mountainbiker2

I'm considering Pensky or Koni shocks. I'm going to be changing my springs to stiffer ones. What luck have you had with Koni's? Basically any information that you might have would be great. The one's I'm thinking of buying is the 2812 series.
This car is not a daily driver and is used mostly for Autocross and some Track days.

Thanks.
Steve

RAFTRACER

Koni 2812's ROCK!!! . Thats what Gary Thomason uses and so do I. Not exactly cheap, but worth it. PM me if you need purchasing or valving help.

tigerdrvr

Strelnieks, also...so, you have the fastest ASP, SM2 and SS Corvettes in the country on the same shocks

I have some Penske DA's that could be for sale

mountainbiker2

ProPartsUSA in Canago Park said that they did Gary Thomason's shocks. So they should be able to build the same shocks for me. I live just 10 miles away from them.
What spring rate do you guys have?

Thanks.
Steve

RAFTRACER

BIG

Roadrace65

Spring Rates - I'm running VBP 1050lb'er Up Front, 800lb Rear

Shocks - I'm running a set of Koni single adjustables, they are just a touch longer than stock, much too long. I can't get the car as low as I’d like because the shocks bottom out.
Although too long, I’m not unhappy with their damp rate or feel, but that’s just me. I’m fairly new to the AutoX and HPDE thing so I’m usually taking advise from guys like Raft Racer, listening to what they say and applying it.

gkmccready

ProPartsUSA was excellent at responding to email. They don't have a C6 fitment yet, but they did offer up that the pricing would be the same or very close to the C5 pricing... $850/corner.

A touch more than the 3013-1023 & 3013-1024 setup which looks to be about that for a set of four. :-)

glen

Solofast

The 2812's are most excellent, I have them on my car and they work extremely well, great motion control.....

Not cheap by any means, you are looking about two grand for a set of four for a C5....

mountainbiker2

Pro Parts quoted me about $3400 for a set of 4.
Is that way to much?

Thanks.
Steve

RAFTRACER

It may be a little strong, and I do mean a little. $2000 for 2812's is NOT happening period. There is added cost over their basic 2812 package for the C5 rear horseshoe bracket and spherical front lower cross shaft. You are probably paying a little bit for their knowledge of what valving works and they would probably know since they did Gary's shocks. But what Gary likes in his shocks you may not, everyone is a little different.
BTW let me add something to my above reply about spring rate ----BIG and VBP (Vette Brakes and Products). 1000+ in front and 800+ in the rear and you should be good

Solofast

Yea, the 3011's are about two grand with custom valving, the 2812's are more like above $3k,,,

But you get what you pay for...

tigerdrvr

Sam Strano Jr., who has set up a ton of Nationals winning autocross cars, swears by the 30 series SA Konis and sells them for quite a bit less than $2000.

RAFTRACER

Yeah, but he hasn't set-up a winning Corvette , from what I understand he hasn't yet figured out that the 3012-3013's are slightly longer than stock either. Those are decent shocks, but like someone said in an above post...."you get what you pay for". The 2812's are significantly better than the 3012-3013's , but not everyone is ready to have a big $$$ shock. It is a whole lot easier to screw yourself up than to help yourself if you do not know what you are doing (I should know , I have done this to myself over the years). I believe that all 2812's are built from scratch, so correct shock/length travel can be achieved without paying extra (besides the initial hit ). 3013's must have more work done to them when purchased because they come pre-assembled. ( I would also have them valved ). The 30 series are still very nice shocks, they just dont have anywhere near the range of the 28's or the multiple adjustments (you can have that done also on 3013's for the extra dough ). By the time you have the 3013's shortened, revalved, and made double adjustable you might as well have bought the 28's because they still have more adjustment range. Not cheap no matter how you slice it.

mountainbiker2

I was going to go with 930 front and 750 back. I think that is what Gary is running. The shocks are suppose to be valved for his spring rate.
I run 315 in the front and 335 tires in the back. They stick outside the fender a little. I hope this spring rate keeps the tire off the fender. I want to lower the car a little lower then factory bolt setting. Maybe 1/2" in the front lower and 1/2" to 1" lower in the back then the factory.
Just figuring out what to do seems to be a real mess and it's not even on the car yet.
I could buy 5 sets of Kumho V710's for the same money. I hope this is all worth it. I'm going to need a couple of weeks to think about this. I might have a real fast car, but no money left to drive it.

Thanks for all the help.

Steve

XPC5R

You will ultimately want more spring, sway bar, and shock on the car. Many ways to get there, based on your needs and budget. If the 2812's are too much right now, don't overlook the single adjustable (rebound) penske's, they will save enough for a spring or swaybar puchrase. They also share the same basic valve stack as the doubles, just fixed compression valving (which is not that adjustable - +-10%- anyway unless you buy triples).

Bigger bars and springs will help reduce roll and keep the tires off the fenders, but the best guarantee is using nylon washers to space the bumpstops to the point where the shocks cannot compress enough to hit. Takes some trial and error to get there.

I've seen your post about coilovers here too, so it looks like you have a few options:

Koni/Penske/other doubles only - approx $3-3.5k
VBP springs - approx $900 /pair
T1/Hotchkis/addco swaybars - $400-600

Coilovers (with bilstein aluminum shocks and stiffer springs) - approx $2300
T1/Hotchkis/addco swaybars - $400-600

Replacement springs for tuning - $70 ea. (this is the biggest advantage, cheap way to adjust the f/r balance of the car - since none of the off the shelf C5 swaybars are adjustable)

Roadrace65

I mailed Koni about shortening the 3012-3013's. They came back with the following:

Greg,

The shocks for the C5 are built to the same lengths as the factory dampers which makes them legal for stock class autocrossing. The shocks can be shortened and converted to double adjustable for $225/each for the front and $240/each for the back. The cost difference between shortening and not making it double is only about $20/each cheaper and really isn’t worth it. If you have any questions, please let me know. Thanks.

Gordon,
Gordon.Benson2@itt.com

In another mail I was told the turn around time for the service is 7 weeks! Yikes!

RAFTRACER

I will talk to Gordon @ Koni about this , I think this is only partially true. The problem lies that the adjuster for the shock is located under the lower mounting bushing adding to its effective length in compression. Unless they have changed something in the design since '02 , I know this to be the case, because I have had two sets of these myself personally. I additionally know people that have these that have sent these in to be shortened for this very reason. (or to capitilize on the SCCA stock class shock length requirements,.)

Roadrace65

Has anyone worked with AFCO shocks? afcoracing.com

I mailed them about an off the shelf shorter than stock shock for C5. I was told that they were in the works, 6-8 months away.

mountainbiker2

How crazy would this be? I talked to Jack French at Blistein shocks and they can do custom valving for you. It cost about $420 to have them valved. (What they call C5 full race valving). Plus they would shorten them about 1" or what ever I tell them. The cost of the shocks would be $400 for all 4.

I could get springs at Vette brakes 950/1000? front. 700/750? rear. Cost $1000
Blistein shocks with valving, shortening. $820

Will the Blisteins just be a big waste of money, or can we call it day and go with that?

Are you guys worn out yet from all these questions.

Thanks.
Steve

I also heard that Koni's are not that reliable. Plus $140 per shock for oil changes, that you might need to do every year.

gkmccready

Just to add more confusion, I know a bunch of SCCA guys run http://www.advance-design.com/ shocks... anybody tried them on a C6 (or C5)?

As for Koni reliability -- I've had no problems on my other vehicles. Kind of in wait and see mode about these KYBs I put on the Miata, though...

glen