First I want to thank all the forum members for some great advice and for letting me know where I could get discounted parts. Tonight I finished installing my new suspension parts including: A camber brace, HAL QA1 shocks, 30mm front and 26mm rear sway bars with poly bushings.

The instalation took approx 10 hours.
Camber brace: I had a little trouble with this. The towel I wraped it in came off on my first attempt an the bar got scratched a little but it is not bad. I then used lots of duct tape to insure it would not come off again. I tried to follow the instructions (without taking off the belt) only it was not happening. Twice I got the bar stuck (would not go in further would not come out. I then decided to try the ignorance and brute force approach (by this time I was getting fustrated) and I wedged it in from the passenger side. To my amazement it worked.

Shocks: Very straight forward very easy. The rear had to be shimed which was not a problem.

Sway bars: Major PITA!!! Pressing in the eye bushings in the front was a nightmare. Again I reached numerous points where they would not go in any further and would not come back out. I managed to get them in with a 5lb sledge a few blocks of wood and another health dose of brute force and ignorance. The rear bar was not as bad to get the eye bushings in but to get the old ones out of the end links was another 30 miniute affair. As for removing the rear bar I had to lower one of the mufflers to get the clearance but did not remove it.

Driving impression: I set the shocks on 6 and drove to a late dinner with my wife. My car finally feals like a vette!!!!! No more bouncy ride no more lean in curves. Very flat very stable. I am not sure what parts made the most difference as I did all of this at the same time. I am very pleased with the final results. I will experiment over the next few days to find the right settings for my shocks.

On the way: DRM bias spring waiting for speed bleeders to arrive before I install it. New brake pads... still not decided on performance friction vs hawk. Rear cross bar (awaiting delivery).

Thanks again.

_Brian

 

Where did you get your sway bars and bushings (what kind?) from and what did it cost you?
What kind of spring are you getting and what spring rate?

 

The sway bars came form Jeff Kopp @ performance chevrolet who not only gave me a great price (less than $200 for GM bars) but was a pleasure to deal with!! I highly recommend him. He only carried the stock rubber bushings so I ordered a set of poly bushings (prothane) from vette brakes and products (VBP). I also ordered the DRM bias spring and speed bleeders (on backorder). I am not planning on getting new springs at this time as the stock FE1 spring seems to work well with this setup. After I live with this setup for a while I will make a final decision but from what I have read heavier springs do not always translate into improved handling. The car does not have a harsh ride even with the changes I have made I am not sure if a small improvement in haldeling would justify a decrease in ride quality caused by increased spring rates. What I am still considering is lowering the car but have already scraped up my front a few times and am worried that lowering would cause clearance problems.

_Brian

 

Yes, I have delt with jeff several times and planning on getting the bars from him soon. I don't know if I have a spring or shock proble, because my left front is getting lower. Did you replace your shocks because they were worn out?

 

How much were the Hal shocks? Where did you buy them?

 

My vette only has 42,000 miles on it... It is hard for me to believe that bilsteins would wear out in this ammount of time. I do however believe they are worn out. The car felt very sloppy. Especially at high speeds or when cornerning... When I hit the gas the front end would lift, above 80 mph the carwas all over the road and could not corner at all (very scary), when I hit a dip/bump the car would take an extra bounce or two. As I am not a drag racer I do not enjoy the sensation of weight shifts. I like my car to be flat during acceleration, cornering, and braking. This was the motivation behind my changes.

The shocks came from summit @ 139 each.

_Brian

 

My shocks are gone and this setup looks like what i am looking for.. Good info, thanks.. :cool:

 

My 96 Z51 had the very similar suspension to your 95, I purchased it with 4.7K miles on it. After a couple of summers (6-7Kmiles) I noticed the same thing you did. I attributed it to me getting used to the car and wanting more/better performance. GM really softened up the C4 late in its life, I think our cars were the victim of this.

I did all of the mods you have, but in increments, first I did the swaybars, waited two years, did the poly bushing in the rear, the camber brace a month later and finally added the HAL shocks a few months after that. IMHO, the swaybars made the biggest change in handling, esp in corners and over bumpy roads, they make the car much flatter in the corners.

The next best improvement was the camber brace and poly bushing for the diff carrier/camber rods. Once I realized the entire drive train is suspended on the diff carrier bushings and the motor mounts it made sense. With stiffer bushing on the diff carrier most of the drivetrain flex is eliminated, but I kept the stock motor mounts. I've heard poly motor mounts really transmit engine vibes, I'm not considering using them, and I don't think they are required. I think the camber brace is a very important part of eliminating drivetrain flex by tighting up the engine mounts area of the frame. In any case the poly bushings and camber brace cost me less than $200 combined with the swaybars, most of the improvement can be purchased for under $500.

I have to say the HAL shocks aren't cheap, but worth ever penny. Combined with the bars, camber brace and poly bushings they make the car perfect. For normal everyday driving I set them to 4 in the front, 6 in the rear. When I want to crank it, I go 8 in the rear, 6-7 in the front.

I also added the ZR51 beamplates. I have no idea if they help, but they can't hurt and they made it much easier to install the c-beam when I swapped the rear gear and Hurst shifter.

Eric


[Modified by silver & red CE, 8:03 AM 8/4/2002]

 

I thought the Bilsteins were supposed to last a lot longer. Are all high performance shocks going to have a short life span? Does lowering the car wear out the shocks faster? What about having soft springs with stiff shocks? Seems like a stiff spring would help take the impact (load) off the shocks.

 

I got that BS line from VBP about the Speed Bleeders! Contact them directly at http://www.speedbleeder.com. Apparently VBP and Speed Bleeders are having some sort of "disagreement".

 

Sounds like a great set-up. I am running very close to the same. With new tires the ride is not as harsh as I thought it would be and the handling is fantastic. I don't have a camber brace yet, but that is my next mod. I hear ya on the bushings. Some where so bad, like the upper control arms, I gave up and had a machine shop do them. I also have a DRM bias spring. You will love it. The Vette doesn't nose dive anymore under very hard braking. I also suggest braided steel brake lines.

:cheers:

P.S. I order a lot of parts from http://www.racenet.net/ and I have never had a problem. That is where I got my bleeders. Prices are great too.




[Modified by mj_duell, 7:42 AM 8/7/2002]