Suspension:
If you are doing one HPDE a year, nothing wrong with the stock suspension. The cheapest upgrade is a Z06 leaf spring set up (lots of em used on CF) & hotchkis (prices change all over) with bilstein sports (ebay pricing best). Problem with all leaf spring set ups, wheel hop on bumps, not a problem on the track. This could be a big problem on the hi-way if you tighten up the suspension. If you are going to do a lot of track time, just shell out the $$ the first time and go for the Pfadt set up with coilovers and pfatty bars apx $3k for total set up in parts (check weekly deals in the C5 parts for sale section by vendor specials, many local guys install these cheap if you buy from them directly) if you buy directly from Pfadt (
http://www.pfadtracing.com/catalog/p...products_id/34) I found Jordan and the guys there top notch on customer service! Be careful buying used coil overs, a lot can go wrong. If you do buy them used and they have the old Clevis Style mounts, get the new cup version mounts prior to installing. Make the hole in your truck a good 2” big so you can easily get your fingers down in there to adjust the dampening. I prefer about 12/14 on a new track in the dry on the 16 point adjustments on the Pfadt. It’s a nice setup. If you keep oversteering, drop the rear down some. In the Rain I also soften both front and rear if I have the time to 10/12. To adjust the fronts, the easiest thing to do is just jack up the car and then reach over the wheel. You could just barely squeeze your fingers in, but it’s easier than going through the top and moving the reservoir each time. No sense doing what I did if you race it a lot which is do the hotchkis/blistein then up convert again. Pfadt kit also totally removes both leaf springs. Also the stock endlinks on the older vettes are plastic and give too much play, the newer C5s went to metal. Both do not allow you to adjust the heights of them though like the Pfadts and Hotchkis do. The Pfadts are more adjustable, the Hotchkis are beefier. Adjusting the endlinks lets you 50:50 the car for corner weight balance. The GM performance T1 set up is not too bad, but unless you are running SCCA etc which require specific parts for a class, makes no real sense when there are better aftermarkets out there. LG Motorsports has a really nice new GT2 setup now (Sept 09) (
http://www.lgmotorsports.com/catalog...oducts_id=2176) & a review here (
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...rs-review.html), which is very similar to the Pfadt kit except for the upper mounting mechanism in the rear (there is a bit of friction between pfadt & LG) and the LG is a very pretty anodized red! The one thing that is different on this kit that jumps out is the fexible shaft adjusters for the coils. You do NOT have to go through the trunk to set them! Much easier, I tried them on the display at Carlisle. They may be making an aftermarket kit so you can attach these to other kits in teh future, but for right now its only on their kit. I went with the less $$ route the first time and spent more in the long run doing this upgrade twice. Not to mention labor and busted knuckles twice, don’t make my mistake. Go with the more aggressive camber settings though, stock will just not do.
Don’t over lower the car unless you live in the salt flats! I love my front frame rail saver wheels from custom corvette accessories (
http://www.customcorvetteaccessories...fattdaddy.html). Thanks Chip. While you’re there, get jacking pucks if you don’t already… much easier on your car when you are constantly monkeying for events. Harbor Freight makes a great inexpensive low profile race jack, and there are always coupons for them in Auto Week, Corvette magazine, etc. Front chin splitters add great down force, but good luck with them anywhere but the track if your car is lowered.
BUSHINGS! Do the bushings ASAP! Even after my hubs were done, I still have way to much play in the upper control & lower arms! Its taking out all my camber! (see video
) I looked around and talked to several folks on the track, VBP makes a nice cheap kit (it was $269 @ Carliels 2009) but for the money the Pfadt kit is the way to go at $390 Jordan will hook ya up over there directly (
http://www.pfadtracing.com/catalog/p...products_id/43). Energy Suspension also makes a decent kit (and its red for those who care) whic hSells from SummitRacing.com. The hard part of doing bushings is not picking the kit... it is pulling the arms, pressing out the old ones.. and getting in the new ones. Some guys go nuts and add Zerk fittings (grease sites) while there, Im hoping the pfadt ones with the grooves in them that claim to be self lubing live up to their promise. I decided to do the job professionally, and have the ball joints, bushings and zerks done all at once by SpeedSouth (205-621-6969) and make sure its all done right and won't need to be done again anytime soon! When you feel how solid they are over OEM, you instantly get a lot more confidence. And FYI, dont go too nuts spending time and $$ getting your perfect alignment and 50:50 corner weighting done only to then do the bushings. Once your bushings are done, the whole car will need resetting up. If you pay a shop to do the work on this one its about 6-10 hours of labor by shop you call. You can buy a cheap bushing press on ebay.
As for the tie rod ends for front (
http://www.vbandp.com/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=396) and rear (
http://www.vbandp.com/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=397), you can not go wrong with the Vette Brake Products (VBP) heavy duty units. Make sure you also order the polycovers for them (2 sets for full car) which will keep crap out of them and make them last longer / also resist heat better. Since they are stiffer they will also hold yuor track camber/toes setting better.
When it comes to the ball joints, RockAuto.com is the way to go. Moog K6537 (lower) and Raybestos 5001128 (upper) you will need 4 of each. These are FAR more durable than the OEM ones, and while pressing out the bushings its a good idea to do these too. You can wait for the OEM to fail or be proactive and do it all at once and not waste a track day when they do.
Brakes Basics:
First you must get rid of those OE lines if you are going to be racing the car often. Get a good pair of Stainless Steel braided lines, do not skimp. Stoptech, etc. are all fine products. Motul 600, Super Blue, etc is your fluid choice. I found the best deal on Motul 600 from
http://corollasport.com/rbf600.html if you buy by the case after shipped to your door its $16 each. You will need a case. Flush your system before each event, it’s cheap life insurance. Normal brake fluid = boil over = expansion = no pressure on your pedal when your hydraulics fail = no predictable stop = death. To flush your system WAY faster without helpers, I cannot say enough about Speed Bleeders! (
http://www.speedbleeder.com/) Get the stainless steel ones! And order 5, not 4. There is a small chance of failure (rare but happens), and for the extra few bucks, it’s not a bad idea to keep one in your race tool box for emergencies. I can do my brake bleeding on my car solo under an hour on all four at lunch at an HPDE no sweat. You might want to eventually change out the stock Aluminum pistons in the calipers to Stainless Steel with the DRM kit (
http://www.dougrippie.com/), the race pads make a lot of heat and the aluminum OEM pistons send all that heat QUICK into your fluid causing boil over. S/S ones will not. While there you might want to think about brake bias springs as well (
http://www.vbandp.com/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=393).
BIG BRAKE KITS? You do NOT need a big brake kit until you are a super driver! The stock C5 calipers do just fine, they DO need better pads. BBKit looks super cool at the car show, but is just over kill for most people’s skill level for a long long time. Spend the $3000 at Bondurant, etc. for race school instead of a brembo set up. The Race school will make you brake far better than a BBK will. Remember BBkits will require knowing if your wheels will fit over them. This happens a lot! Many BBK will not fit easily under 18’s unless you custom order special BBK friend version of those rims. BBK pads also will cost more, don’t forget this. Some BBK do not have a lot of choices for pads on them either, so do your homework first. And don’t forget, more pistons do not always mean stops better. AP Racing, Stop Tech, Brembo, Wilwood, Baer, etc. all make BBKs. Ask others what their success and pitfalls are first before you shop.
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