I just picked up an 08 Z and I have it up on some ramps for the first time. The previous owner had lowered the car as far as he could on the factory bolts. The car just barely makes it onto my driveway from the road. I want to install a front splitter and side skirts, but there's no way it'll make up my driveway with any further reduction of front end clearance. I figured I could just raise the car and make up the difference. But, I know only enough about this car's suspension to be dangerous. Before I go screwing around with the jacking bolts, I wanted to have a better understanding of just how this suspension works and what kind of effect changing the jacking bolt will have. I've searched and searched this sight and couldn't find any pertinent technical information. Can someone point me in the right direction to find a good technical write up, or if anyone feels so inclined to explain this to me, that would be great too. Pictures would be helpful, but not necessary.

 

Congratulations on your new baby! Here's a DIY:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-t...l?forum_id=101

Here's another great link:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...questions.html

Jim

 

Also, be sure to have the alignment checked after raising the car.

 

Thanks and thanks for the links. Reality still hasn't set in. Every time I open the garage door and see the beast, I'm shocked. I finally have a Z. It's been a long time coming; five years actually.

Darn...I was wondering if I would have to re align the thing. That means that I will have to trailer the car 300 miles each way to get that done if I raise it.

 

Why 300 miles? Your profile doesn't show a location.

If you want to take the car back to the stock height a dealer certified to work on Corvettes will have the proper tool to set it. The tool does the measurement on the lower control arms.

Bill

 

I live in Alaska. I thought I had that listed in my profile. sorry. The dealer, or any alignment shop for that matter is 300 miles away from where I live. It's not the best road for this car either; a good portion is infested with frost heaves, gravel, pot holes, large animals, etc. I might take the trip in the summer, but not now. I can barley get the car up my driveway with the aid of pea gravel.

 

Just do the alignment yourself...it's really easy actually, been doing my own for about 30 years now.

 

I've done it before but not very scientifically. A pop can was used for the "proceedure".

What do you use for getting accutate reference points?

 

For doing your own alignments you can get a 2 ft long Sears Laser Level, order toe plates off from EBay or a race shop, get two tape measures that are marked in 1/32 increments. Then if you have a level spot in your garage you are set. Just use some 1/8 thich floor tiles stacked on top of each other to account for the little dips that are usually all over a level floor. Raise the car with the jack screws but use the frame as your ride height measuring point. The up down location of the wheel well arches isn't controlled so their positions can vary from car to car and from side to side of the same car. The shipping slots on the frame are the locations to take your measurements. I believe those spots are called the J and K locations and if you search on the forum in the C5 section you will see some posts where those values are called out. I posted some of that stuff a long time ago but my memory of the exact terms is hazy.

Use the Laser Level to set your camber first. Two ways to do that. 1) Attach two metal pieces of the same exact size to the magnetic side of the level and place them against the wheel or 2) just use the level vertically across the tires and try to avoid the lettering and tire bulge at the bottom of the tire.

To measure caster turn the front wheels right 20 degrees and set the level vertically on the wheel and zero it. Then turn the front wheels left until they are 20 degrees to the left and measure set the level on the wheel the same way as before and read the degrees of caster. Do the same on the other side of the car.

Use the toe plates and tape measures to set measure and set rear toe first then use the laser level and its laser pointer laying horizontally along the rear wheel to point forward to a tape measure being held by an assistant. The end of the tape measure can be placed through the front wheel to a spot on the frame or to the front hub (assuming the same type of hub is on each side of the car) then adjust the rear toe until the measurement on the tape measure on each side of the car is pretty much equal. This will set thrust angle. It is an iterative process as you adjust toe and thrust angle so be prepared to repeat setting overall toe and thrust a couple of times. Then set front toe. You will have to move the car between adjustments to settle the suspension but remember the last movement should be forward to the original floor location.

Bill

 

Thank you for that very generous detailed proceedure Bill. Sounds like a piece of cake. My garage will be a problem though. It is sloped to a floor drain in the center of the garage. I have a laser transit though, so I can set some pads on the floor. It's definitely worth the effort to give this a try. I like to be self reliant. thanks again.