Dolfan

While there are a lot of Elise and GT3's now at the national level in SS for SCCA Solo there are still many Z06's. One question I have is the setup of the car. The car can be lowered on the stock bolts and we can tweek the allignment to make the car behave better, and of course R-compounds.

The question is the next level of preparation. I think many national level drivers then go to the penske shock replacing the stock Z06 shocks. Is there another option? With C4's people used to have the Bilstien's revalved for autoX with good results? I haven't heard of people replacing the Z06 shock with Koni or others than Penske's, what other options are there to improve the car, but maybe not going to the $4K level of this option.

Solofast

I am using custom valved Koni 3012's, built upside down so they can be easily adjusted (in rebound) on the car. That was about half the price of a set of Penske's, and it is an option. Koni just came out (or is about to come out) with a new single adjustable shock, but I don't know anybody that is using them yet. They are priced pretty reasonably and would be a good alternaive to the higher priced solutions. Also a potential issue on how they adjust rebound in the rear, if they use the "Koni ****" on the top of the shock that will be worthless on a C5 (like it was on a C4) cause you don't have access to the **** without taking off the shock, and you want to be able to adjust rebound more often than that...

While lots of people talk about the Bilstien sports, I just haven't heard of anybody using them competively at the national level...

If I had it to do all over again I'd likely opt for the remote double adjustable Koni's. The problem with my 3012's is that you have to remove them (or loosen up the top bolts on the fronts and spin the shock) to adjust jounce. If you have a lot of time at a test session, that's fine, but it seems that there is never enough time to do all the testing that you want, so you end up limiting some of what you can test. If I was just turning ***** I would liklely have tested more and learned more....

Two axioms apply...

Speed costs money, more speed costs more money, how fast can you afford to go...

Time is money, if you have lots of time, sometimes you don't have to spend as much money...

trackboss

Solofast, do you use the pin style upper mounts like the factory or are you using a double eyelet damper? If so did you make your own rear (upper) brackets or do you know someone that makes them? I am not a fan of pin mounting shocks and as soon as I have time I plan on making custom upper mounts. The fronts are easy, but the rears will require either a machined aluminum custom designed piece or I'll just fab up a steel one.

thanks,
-V

TedDBere

Just remember that the Penske's can always be re-sold, when you're done with them, in a matter of minutes.

Their new 8300 DAs have 12 clicks for bump instead of the 6 found on the older 8100s and they also fit on the C6 too. An important resale point.

Penske's are lifetime shocks that can be easily, and affordably be rebuilt and be revalved.

The choice is yours.

gkmccready

I've been curious about the same thing with the shock mounts. Some folks really hate the pin mounts, others don't seem to care -- the latter camp often states that by the time you've put a clevis there you've lost more shock travel than it was worth in doing...

trackboss

It is true you lose some bump travel, but if the dampers are built right it should not be an issue. I am planning on building some affordable, single adjustable konis specifically valved for the C5 with leaf springs. The only ones I've seen are the lg bilsteins and I am looking for something with some rebound adjustment and not so expensive.

talon95

I have the new Koni singles on my car. They're inverted bodies (stock pin mount) with a "window" style adjuster at the bottom. The rears can be adjusted by simply laying down under the back of the car. Fronts are a little harder. I've been removing the front tire to adjust those. Just have to watch out for the brakes.

I've been really happy with them. No idea how they compare to the more expensive shocks, but they were a nice step up from the OEM '03's I had previously.

Dave G.

talon95

BTW, this thread has some similar info:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...light=z06+scca

Solofast

Mine are the pin mount style, I was also worried about loosing travel and I didn't see any advantage to using the eyelet version. I wanted the shocks to be about 1" shorter than the stock shock overall to get as much travel (when lowered) as I could and still be legal in SCCA SS. Also, mounting brackets would have had to have been custom fabricated to use the eyelet type mount and that seemed senseless to me.

Good to see that the SA Koni's are adjusted using the "windows", that makes it a lot easier to adjust. I have found that you can adjust the fronts by diving under the car between runs too. I mounted the front shock "window" to the rear and with the wheel turned all the way toward the other side of the car you can dive down there and swing the adjuster without removing the wheel or jacking the car.

talon95

I'll give the full lock turn a try. I really haven't been changing the fronts at events anyway. Mainly just balancing the car by changing the rear.

Also, the new Koni SA's have shortened bodies as well (1").

Dave G.