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So I have a 84' C4 Corvette racecar that I use in the 24 hours of Lemons. I love the car, its a hoot to drive, but it has one issue, it eats its front wheel bearings. We get about one...MAYBE two races and they are SHOT. The better brands (moog) seem to hold up a bit better then the cheap brands, but none of them seem to last very long. Recently we stepped up to SCCA racing again we had a blast and the car held its own. They allow softer rubber in said racing so I'm thinking about stepping up to Hoosiers or something next year. I'm sure that will KILL the bearings in the car. I have seen/heard about people converting these to C5 Corvette bearings or something more racecar then the stock C4 has. IF anyone can help me out or point me in the right direction that would be great, thanks for reading.
Detroit Speed makes an X-Tracker Hub Adapter kit for 91-96 cars.
Yea I saw that. What is the difference from my 84 to the 91?? I know they took the scrub out of the front end on the later cars...but...are the knuckles so different I could not use the DS upgrade?
I’d like to see more photos and info about this car. It looks good.
Thankyou AND....
Best way to do that is to pick up the latest issue of Corvette magazine!! Sorry...I had too. But yes they did indeed do a really nice article on our racer so its worth a look if you are in a barnes and noble anytime soon.
But in any event I can give you a few details on our steed here. Its an 84' that was in VERY bad shape when we found it. The plan was to use the car in the 24 hours of Lemons and the World racing league. So the build is pretty mild, but the results have been great, good enough that more SCCA stuff is planned next year.
Engine: 350 Chevy, 1997 truck block, Moroso oil pan, balanced, Edelbrock LO5 cam, crane roller rockers, basically stuff I had left over from stock car racing.
Trans: Doug Nash 4+3 I put the overdrive on a manual switch and added a front mounted trans cooler.
Diff: I picked up a bunch of used diffs for the car. We swap the entire center section to change gear ratios for the different tracks. 2:73, 3:08, etc!
Interior: We started out with an autopower cage, but we decided to add and move a few bars to make it better for some of my larger drivers. Kirkey Road race seat, SPA fire system, Grant detachable steering wheel, Auto meter gauges, Nerdy racing radio system. Joes racing mirror.
Body: Five star lexan windshield, Five star lexan spoiler, We made our own brake ducts and made a scoop to help the radiator get more air. My Dad deleted all the holes from the parking and running lights its not a racing hood, he just has mad skills with fiberglass!
Misc: 22 gallon fuel cell (molten metal racing mount/cage) staggered Azenis 615K on C5 Corvette wheels, HAWK pads, braided brake lines, Champion radiator
We gutted the door and moved the bars into them. We stole the spoiler from a wrecked Toyota NASCAR. We had to narrow it, but otherwise it fits like it was meant to be on the car! A trio of top 10s and one top 5 in 10 races so far. No DNFs.
Hey man thanks for the info. I love hearing about other people’s racing C4s and sharing information. You can read about my racing 84 Here. These cars are the perfect candidates to becomes racers. I’ll see if I can find that article on line. I haven’t been to the US for a couple of years and I don’t know when the next time will be with all the ***** that’s going on. Can’t really help with the bearings but I have had a lot of success with SKF bearings in recent years. We use them in my sons go kart engine (main bearings spinning the 16000rpm but hats a different type of application. When I was a kid Timken bearings were the way to go but that was a long time ago and things change.
Honestly, I have never touched a C4 earlier than 88 so I cannot say. The a arm length is completely different which changed the wheel offset.
I believe that the knuckle itself is shorter in height but that wouldn't have anything to do with a bearing.
My guess on the reason the Detroit Speed units are for 91-96 and not 88-96 is likely due to the internal tone ring versus the external tone ring for the abs. The 91-96 knuckles have a through hole while the 88-90 have a pocket and a sensor hole.
If... the bearing mounts were the same and the bearing length was the same (so you don't throw off your rotor/caliper alignment) then you could likely have a competent machine shop bore through the knuckle to make room for the X-Tracker.
Thanks for all the good info guys. O riley's is helping us out with a few new bearings. So current plan is to kill all of those and save up for the Detroit Speed upgrade. Slicks SHOULD be on the car sometime next year for atleast one race, I know the factory stuff won't take that pain!
Looks like it's the ABS that's the issue with earlier/pre 91 cars... My 90 uses the hub/bearing w/ reluctor ring on the back & the sensor bolts into the upright. So the question I guess would be if the later bearing ABS signal (AC volts) would be in the correct range for the earlier system? I'm sure the pigtail could be worked out.
Looks like it's the ABS that's the issue with earlier/pre 91 cars... My 90 uses the hub/bearing w/ reluctor ring on the back & the sensor bolts into the upright. So the question I guess would be if the later bearing ABS signal (AC volts) would be in the correct range for the earlier system? I'm sure the pigtail could be worked out.
Yea, and the only ABS on my racecar is my left foot ;-) So if it will bolt it I would be good to go.
Sounds like you are good to go... If I ever get back into autox again I will look into the ABS issue as I run hoosier A series & eat up bearings ever year or so as well. Certainly not the amount of abuse of track time like your are dealing with.
08-03-2020, 09:00 PM
Better wheel bearings?? (RACECAR)
