you looking to lower the ride height, or keep it the same?

 

I've got a fairly substantial budget to work with for this piece of the project. Say $3000 as a rough number. Willing to go higher if I need to, but obviously would like to keep the cost down if possible to be able to put it into other projects on the car.

I'd like to hit a fair balance between ride quality and handling, probably leaning slightly toward ride quality. I don't need to be taking hairpin turns (I've got my Mustang and my wife's TLX for performance driving), but I'd like to be able to avoid a road hazard without ending up in the ditch.

I've since seen a couple kits available out there, and wonder if they're overkill, or heading in the right direction.

Zip-Corvette, $1600: https://www.zip-corvette.com/80-82-p...r-springs.html

Ridetech, $2000-$2500: https://ridetech.com/product/1963-19...ension-system/

 

Those are both good kits. I tend to prefer rubber over polyurethane for bushings on a street car, but as long as they’re high quality and properly lubricated you shouldn’t have any issues.

Just to throw in another option, here is Vansteel’s adjustable touring suspension kit. It doesn’t have bushings, but it does have front semi coilovers, which allow you to adjust the ride height and dampening to whatever you want. It also has adjustable strut rods, which makes dialing in the rear camber much easier.

Here is a thread discussing the different brands of spreader bars and their overall advantages. This is basically a must do in my opinion.

I’m not sure what the shop rate for installing all these parts are since I do all my own work, but I could imagine especially nowadays it isn’t cheap. I would show the different kits to the shop and get an estimate before buying anything.

I forgot to mention too, another one of the greatest improvements you can make to how the car rides and handles is 17” or 18” wheels with some modern performance tires. You can find a directory of what other people have done and how to find out what fits here. Personally I think the gray spoked torque thrust II’s look great on any ‘80-‘82.

 

I did my 81 suspension front and rear new springs, shocks, ball joints, bushings, bearings, tie rods , rebuilt trailering arms ,the better kyb shocks, all new brakes ect , huge improvement with ride and handling just having all new stuff vrs old , in the rear I used a 320lb spring , energy suspension prothane bushings in trailering arms , strut rods, bat wing , in front just all new stock with heavy duty coils. I don't think you need anything more than just new stock grade parts to see a huge improvement. As far as price I do all my own work so I basically have no idea what was the cost , I do have a idea a buddy of mine sent out his 72 vette he got everything I did except in the rear only the brakes done, he spent $8k at a corvette restoration shop for a front suspension rebuild, and brakes all around with a new master.

 

Funny, when I bought the car, it had 17" American Muscle grey spoke wheels. I wanted to go back to the original look, so I sold them and put on original style 15" rally wheels.

Thanks for the link on the spreader bars, looking forward to digging into that. Any idea roughly how many hours you put into it on the suspension work?

 

My brakes are in great shape, the previous owner had them done, including a new master cylinder and all new lines, just before I bought the car. Outside of the brake work, any idea about how many hours you spent on it?

PS: I lived in MA until 4 years ago, grew up in Abington. My son and daughter in law live in Billerica, she's originally from Burlington.

 

Looking back at my camera roll it appears I started in mid May, and was done by mid June.




Keep in mind though I did a full front and rear coilover conversion, only worked on weekends, spent a bit of time waiting on parts, took a vacation, and got rained out a couple of times. Not to mention the beer breaks too.

Basically, I have no idea.

I understand the sentiment of the 15” wheels though. It’s really hard to beat the look. If it’s any consolation some people report that the car rides smoother with them because of more sidewall.

 

I spent way to many hours. I clean and wire brush, paint all parts , all nuts and bolts in the tumbler and painted, I can't really say.
Billerica is not far from me maybe 10-15 minutes down the road.

 

I agree with all that has been mentioned, but I did not see shocks mentioned. They control probably 75% of the ride quality, so picking the right ones is very important.
Bilsteins seem to be well worth their slightly higher cost, and many members love their ride as well as the sharper handling.

 

I'd read some threads, and piece together a kit. Both of the kits you linked have the kayak paddle Hyperco spring. Those are not the best choice for performance. The low-arch spring from VanSteel is far superior.

Having done it the cheap way (springs, Bilsteins, and bushings) I'm redoing everything in the front with semi coil-overs. Even if it handles the same, it's worth it to control the front ride height.

