cryzko

ok,
so i took apart my whole rear end and planning on installing an air ride suspension and hopefully lowering it a few inches. my question is, has anyone experienced any problems in lowering their cars and what sound i look out for when i do it...... i'm buying new strut rods , half shafts, and a rear spring... since i'm lowering it, what spring should i go for..... my air ride is just for raising it for bad roads and for show for cruising..... any help would be appreciated.

thanks

also any recommendation would help for parts for the rear i.e. adjustable strut rods, etc.....

:auto:

sb69coupe

The independent rear suspension of 63-82 Corvettes was designed to work at a given nominal ride height. That is typically with the half shafts at a near horizontal level, perhaps with the rear hub end slightly lower than the differential. If you lower the car to the point that the differential is at a lower point than the rear hubs you will be putting excess strain on the half shaft u-joints. You may also have a difficult time getting the rear camber set within spec without the rear spring making contact with the sidewall of the tire. You will also greatly reduce the amount of available suspension travel in compression, and you may bottom out the suspension against the rubber stops on the frame.

You'll likely need adjustable strut rods to even get close to having the camber set correctly. More than likely you'll need to use the "smart strut" system to avoid camber change in the wheel travel, because once you set the camber at ride height, when you raise the car with your "air ride" you will induce a large amount of positive camber. The combination of the smart struts and standard undercar exhaust, coupled with your lowered ride height will result in a very minimal amount of ground clearance and you'll probably scrape the pipes when going over most moderate dips in the road.

If you're willing to make these trade-offs then have a go at it, and good luck.

cryzko

i'm going with side pipes for that reason..... i'd see the issue with the diff and half shafts...... i'll further investgate this issue...... should i go with a 9 leaf/7 leaf or a monospring for the lower....... the air ride will basically "lift the car" so my lowest point will already be set by the suspension setup i do proir to the air adjustments....... so, i think groovyjay dropped his 3" and curious if i can go lower....... possibly "sit it on the ground" when i'm parked........

cryzko

sb69coupe

You'll be limited by the arc of the rear spring as to how low you can go. The ends of the spring will hit the tires if you go with very long spring bolts, and the bolts may even contact the ground. The type of spring will have little effect on ride height, but you'll probably want a 7 leaf to have the stiffest spring since you'll have very little suspension travel.

In case I'm being to subtle, I'll try to state the obvious. I think you'll create more problems than you realize by radically lowering the ride height of the suspension. The independent rear design is not well suited for this kind of modification due to camber change, etc. But, it may work out OK and you'll prove me wrong.


[Modified by sb69coupe, 8:49 PM 3/29/2004]

cryzko

i appreciate any feed back from this forum since i know that the majority of the people on this forum have the knowledge that i don't. this is my first vette.... my dad had a 74 for 12 years.... it's my project car so i'm just trying to see what i can do to it for the sake of doing what people say cant be done.... i take feedback as a learning experience and look at each situation i have as a challenge and not as a "no i can't do that" ...the question is why i can't do it and so on....... i've seen alot of tricked out cars with setups that would be impossible....... but they did it..... i.e. hydrolic cars bouncing all four tires off the ground.....mini trucks sitting on the ground...etc...... i figured a way to do an air ride but it's just the matter of finding out my possible problems before they happen....... i'm sure i can fab a bracket and cut the leaf ends back a few inchs to take car of the side wall issue.... i already have to make brackets for the air bags....... some one said that i might not even need the leaf spring if i do air bags... but i don't want to just want to rely on an air bag....maybe if i mount two shocks on each side as opposed to one..... it's these question that i have to ask myself in order to make "it" happen. thanks for your input and what you said was something i haven't thought about....

thanks again

cryzko :cool:

KenSny

What a shame to turn a good handling sports car into a boulevard bouncing low-boy toy.

