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Have my car now, will try to post interesting things I learn along the way.
First one - cars with the front lift kit do also have the UCA shims allowing for more camber. I'd read in at least one place that they don't have this adjustment. In fact they do, one shim per UCA bolt.
They are about 5mm thick (my digital caliper's batteries are dead, eyeballed it). They have some kind of interesting material in their interior, I wonder if it's perhaps to prevent galvanic corrosion.
Next bit - pulling the front UCA shims introduces 3/4” toe out on the front wheels. For those not familiar, that is a ton and will wear out tires in a big hurry, especially when combined with some camber.
To get it back to zero required just over 1-2/3 turn (or 10 “flats” if you measure it that way) on each front tire rod) of toe-in adjustment.
At current settings my rear width on the ground is 76-1/4”, front is 76-3/4”. Rear wheels have 1/2” more frontspacing than OE, fronts have 7/8” more. So as wide as the car looks, it’s actually a little narrower (on the ground) than my Vipers. Not counting mirrors of course.
Speaking of mirrors, while the side mirrors present good visibility, the driver’s side assembly really blocks a lot of the forward inward view in tight left corners. May end up being a bit of a hindrance in some autocross situations. Probably not an issue on track though.
Hi Chris - not sure yet. Don't have the free time I once did, and this should be less of a deep project than the Camaro was, at least for a while. With the Vipers instead of the blog I kept a thread of all my notes - as much to share with the community, so much as a way of recording things to myself use later Boards like this that are so heavily monetized bug me a little though, so we'll see.
Pulled the shims from the rear upper control arms the other night. There's an additional complication in the form of an aluminum box. To get a good look, I pulled the fender liner out completely, though you can probably access the box with select removal of liner fasteners.
Passenger side is a lot busier than the driver side - extra radiator, lines, and the coolant overflow tank.
That extra work is the bad news - the good news is, making that change had no noticeable impact to rear toe setting - I had 1/16" in before and after the change.
Planning to lower it next week some time, still too high for my tastes.
Mag ride shocks, interested to see how they perform. Car is quite comfy on the street.
if I had to guess, would say the shims provide for about one degree negative.
Found my digital protractor/level yesterday and tried a ghetto camber measurement. With just the shims pulled, I measured -2.2 camber front and rear. Not likely to be super accurate, but interesting. Has anybody had their car aligned with just the shim change and no movement in the eccentrics?
I suspect it’ll gain even more negative as it’s lowered, may not even need to monkey with the cams to get it where I want (maybe -2.5 front and rear to start).
How does the acceleration feel vs your Viper etc? Seems like for less than 80mph, it should still be pretty sporty because of the gearing.
Yeah, acceleration is ok but not great. You can't judge the first couple gears because the C8 is in third before the Viper goes to second. Unless you intend to rip from the beginning it's kinda laggy as it has to kick down before it starts to scoot. Frankly my daily-driver Tesla (non-P model) feels faster. It's not even that free-revving in neutral - you'd think with computer-controlled clutches they could have gone with a really light flywheel, but it feels like a regular old cast iron flywheel v8.
However I view the car as a blank slate to start working from, and in that manner I'm not disappointed at all. There's several places where additional coolers can be added, and all that normal force on the rear axle is just begging for a doubling + of the power level. It appears I'll be able to fit 295s and 345 under stock bodywork on proper-width wheels (275/325 no problem). For those waiting for the Z06 version, I think it'll be everything you hope and more. For me, I want to build something that's as fast as any McLaren (well, maybe not the Senna), but at less than half the price and greater reliability. Once the DCT clutches and ECU tuning are there, the path will be cleared to achieve this.
Yeah, acceleration is ok but not great. You can't judge the first couple gears because the C8 is in third before the Viper goes to second. Unless you intend to rip from the beginning it's kinda laggy as it has to kick down before it starts to scoot. Frankly my daily-driver Tesla (non-P model) feels faster. It's not even that free-revving in neutral - you'd think with computer-controlled clutches they could have gone with a really light flywheel, but it feels like a regular old cast iron flywheel v8.
However I view the car as a blank slate to start working from, and in that manner I'm not disappointed at all. There's several places where additional coolers can be added, and all that normal force on the rear axle is just begging for a doubling + of the power level. It appears I'll be able to fit 295s and 345 under stock bodywork on proper-width wheels (275/325 no problem). For those waiting for the Z06 version, I think it'll be everything you hope and more. For me, I want to build something that's as fast as any McLaren (well, maybe not the Senna), but at less than half the price and greater reliability. Once the DCT clutches and ECU tuning are there, the path will be cleared to achieve this.
That is hugely helpful it helps me have less regret giving up my C8 deposit. I rolled it into the Z06. Depending on if the Z06 is a GT3 type car or a mail-it-in Forced Induction 6k rpm, 3900lb porker, I might either wait for the GS or jump back into the Stingray. My experience with both Mustangs and Vettes, is they are marginal on Brakes. I definitely want Carbon Ceramics when they come out. Otherwise I will probably follow your lead in building one into a McLaren type car.
Knowing the cars you and Alex are coming from, pretty sure you’d find the acceleration nothing special. The brakes are pretty rinky-dink too, shame they cheaped out there. Good news is the ducting pathways are present.
J-Rho's factoids
Boards like this that are so heavily monetized bug me a little though, so we'll see.
