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Any lowering beyond what the factory setup allows pretty much makes the car unlivable on the street, but have at it.
You mean the car is too low and scrapes everywhere is why youre saying it makes no good for daily driving? When i bought the car it had camber in the rear and front slightly angled and lowered pretty good on stock suspension i raised it back up 1" after seeing the guy that sold it to me had no air dam. It looked real nice lowered. Id lower it back down all the way but not sure if the 18x10.5 +56mm offset wheels will be close to the rear quarter panels or rub. The corvettes do sit 2"-3" lower then ls1 f-bodies which i use to own sometimes i think the camaro front end looks better and if only the hood opened normal from the front the engine bay would be easier to access. Not much head room either at 5'10" theres 2-3" of headroom makes me wonder with a helmet. The one thing i hate is how the seat shifts 1/2" from worn out bushings if only they had made them similar to camaro seat frames which are pretty solid or durable.
I talked to a guy at walmart with an auto ls2 c6 corvette said it had a big cam, headers but no torque converter that wa slammed and the air dam was 1" off the ground. When i asked if it surged he said yeah ill show u put the car from park to drive it surged 6" lol. Pat G and nelson performance told me they could tune the car with stock stahl till i got one with the tsunami cam but would run like **** with no converter. I still think a big cam even at part throttle with lock up not WOT 3600 stahled will still have less power idle up but have no experience with them.
This was before i purchased the secret sauce x elgin 1839 cam. I was going to go with something bigger which i still can down the road if i ever do add a torque converter. It was either that or BTR weekend warrior stage 3 cam a 218/224 with roughly .550 lift i think it was for 230$ or the whole cam kit with springs for 302$. When talking to tci over the phone about torque converters they told me absolutely not, not for that year corvette summit has it listed wrong when they advertise tci converters 97-04 corvette 93-97 lt1. Jegs has a nice 3600 street strip xhd converter 600hp but no balloon plate for 550$. Tsp told me the 224r cam would be the biggest he recommended with stock converter. As i was on a budget and just changing the balancer i went with the elgin 1839 for 255$ on amazon and pac 1219s for 155$ incase i decide to put a bigger cam later on. They have 1.8 ratio rockers which i think make it almost .600 lift mines .575 but not sure ive never had a problem with stock rockers on a 169k mile 500hp turbo z28. My dad think it has to have a balloon plate for nitrous which im sure it does but the corvettes converters are way high 1000$+ vs f-body stuff. I was simply in there replacing torque tube couplers with the ebay 70$ solid aluminum couplers and no extra added vibration in fact they weighed 100 grams less 270grams each coupler vs the stock 380 gram couplers or what was left of them rubber wise. For the cam i was already removing the balancer before it walks off leaving me stranded and had the funds for a cam on a budget. Only wish i would have went with a pb ud pulley as they claim 14hp from asp. No telling what rpm that is but less accessory wear.
Yes - as you lower the car, the suspension arms move upwards and the top of the tire will tilt inwards, thus giving you increased negative camber. Depending on how much negative camber you had before you lower it, you might end up with excessive negative camber. If you do track days or autox, you might want that negative camber. But it will cause more wear on the inner tire tread. If you can live with shorter tire life, it may not be a big deal to you.
And yes, the camber is adjustable during an alignment so you certainly can set the camber where you want it after lowering.
The cars alignment is perfectly straight and the tires wear even. So lowering without an alignment 5/8"-3/4" will tilt the top of the wheels inwards on the rear? Im only trying to lower the rear as i was going to put polyurethane bushings and the rear sits about 1" higher then the front so would like the car even O------O
The guy i bought it from in laredo texas 177 miles advertised it as a good running car and i met him at his place of work. He didnt want too much for it 6800$ rebuilt title so i purchased it i didn't realize it had problems till i got home braking stuff rattling in the torque tube on deceleration, no air dam temps at 240 degrees at 65mph all the way back and one fan blade was missing the nut and hanging in the fan shroud. Terrible deal i figured i could get my 6800$ back the worst case scenario but needed 23 year old repairs 91k miles according to cluster. Cam retainer plate looked slightly wore like lower mileage as i had my 169k mile z28 cam plate to compare it to. He had it listed for 7k but was a rebuilt title and nothing i could see looked wrong never again will i buy a rebuilt title car but i got the car running pretty good as a daily driver. Just the hvac blend doors need to be replaced it gets up to 107 degrees here in texas last week. Fall, winter, spring i dont mind not being able to use the ac heat. Im use to driving a 66 fairlane as a daily driver 4 speed toploader 4.10s, 3.25s and a carhart jacket or hoodie when i was 17 2007 to highschool and then at age 21 2010-2011 my new job at Cargill till i could afford a clutch, slave cylinder that was out on my 98 z28. With no carpet the firewall would heat the car up inside somewhat.
