I posted a couple of weeks ago about my experiences with the VB&P monospring conversion. All in all I'm very satisfied with it and now that I have a few more miles on the car I'm happy that I went this way. The suspension is excellent and the only complaint I have now is not related to the front conversion. Rather it's the bounciness of the rear TRW spring which can be easily cured with KYB GR2 shocks. As I posted before the only negative observation was that the turning circle was diminished quite a bit. When I checked for clearance underneath before I checked with the car in the air. It didn't appear that there was sufficient clearance between the tire and frame to get a tighter turning radius. But I decided Sunday, after having to backup 3 times to park in a car show, that I'd take another look. This time I checked with the car on the ground and at full lock there was plenty of room between the 255x60x15s and the frame. I ended up trimming about 5/8 inch off the stops with a cutoff wheel on the lower control arms and I now have the old turning radius back. There is no rubbing at full lock in either direction and no complaints from the power steering system. It was an easy fix that took only 20 minutes to complete. They should all be that easy. :thumbs:


[Modified by vettfixr, 8:30 AM 5/24/2004]

 

My experience exactly.

 

I am confused. If the limit on your turning radius was the travel stops, it shouldn't make any difference in changing to the mono-spring. When you cut off 5/8 inch from the lower control arms, I don't see how that would bring you back to the original turning radius. Or do the lower control arms change with the mono-spring?

 

I had the same bouce effect as you. I tried the KYB GR2's and Bilsteins. Both had the same bounce. Than I went to a stiffer spring. Bounce was still there. Got fed up w/it and put the QA1 semi-coilovers on. No problems, it rides and handles awesome.

Dan

 

Yes, Jim, the conversion uses new lower control arms. The stops are nothing more than angle irons welded on to the lower arms. They're about an inch wide and the steering knuckle comes in contact with them to provide stops. For some reason the stops are larger than they need to be and this causes you to lose turning radius. It was pretty bad, bad enough that when I turned in to my driveway I was almost at full lock. Parking was difficult at best. With the stops cut down until there is only about 1/4 inch left the turning radius is about where the stock arms were. I guess I should drop a line to VB&P about this. They should give some kind of warning or instruction on what to do about this.

 

Now I understand.
Thanks,
Jim

 

I thought the Bilsteins were suppose to be the right shock for the composite springs?? :confused:

 

I've used both Bilsteins and GR2s with my composite springs. Both ended bounce for me. Bilsteins were a little bit stiffer - probably better for composite springs with highr ratings. I'm running GR2s now with soft composites - very nice.