yes to upgrade to something else....it may not be your cup of tea but lots of us swap good parts. nothing to be scared about, but buy from a guy who has been around and has a reputation he cares about.

 

pictures look great! Can't wait to install. Thank you and thanks to everyone else for your comments on post.

 

i think you will be very happy....

 

Again, a Corvette is not "general transportation" aka a Pinto, old Civic etc.

A Sports Car deserves to have proper parts put on it to enjoy the car the way it was designed to perform, so buy the right stuff for the car.....geez I had Koni's on my 4th gen Camaro and am looking at Bilstiens for the Z06.

 

Just expressing my opinion, no need to jump on me. Didn’t mean to offend you.

 

Like I said, it all depends how he drives. No need for the best and most expensive parts if he drives 500 miles a year to the golf course and back.

 

I didnt mean to jump on you, i apologize if it came across that way, bob

 

So you think that Koni's or Bilstiens are more "properly designed" for the mid level of cornering performance than are the Z51 shocks. GM has 3 levels of shocks - base, Z51, Z06 - they are different. It is often mis-understood what effect changing to one of the other options will have on your ride quality. It was nice to be able to go out and acquire these different ones for a reasonable price and "try them out".

I change out my SS Brake lines every 7 years - and only put on new ones. Some things age out - others have much longer life cycles.

Some people who are less mechanically inclined - just go out and buy different cars every few years because they want a "change". Others like me, just change out a few parts and have a "different ride" for the next cycle. I am on about my 3rd version of my ride. I try things out, and center in on what I like and want.

I am not trying to get any of you guys to do something you do not think is right. I am just offering 17 years of playing around with my C5 and sharing my experiences and i have actually tried quite a number of the options available out there. I have had about 5 air intakes, I have had 3.15's, 3.42's, and 3.73's. I have the HP programmer and have custom shifting on my A4. I'm an engineer, I have all the service manuals, I do all the work on the car my self. I am a good source of knowledge. Take and use what you want and ignore the rest.

 

amen brother....i am with you, i look at cars as a journey that is to be enjoyed.....and i like the process of the journey as much as the destination.

I also think very highly of the original GM design engineers way too often people with no real experience think that just buying parts and putting them on will make something better then what was originally designed, ignoring the sophistication of the original design testing both computer and track. it says something that the c5 base design got pushed into the C6....its pretty good.

 

So properly said!

 

I’m curious..my questions below:
I’m a wannabe engineer.

 

On my 2003 ZO6 I have Bilsteins. On my 2000 Ford Excursion I have Bilsteins. On my 2012 VW Jetta I have Bilsteins. The Vette has the Sport, the EX has the Heavy Duty and the VW has the OEM compatible. They have different settings for different uses. Tire Rack has good prices and good customer support. I'm a car guy, so I purchase good stuff at a reasonable price.

Spaggs

 

i hope you are asking sincerely.

Z06 Shocks really are only for the hills of road racing courses. If you are on a flat parking lot doing AutoX - it is all about sway bars and how low your center of weight can get. When on the street - all that the stiffer shocks do is jolt you more and sometimes cause less control rather than more. The are very few people on this forum who can push a car hard enough to even use anything that a Z06 shock was made for.

I am a huge fan of gears. I think they are the sophisticated way to go faster. More engine only makes more noise and more heat. When I first got my car it could not spin the tires. I am not about to own a sports car that can not lay rubber period. So I found a takeoff 3.42 pumpkin from a stick car and swapped them out. Some nice improvement - i knew I was on the right track - so I pushed it farther - sent my 3.15's off and had the gear upgraded to 3.73's - now we are talking. I can spin from 0-60 and even catch a little after the shift. Do understand that you have to reprogram your shift curves or you will bump the rev limiters. I have the HP programmer, and it is fine. I had LS1Edit before that. I also made it much less peddle to down shift again via the shift programming. If someone has 2.73's, they will be happy with 3.42's, but if they already have 3.15's, I would go straight to 3.73's. There is a gear calculator around that will give you the RPM in each gear at different speeds. You do give up some MPG for some GET UP and GO!!! But for a low annual mileage weekend warier, it makes a fun ride.

 

Believe me, I don’t ask questions I don’t want to know the answer to. I appreciate the excellent description of the shocks, I will not bother with them since I won’t be doing road courses anymore.
As for the gears, its rare to see a bunch of gear changes to the same car by the same mechanic. Fascinating. Any drone experiences with the gear changes?

 

I would have liked to get it right for me the first change - but 3.73's were still pretty new and almost nobody had much experience with them. Also it was easy to go out and get a takeoff set of 3.42's from a stick car - so I did that. Was pretty nice - but not totally where I wanted to get to - but I knew I was on the right tract. Then I had to go get a set of 3.15's and have them sent to IN to have the 3.73 gear put into that 3 rib pumpkin. No drone - nothing but nice acceleration, it is especially nice from 25 to 45. Changing the gears is one of the few things that I actually pay someone to do for me. Takes a lift and transmission jack - just not a DIY project in my mind. It takes a certain percentage change to really notice it. If I had 2.73 - probably 3.42 would have made me happy. But starting with 3.15, the 3.42 was just to little of a change.

I will also say this. When i give someone a demo in my car and go to a big parking lot and do full turn circles at 20 mph with out a hint of a roll, only the rear getting ready to slide out. And then I jump on the gas and we spin until the 1st to 2nd shift - they know that they have been in a sports car.

 

Tut, thank you for your patience and informative presentation of your experience. Tho’ the entire concept may seem simple to some, (I’ve been a car guy for 60 years) I have no experience with changing certain parts where a direct comparison can be made.

 

what I have noticed so far with the z06 shocks is that some rear wheel hop is gone.....I have one turn at stop sign on a hill that I take every day....before I would get this funny tire noise and it kind of felt like the wheels were slipping and the posi clutches were kicking in....something like that but not quite...now its gone. I think the wheels were grabbing and it had some slight bounce to them with the old soft shocks . now I think the tires are staying planted.

 

I had wheel hop with the stock shocks also. But have never experienced it with the Z51 shocks.

Each person has their own concept of what the ride should be like. Because of that - one of our solutions may not be the right answer for the next guy. Again - the beauty of takeoffs - is for minimum money out of pocket, you can try "things" out and if you do not like it, you can resell them to the next guy for almost no cost except shipping.

 

I haven’t had any wheel hop to take note of but maybe I need to be in your neighborhood!

I haven’t changed shocks in a long while...last time was my ‘86 Blazer. How much of a job is it?

 

this is a weird intersection, steep hill and full sharp turn maybe less then 90*. I even did a bunch of slow figure eights in a parking lot thinking it may have been the posi clutches getting dry. I think it hit all of the limits for wheel hop, wheel slipping both by power and by the steep turn and funny weight transfer. but it seems to be gone now.


replacing the shocks...taking the bolts out is a piece of cake. compressing the shocks in the car is the challenge its not hard to imagine it, its just hard doing it once you figure how to apply leverage and compress them and zip tie thet its easy....compressing the shocks for the install is easy. it took me 4 hours start to finish at a leisurely pace and I use no air tools. and I did it all through the wheel well and held on to the top of the front shock with a 1/4 open end wrench.....clean the threads with a wire brush first and apply penetrant so you have less resistance. this seemed easier then taking off panels up front