 

I just rebuilt my front suspension for a lot less than that and used mostly Moog parts from Rock Auto with the exception of the shocks and I used Bilstein.
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...n-rebuild.html

JT

 

When I did my front suspension I ordered the parts and waited until they all arrived before tearing down the front of the car. I used a Poly-Urethane bushing kit and it was back before they put the graphite into the Polyurethane bushings to reduce the noise they generate. With the older style you simply spray them with dry graphite every beginning of the season and they work well. The one thing about the Poly versus rubber was that the poly bushings are a much harder material to work with. Using a small press and lots of lubricant I was able to replace 98% of the parts in my driveway. The parts kit was complete and I replaced the ball joints and sway bar links all in the one fix. Back when I bought the kit it was not that expensive initially, it was the labor to install all these goodies that adds up.

In Northern Virginia the gas station mechanics are charging north of $130 an hour for a "Basic" bare bones mechanic (who never worked on a Corvette) or a carburetor. The dealerships charge way more than that hourly rate, $150+ per hour for a VW Mechanic. Your budget would not make it around here if you have to pay the mechanics hourly rate plus the parts. It was at least ~20-30 hours of total work to rebuild the front suspension. After looking at the parts you mentioned I was shocked by the prices...I am glad I have a 1968 C3 and not a C3.5 because it is much cheaper to fix up the suspension, once you add the words "Performance" and then "Corvette" the prices have just jumped to twice as much.

I have 2 Corvettes and they are radically different from each other. One the 1968 C3 Convertible and the second is a 1988 C4 coupe. The C3 goes like a "scalded puppy" and C4 is comfortable and is a "cruising" machine and both have their specific duties. The C4 is a Sunday "going to church" Car where the C3 is my "take it to the track" car. The C4 is not fast but it handles like a slot car, my C3 is really fast and almost handles like a slot car. I could not imagine any other brand car being my fast car in my driveway. The only Ford I have is the V10 in my RV, nothing from Asia, at all.

Bilstein Shocks are a big improvement of the options normally chosen. I tried the KYB Gas-adjust shocks and they were okay and worked for a few years. I still have KYB on the C3 but I have Bilstein shocks on my C4. When I next work on the C3 I would like to go to an adjustable rear shock to try and get better traction. I am still using the steel rear leaf spring because I need the extra weight out back to help balance out the BB C3. If I had a SB then I would consider swapping the leaf spring for a plastic one. I had my rear leaf spring dis-assembled and then re-assembled after the parts were painted, greased and re-assembled with new rubber pieces in the spring. There are no squeaks rattles or rolls from using the factory spring. The one thing I did change was I went to a set of 550lb front springs to help with my nose weight.

Just be careful of going "too far". After I finished with my front and rear suspension the C3 handled so much better, it was tight and turns nicely, but it was "Firm" to say the least. People used to joke about being able to tell "heads or tails" on a coin when you ran over one. For the first few hundred miles it was a stiffer ride and it gradually loosened up to become more comfortable.

Believe it or not, this suspension is not "defective" or even "faulty" from the factory. If you simply restore the suspension first and try it before dumping thousands of dollars into a replacement front end you might be surprised at just how good it really is. I can keep up with most cars in corners, in the straights is where they can really appreciate the tail-lights from a 1968 C3 with a "stock" style front end Corvette in front of him. I am a big believer in modern technology but I don't want to write off all the work they did designing this suspension system. I have a factory suspension and EFI on my 1968 C3.

 

Having run pro-solo for 27 years, and designing my own suspension parts, I have more of an engineer's / racer's /driver's perspective than most.

Upgraded springs, sway bars, shocks, tires, and wheels will make your car handle better. Much much better.
Replacing any worn part or bushing is a given.
Start with the biggest widest lowest stickiest tires you can fit, on the biggest widest wheel.

Adjustable shocks tho, are worth the money, primarily if you are looking for the best ride vs handling compromise. You can tune them, your way.

Past that, coil-overs, or complete front/rear suspension replacement pkgs are available, and bigger brakes, but they will not make your car handle any better than the above. They do cost plenty, and there is the wow factor, but short of a competitive driver on a timed race track, they will make no difference, and the cost is plenty steep.
The one main advantage of the front coil overs is being able to easily adjust your front ride height. Again, kind of pricey for that one-time use feature. You can already adjust the rear height as stock. Just cut the front coils once or twice and save your money. Adjustable shocks fit just fine without all the expensive coil-over conversion stuff.

These cars can still be highly competitive on a national stage, primarily due to the easily added wide flares that allow huge tires. Bigger than most any other car. But at that level the stock IRS becomes it's biggest liability, based on both geometry and lack of strength. That is when I would spend big money on a brand new modern rear IRS setup. Or even a brand new tube frame chassis with all modern suspension parts.

 

The list of upgrades is endless. Bushings are a solid start, pretty much a necessity if you’re looking for handling. Shocks would be next. Take a look through Van Steel’s website. The majority of my fully rebuilt suspension came from them and I’m more than satisfied with the way my 71 handles.