toomanymodz

I just bought a 97 and the front is just over 3 inches off the ground. I cannot drive onto any driveway that has any kind of incline. It's just too low. This is my first vette and I have no idea how to raise the front. I'd like to raise it, but no more than 1/2 inch higher. Ideas??

CHJ In Virginia

Jack up the front end and place car on stands. Remove wheels and look at the end of the spring. You will see an adjuster bolt running from spring to the A arm. Take appropriate number of turns (count # of turns ) to get the lift you want. 5 full turns should equal about 1/2". Do the same to the other side of car. Reassemble and drive for a few miles to settle the suspension. Check dimension, if not high enough repeat. It is simple.

cdkcorvette7

If it's lowered on stock bolts then it's as easy as loading the suspension and turning a bolt: see here: http://www.frankhunt.com/FRANK/hobbi...5_Lowering.htm

Can you post a picture of your car sitting on a level surface? Do you know if your suspension is still stock?

TheWildcat

where are you located? its not hard to raise back up if somoene didnt take the ajustment bolts all the way out..John

toomanymodz

I'm about 45 miles north of Tampa. I just bought the car last week and have little to no information about what mods were done. The brakes were upgraded, and plenty of mods done under the hood including a Kenne-Bell setup. I'll see if I can pull a wheel off this afternoon. I have some general pics in my Profile.

c5vetteguy

If you're lowered to the max on the stock bolts, you'd have a lot more than just 3" clearance. Check your front spring for cracks/splinters as they are known to break (mine was when I bought it).

You might have a set of lowering bolts up front, but I don't think even those will get you that low. Bad spring. Bad, bad spring.

toomanymodz

I'll be sure to look at the springs closely. The car does have a vibration above 55 MPH. It feels like the wheels are out of balance.

c5vetteguy

My comment on not having much clearance was under the assumption that you are talking about the stock front fascia having only 3" of clearance. If you have an aftermarket bumper and/or splitter, then that would explain the minimal clearance. If this is the case, then your spring probably isn't the issue.

toomanymodz

Thanks for the replies. I'll do it this afternoon, sounds simple enough. I'd post a pic, but it appears as though I don't have access.

Dennis Wilson

When you turn the adj. bolt you have to use a small jack to lift the end of the spring so the adj. bushing is not resting on the A- arm, or it will not turn. You turn it clockwise to raise [so less threads are showing above the spring. ] If its just the air dam rubbing don`t worry about it, thats normal.

toomanymodz

I removed a front wheel and what I see is a little confusing. I see the adjuster bolt, but only one or two threads are showing up top. Under the spring there are many threads showing. It seems as if it's adjusted almost as high as it can go.

UPDATE:
I removed the other side and now I see the issue. The rubber bushing is squished on the one side and that is why it's threaded all the way down. Looks like I need to replace it.

SMaster

I'm sure you've figured this out but when pulling into any drives or going over and steep humps it helps to drive over at as much angle as you can, one front wheel first, then the other.

It's the only way I can get out of one of the popular BBQ places here in Evansville without bottoming out and I'm running stock heights!

HTH

mark2004

On this topic of raising the front end.My car has had it's factory adjustable bolts replace with new ones, it appears with new urethane bushings. Are these bolts adjustable.

martysauto

Great avatar CHJ

SPEED750

Let me chime in. I have a 97 that I bought about 14 months ago. I thought the previous owner had slammed it to the ground. It would scrape on every speed bump and my driveway.
Well I bought the C6 ZO6 shocks and after the install the car is now about a inch higher.

The factory shocks are gas charged and over time (15 years) they lose the pressure. The new shocks brought it back up. If you want it higher buy the C6 ZO6 ($245 for all 4). Then if it's to high mess with the springs. Odds are it has never been lowered , but the factory shocks have lost pressure.

striper

One thing nobody mentioned. After you determine whether the car has been lowered front and rear or not, and you find out if you need to raise it or not, a couple of points. Is it the front air dam under the car that is scraping? It's designed to scrape and fold back if necessary, so that is no issue. You'll just have to get used to the noise, it's normal. Secondly, unless you have coilover shocks, conventional shocks do not determine ride height, only springs do. If you do need to still raise the front, you must make sure that the front is no higher than the rear. The car is supposed to have a rake with the front at least 1/2" lower than the rear for proper aerodynamics or the car will have decreased stability at highway speeds.

TastyBacon

I agree with this on most cars, however I had the same experience as SPEED750 on my '99 coupe. When I bought my car, it was low and scraped often. I gained a very noticeable amount of ride height when I swapped my blown F45 shocks for C6 Z51. The lift remains after the suspension settled. The only time I scrape now is when I do something stupid.

JBVETT

Interesting shock info, will the C6 Z51 shocks bolt on without any modifications?

TastyBacon

Yes, any C6 shocks bolt on, Z06, Z51, etc.

lionelhutz

It's been over 2 years. I would hope he's got his problem figured out by now....