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Hope you guys don't mind me bumping this older thread, it was very helpful for me.
I too went for the FDF Mini Mantis, and wrapped the heim joints as @adrielius & @??? posted about (also bought the boot tool). Installation wasn't too bad, I opted to remove the knuckle entirely which made grinding the underside of the steering arm more precise.
Post-install info:
My car is a 2001 Z06 running stock front wheels with 255/45/17 tires. With the Mini Mantis kit set in the mild position, the wheels contacted the front edge of the lower control arms, and barely contacted the rear of the upper control arms.
I ground a little from the front lower control arm edge, at the sway bar mount.
Added 5mm thick spacers to the steering rack to limit steering travel just a smidge, which ensures the wheels/tires can't make contact with anything.
It's crazy how much of a difference the Mini Mantis kit makes, even set to "mild". The car turns faster (what I'd consider "normal" for most other cars), and the turning radius is what it should have been from the factory.
Many/most people will report an issue with the Active Handling system when they install an angle kit like this, because the car turns faster than the car expects.
I've been developing a device for 2001+ C5s which I call "SWPS Manipulator". It plugs in-between the SWPS and BCM, and sends modified SWPS voltages to the BCM: the tweaked voltages make it so that the correlation between steering wheel rotation angle matches up with the stock wheel steering angle.
The prototype version of this has been on my car for about 800 miles and has worked great (other than when I triggered an AH fault due to some testing). Granted all of these 800 miles have been daily driving and I have yet to test it out under performance driving scenarios.
Last edited by MetalMan2; Sep 1, 2022 at 12:56 PM.
that's very cool. I hope you have luck with the active handling box. it is annoying to always turn it off, but since I have actual steering ratio and angle I haven't run into any issues where active handling is needed in rain or anything, and on track AH just jumps all over anything fun and throws the whole balance off. I'd be happy with something that just defaults to off. some small inline box that basically pushes the button for 5 seconds or whatever it is..
since I got mine they released one that allows for Ackermann adjustments, but you gotta cut the tie rod end off the knuckle. at the time I wouldn't have wanted to go that drastic before knowing what the kit was like but now I think I would, only downside would be selling the car and explaining the mod haha. the idea of no AH would scare people but really it makes the thing safer mechanically than having to rely on electronics to cover for it. my car will actually sell steer into a slide like a normal car now lol instead of just going around in circles like the want to stock.
since I installed mine I got to do a track day, even thou officially it doesn't really have a road race proper Ackerman setting. I couldn't tell, it handled fantastic to me. I'm no pro driver, but this was a track day rental a friend of mine got for his birthday and invited lots of car friends, so we all had lap timers and I had the fastest lap of the day. other cars being a modded gti, a few year old BMW CS, a c7 z06 making almost 700hp to the wheels sitting on r888r tires. some other cars but those were the fastest. I got to drive the c7 and while I didn't push as hard as I would if it was mine, it still felt the same way handling characteristics wise at the limit in comp mode as my c6 did, just jump all over you right when I wanna be on the power driving thru the apex. I ran faster lap times in my mostly stock c6 with all the aids off, felt beautiful at the limit, like a normal car I'm used to. I was only running street tires, some falkens on the back and some Firestone fire hawk fronts, I felt like it held its own with cars way above me. it definitely wouldn't have done this or at least I couldn't have felt comfortable driving it hard enough to do that before.
as for how it's holding up, I live in tx, the track day was in Florida. I drove it there down horrible i10 roads the 1000 miles each way, beat its brains out on a private track day at the firm, drove it home. brakes were my limiting factor, I have bear upgraded front rotors, good hawk pads all the way around and dot 4 but I still could only do 2 flying laps before the brakes were hating life and needed a cool down lap, oh yeah and oil Temps were crazy high too, even with the z51 oil cooler with a fan on it. I've since upgraded the brakes with rebuild calipers and stainless steel pistons, little better pads and mostly replaced all the cooling system for next time haha but point being I put a ton of hard miles on the kit, when I got home nut and bolt check everything was solid, rod ends still perfect.
super happy with this kit, besides having to hold the tc button everytime you start it. or unplug the steering sensor and deal with the light, I recommend it for anyone thinking about to try it.
just a quick update. 2nd track day, trailered down this time.. with cooling mods I ran 4 sec faster this time, same kit and tires. 1:21.1. at the firm for reference.
still a bit brake limited even with little better pad and some ducts. but overall very enjoyable and angle kit gives me all the confidence to push hard without any aids on. over drove the tires a few times towards the end of runs and no biggie. when I got home this time I went thru the front end, all the bolts were still tight, and happy to report the rod end boots worked perfectly. zero dirt inside them and still tight enough I can't move them by hand. that's almost unheard of from my friends that run rod ends on the street.
still would like to sort out the steering wheel sensor cal, but just about anyone that runs track days disconnects it anyways to be safer. as even with everything off, people have reported aids kicking in or ice mode happening. I had soldered mine directly right after getting the car because of the service active handling nonsense with the plug failure. I was heading to the mountains and didn't want it to kick in, lock up wheels and throw me off haha. I need to put a good quality plug inline with it.
Hope you guys don't mind me bumping this older thread, it was very helpful for me.
I too went for the FDF Mini Mantis, and wrapped the heim joints as @adrielius & @??? posted about (also bought the boot tool). Installation wasn't too bad, I opted to remove the knuckle entirely which made grinding the underside of the steering arm more precise.
Post-install info:
My car is a 2001 Z06 running stock front wheels with 255/45/17 tires. With the Mini Mantis kit set in the mild position, the wheels contacted the front edge of the lower control arms, and barely contacted the rear of the upper control arms.
I ground a little from the front lower control arm edge, at the sway bar mount.
Added 5mm thick spacers to the steering rack to limit steering travel just a smidge, which ensures the wheels/tires can't make contact with anything.
It's crazy how much of a difference the Mini Mantis kit makes, even set to "mild". The car turns faster (what I'd consider "normal" for most other cars), and the turning radius is what it should have been from the factory.
Many/most people will report an issue with the Active Handling system when they install an angle kit like this, because the car turns faster than the car expects.
I've been developing a device for 2001+ C5s which I call "SWPS Manipulator". It plugs in-between the SWPS and BCM, and sends modified SWPS voltages to the BCM: the tweaked voltages make it so that the correlation between steering wheel rotation angle matches up with the stock wheel steering angle.
The prototype version of this has been on my car for about 800 miles and has worked great (other than when I triggered an AH fault due to some testing). Granted all of these 800 miles have been daily driving and I have yet to test it out under performance driving scenarios.
did you ever get anywhere with the steering sensor adapter?
did you ever get anywhere with the steering sensor adapter?
Absolutely! Been running it on my C5Z now for 2 years and 5k miles. Have sold 4 units to other C5 owners. Been working fairly closely lately with a CF member who's using it on a C5Z drift car.
Currently working through some code improvements, and have made good progress on the next hardware iteration. This hardware will be more production-friendly than the previous iteration, not to mention smaller, cheaper, and (in theory) more reliable.