:confused:

cryzko

ummmm......
i really don't appreciate that remark. if you read the post then u will see why i am putting on the air ride...... DONT BE A HATER.......i don't hate cause people radically build their engines to run 9's....... i'm just trying to push the boundries here..... plus, my vette was a project car to begin with. why spend all that money to put it to original when i won't be happy plus i don't want it to look like everyone elses....... i'm also doing a custom fiberglassed subwoofer encloser in the back..... go ahead and hate me on that too.... honestly i don't give a isht about what u think......... once it gets done i'll MAKE sure i post pics and if your still around i'll even mail u a few posters of it..... SERIOUSLY... don't be so closed minded.........


c

kanka

Hi, Just a little advice and maybe solve your problem. If you lower your rear suspension to the point of your half shafts being level or lower you stand a strong chance of pulling your yokes out of the rear end. This is one main problem when you let the suspension bottom out. You will probability not be keeping the car in alinement with air bag suspension. A better answer would be to go to a solid rear axel and then it makes no difference how low or high you want your car. Also to convert to a solid axel would be less of an expence. There would be no need to keep the independent suspension because it would be useless if car is lowered to the point of sitting in the weeds. You need to go to a modified prostreet set-up. Art Morrosion Makes a set up that will work on your vet . They sell a 9" ford rear end that can be made any with you want if you want to keep it a stock looking so you don't need to tub it out.

USA SHARK

To each his own. It's your car, do what makes you happy! That's part of what being a vette owner is all about... mods if you want them. Not everyone wants to restore to original and trailer it around. In fact, most of us are doing things that are modifications to the original in some way or another. So don't get upset about a few who think it's a sin to change and have FUN! :cheers:

sb69coupe

Have you taken a good long look at the rear suspension of your car? There is no way to "cut the leaf ends back a few inches" without destroying the hole where the spring bolts mount. Same goes for your idea of mounting two shocks. The lower shock mount also serves as the strut rod mount through the bearing retainer. You'd have to do some significant fabrication and design to get a two shock setup to mount, not to mention making sure that the shocks do not bind during the range of travel.

A solid axle retrofit would be your best bet, to avoid all the pitfalls you will encounter with the IRS.

The Dude

UNLESS you opt to get the rear suspension kit from Dragvette. As I recall, that comes with a spacer block that goes between the strut rod bracket and the differential, heim-jointed strut rods and longer bolts so you can lower your rear end to get the halfshafts closer to dead horizontal WITHOUT worrying about pulling out the yokes or busting u-joints.

sb69coupe

:confused: I'm confused :confused: How can a block that relocates the strut rod mount point change the angle of the half shafts? The halfshaft angle will remain the same since the differential is in the stock location. The strut rods have nothing to do with it. If the halfshafts are beyond horizontal (the wheel end being higher than the differential) then the side yoke will not be under compression, rather it will be under tension. The only thing holding the yoke in the differential is the c-clip. Not a recipe for confidence, and I sure wouldn't want to drive with the yoke under tension like this.

I just took a look at http://www.dragvette.com and it appears that their kit is actually to add an upper link to the suspension and remove the halfshaft as a loaded member. The kit would resolve the side yoke issue, but would not address the problems with ground clearance due to long spring bolts and the strut rod bracket on the differential.

The Dude

OK. Sounds like you've got it pretty much figured out.


[Modified by The Dude, 2:50 PM 3/30/2004]

NHvette

I would think the 6-link setup would be the way to go ... and pull the yoke clips.
However, excessive travel with the stock strut rod angle will still allow the yokes
to come out of the seals ... 90 weight all over the place.
You need a good (fully parallel) 6-link setup.

Even then, I'm not sure where you would place the air lift bags. There isn't
a whole lot of room back there with a 6-link in place.

just my 2 pennies. :seeya

cryzko

i think i got this issues here..... i email art morrison and hopefully they can set me up with what i need to get the vette in the weeds..... thanks everyone for your help and once i get it together i'll drop some pics.

thanks
cryzko

cryzko

well, got a reply from art morrison and they said that they don't have a setup for me....... it's always something.... what if i put a 4link in the rear...... that should work......

cryzko

shawn_cake

If you want a beefier rear end for your Vette go to Tom's Differentials.
They aren't cheap - but they really work well.

:cheers: :steering: :cheers:

cryzko

so i was thinking, now the only problem i will really have is if the wheels go above the differential..... i don't think they will when i lower it........ with the leaf spring situtaion, i can redrill a longer slot hole for the bolt and cut an inch or so from the ends...... if i hit the hole, i'll make an end stop for it...... i think i can do it with out haveing to re-build the rear end.... once i get my rims and tires i can make sure the measurements will work..... i'm still having a friend look into a 4link and possible 6 link though just in case....... with yolk issue, i think i can remove the clip and let it float, it would have to move out alot to pop out... i'll have to measure everything this weekend.......... where can i find a 6 link at?

cryzko