Kid Vette

Some people asked to see pics of my car with the VBP spring installed. So here goes:






This is how it looks with 8" bolts installed. I'm following John Greenwood's guidelines as outlined in the Vette Improvement Program series of articles in the mid '80's Corvette Fever magazine. You can find it at corvettefaq.com.

He recommends setting the inside u-joint of the half shafts 1/2" higher than the outside. That's about where mine are right now. This has the car sitting a little higher than I prefer. He recommends removing the rubber biscuits out of the differential crossmember and raising the rear crossmember up into the frame. This should lower the rear another 3/4". I think that will be about right. I could go to 9" bolts since I have 17" wheels and lower it another 1" but that would mess up the half shaft geometry.

You probably noticed my front end is still too high. I need to bring it down at least an 1". Here again I'm following John Greenwood's recommendations. I'm planning on cutting a coil off of the springs. I would appreciate any input from somebody who has already done this.

LFZ

theres gotta be another reason your front end sits so high... :skep: Have you tried loosening the control arm bolts and setting the car back down, then tighten up? Is your springs seated in the pocket right?

Kid Vette

Haven't tried loosening the control arm bolts yet but I plan to. I just put new A arm bushings and ball joints in last fall but I need to go back and check that.

I guess I'm not too surprised that the front end is high though. My car was originally an AC & power steering car. I've removed both along with the complete heater system and smog system and installed an aluminum radiator and intake manifold. So it is substantially lighter in the front than it was. I'm guessing its a combination of the reduced weight and loosening and retightening the control arm bolts.

Thanks for the suggestion!


[Modified by Kid Vette, 10:16 PM 3/23/2004]

79VetteMike

Looks good. What's the fender lip height through the center of the wheel? I just got my custom made spring from Van Steel(VBP) today-they made it 1/2" shorter on each side to clear my tires. It's also a 345 spring rate-as apposed to one of the standard rates. Now I just gotta remove that 4X4 TRW spring.....I almost forgot.....If you take the rubber biscuit off of the crossmember(I've already planned on doing this) how do you compensate for the added distance from the front differential mount?


[Modified by 79VetteMike, 9:45 PM 3/23/2004]

74 vert

Kid Vette, I'm glad to see that you have been able to get the back of the car down by changing the rear spring. I was able to get the back of my car down with a VBP dual mount, but my half shaft geometry is not 1/2 inch higher near the pumpkin. My half shaft geometry looks lower near the pumpkin as compared to the shaft near the TA's. I need to get my dead azz in the garage and shoot some pics. :smash:

hotrodv8

I had the 330lb. spring after 2 year it fractured! I was informed that weight spring should only be used on low hp. sm blocks! so I upped to a 360lb. with no problems. My advise is to keep an eye on it. They know (spring man.) thatther is a problem.