The local shop that did it charges 55$ i wonder if theyd charge less to just adjust the rear slightly but they didnt give a receipt or print out of specs. It was because the pull key wait 10 seconds i missed my 5 oclock appointment to brakecheck with printout for 75$ when they close at 6 so i looked for listings of another alignment shop really embarrassing. Ive since had the 2mph fuel cut off raised to 200mph when i had the car tuned a few months ago.
. I think they're jam nuts not sure but id be afraid with 2-3 threads it coming loose and dropping a control arm up into the wheel well on the highway.
For that nut and bolt, blue Loctite is your friend...........
If you need piece of mine drill a hole through the end and use safety wire or a cotter pin.
Man im comfortable with the loctite i used it last year on some home depot bolts the same size but removed them after hearing the stock bolts were stronger. I think they maybe longer bolts then stock not sure dont want a home depot bolt to snap and drop the wheel up into wheel well.
I used red loctite on the top thread and when i went to change the stock bolts back man were the nuts tight i left too much red loctite on the top threads had to use brakleen to try and remove the home depot bolt nut set. yes i think blue or green loctite will work.
Now are the prothane or energy suspension bushings shorter then the factory bushing which are 1"? the prothane or energy suspension look about 1/2"-5/8" which would allow more room to lower the vehicle with shorter bushings. I emailed energy suspension with photos if they had height dimensions.
Has anyone seen one of these prothane or energy suspension bushings in person and know if they are indeed shorter then the stock 1" bushings? Would allow for more lowering. The prothane or energy suspension look like theyre missing the third layer in terms of height and solid real durable. Great thanks for the help.
I spoke with prothane tech line 71025 is .700" and stock rubber is just under 1" so it would maybe add extra 3/8" lowering once both top and botton bushings are changed. Now i wonder if the energy suspension bushings are the same .700" as they have lifetime warranty if the bushing were to ever crack.
Is this the kind of bushings that your car has? Below, is a picture of one of the bushings that my car has four of, and the ones I just replaced. My Energy Suspension replacement bushings look exactly the same.
The body of the bushings is 11/16" thick, and including the "stem" it's 1" overall.
yeah thats an 02 body bushing from a separate project 02 corvette im assuming the 99 bushings on my car are the same when i was raising it back up i just seen it was the same stock rubber type. I dont know if they changed them thru the years but im assuming 97-04 rubber bushings are all the same maybe .900" tall while prothane told me theres was .700 tall so by the time prothane swapped have .400" extra room for dropping or lowering the rear maybe 1"-1.5" with 2-5 threads and loctite. My 99 bushings looked like they were in slightly rougher shape was debating getting new ones last year and found prothane or energy suspensions manufacturers them.
Is this the kind of bushings that your car has? Below, is a picture of one of the bushings that my car has four of, and the ones I just replaced. My Energy Suspension replacement bushings look exactly the same.
The body of the bushings is 11/16" thick, and including the "stem" it's 1" overall.
Its 1" wide or 1" tall with the stem that tucks up into the spring or a arm recessed area? Thats perfect allows more room for lowering.
Do you happen to have the measurements without the stem just the mating surface part flat end to flat end? Thats energy suspensions? Energy suspension has a lifetime warranty is 17$ and prothane are 8$ but no lifetime warranty. Prothane said they were .700" tall the mating surfaces but if you had measurements of the ENERGY SUSPENSION ones would be great i like the lifetime warranty. This should allow .400" drop with the bolts in the same place just from a bushing change and stock will lower 1" so can get nearly 1.5" drop in the rear which is perfect.
Can't help you with the dimensions of the ES bushings, as they're already in the car, but just in looking at them, they're pretty much the same as the OE pieces. Just my $0.02 worth, you're putting too much emphasis on the bushings, as a determinator of ride height. It's the tension that's put on the spring ends, via the bolts, that's the final factor that determines ride height. And one other "tip", the factory point of measurement, for ride height, is the center of the bolts that attach the arms to the subframe.....
Can't help you with the dimensions of the ES bushings, as they're already in the car, but just in looking at them, they're pretty much the same as the OE pieces. Just my $0.02 worth, you're putting too much emphasis on the bushings, as a determinator of ride height. It's the tension that's put on the spring ends, via the bolts, that's the final factor that determines ride height. And one other "tip", the factory point of measurement, for ride height, is the center of the bolts that attach the arms to the subframe.....
Now 11/16 is .6875". Prothane told me .700 im not sure i didnt here from energy suspension would prefer theres because of the lifetime warranty never know they could tear or break in half. Im not sure if the stock 3 piece layered ones do collapse with tension hard to say. Not sure which way to go with prothane or the energy suspension. Theyre nice bushings i like them because my rear sway bar end links are already red maybe energy suspension or look to be replaced and someone got rid of the f45 shocks and put stock base model shocks. Last year when i was raising the ride height i noticed one was in bad shape and wondered where i could find new ones but i think polyurethane is best. When i get that far im going to lower it one 1" or try to even it with the front. Yours compared to mine the prothane or energy suspension black one is .6875" 11/16 fraction prothane repsonded to my call and informed me they were .700" tall which is good as the stock ones are over .900". The prothane ones are 16$ on ebay with free shipping or from energy suspensions website the energy suspension are 17 plu 9 shipping around 26$ directly from website. They are good tho if you get the warrantied ones. I used polyurthane think it was the energy suspension 55$ kit on all 4 control arms upper and lower 8 bushings on my 95 z28 in 2008-2009. Didn't make the ride stiffer but are nice products. Had to let the old rubber burn out with a butane or small propane torch. Theyre good stuff.
It'll probably be a few months till i purchase them but i bet either one would work maybe prothane is best if one tears your out 8$. Im not sure if the stock rubber 3 slits ones collapse with weight but i somewhat doubt it i would think they're solid and stay the same height. Another thing was the ebay sikspeed lowering kit for 26$ curious if theyre a name brand prothane, energy suspension lol 2-3$ bolts you can pick up at home depot except home depots are fully threaded. When i asked them about the length by ebay message they didnt say much just 8 pieces to lower the corvette 1" which can be done on factory equipment.
Out of curiosity the full kits with front lowering studs state 2 hours to install how hard is it to change the front bolts?
Is this the kind of bushings that your car has? Below, is a picture of one of the bushings that my car has four of, and the ones I just replaced. My Energy Suspension replacement bushings look exactly the same.
The body of the bushings is 11/16" thick, and including the "stem" it's 1" overall.
Leadfoot4 these are energy suspension or prothane? Thought you said you couldn't measure as they're in the car but is that your hand holding one of the bushings or is that an internet picture of the bushings? How did you figure out they were 11/16" .6875" or prothane .700 bushings? Deciding which ones to purchase yes id prefer the ones that arent as tall as the stock .900 bushings.
Leadfoot4 these are energy suspension or prothane? Thought you said you couldn't measure as they're in the car but is that your hand holding one of the bushings or is that an internet picture of the bushings? How did you figure out they were 11/16" .6875" or prothane .700 bushings? Deciding which ones to purchase yes id prefer the ones that arent as tall as the stock .900 bushings.
Those are the 21 year old, OE bushings that I took out of the car, a couple of months ago..... And to address your question about changing the front adjusting bolts, I'm pretty sure you'd have to remove the spring from the car. In other words, a major project.
Yeah you bet with weight on the stock bushings the 3 inner lines collapse so i would get some solid energy suspension or prothane. My leaf spring is 3/8"-1/2" at the farthest end from the control arms on both side maybe 1.25" of threads so to get prothane bushings you can see ones is kind of falling apart and lower it atleast 1". Nothing is binding. Just as high as itll go nearly.
These are simply just new sway bar end links i think. I raised it as high as i could without binding The fronts have about 3/8" of thread above the leaf transverse spring and 3 finger gap at most and the rear has a good 1" it could be dropped to even it with the front. You can see the one bushing has a chunk out of it why i was looking for replacement bushings i may go with prothane 8" or energy suspension either way theyll need replaced eventually.
Not quite sure where your spring sits, in relation to the lower a-arm, as your pictures aren't all that clear. However, it appears to me that your spring does come closer to the subframe than mine. In the picture below, you can see my spring just peeking out from under the a-arm. This is with the car sitting on the ground, at ride height.
