2006 Corvette

[Murlo26]

Glad you got the problem fixed! Can't wait to see this in person some time!

[asshanson]

I got the almost-new z51 springs and shocks installed last night, took about 4 hours because I didn't know what I was doing and had to go off basic written directions without any pictures. That being said, it was pretty straightforward once I figured out unbolting the swaybar and upper control arms was by far the easiest way to let the whole hub down the furthest. Plus they don't have any adjustment so I didn't have to worry about getting them back to the same position to maintain my alignment.

Here is the old suspension out:


Kracka was asking me earlier about raising/lowering the stock suspension. The spring is only attached to the subframe in two locations (where the bands of rubber around the spring are in the pic above), like this pic shows:

The ends of the spring just rest on the circular rubber pads that are touching a flat area on the lower control arm. The pads are attached to a bolt that you can thread up or down which affects how far away that rubber pad is from the spring, which will lower or raise the car.

Shiny new front spring and shocks about to go in:


Installing the new spring, yay for no rust! I had absolutely no trouble with any bolts.


I took it out for a drive last night for a quick test, but it was 50* and damp out so I couldn't really tell if it corners any better, it was just sliding. However, it did stiffen up the ride a tiny bit which feels great, definitely more feedback now and it feels a little more like a sports car. The base springs and shocks were pretty cushy imho. Hopefully more testing in the next few days, looking forward to the cruise next weekend.

[turbotalon1g]

Nice work. Working on stuff that isn't rusty is awesome.

My last 2 DSMs were sans rust.

[scheides]

This thing fukin rips!

You must have gotten nearly 1000 miles this weekend on that new suspension, how do you like it?

[goodhart]

^^x2.

The ride in this thing is very nice, I was expecting more lumber wagon-ness. LOL

[asshanson]

Yep about 1000 miles this weekend. It was definitely a softer ride before, but I like how it is now. There really is no difference in ride quality on the highways, and it's not really that much worse over bumps. However, I still haven't pushed it that hard on any corners to see how it handles at the limit. I think I hit maybe .8 G's on a couple corners, but most of them were less than .5 or so.

[s1ngletracker]

wow, that is the weirdest suspension setup i've ever seen. A laterally oriented leaf spring on the FRONT?

edit: in case anyone is curious: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvette_leaf_spring

Pretty interesting, and not a terrible idea. Actually acts somewhat as a sway bar.

[C3L1CA]

Thing sounded nice in the one video of it from this weekend!

[Kracka]

This thing is a beast! Thanks for the ride and thanks for the explanation with pictures above.

[PlanoEvo]

Very nice indeed andrew I enjoyed riding in your car it's fucking fast

[asshanson]

A company just started making transmission mounts for the c6 so I decided to buy a package with those and the motor mounts and I got the transmission mounts installed this afternoon. I'm doing a writeup for the corvette forum and thought I'd share the install here too.

Here are the new poly transmission and motor mounts. The engine sits on the two round ones which are on the front subframe, and the transmission sits on the rectangular ones which are on the rear subframe.


First I had to take off the four nuts on each transmission mount, you can see the bottom ones here circled in red, and there are two more on top (which are impossible to get to, the install easily took an extra 45 minutes because of those bastards). The lower two are 18mm and the top two are 15mm.


After all the nuts were off I put a jack under the transmission to hold it in place while I lowered the rear subframe (four 21mm nuts). The back two are above the swaybar.


And the front two are above the transmission mounts and toward the outside of the car a bit. The transmission mount is circled in red and the rear subframe bolt is in green:


After all four subframe bolts were out it sagged down about an inch or two. I raised the transmission/diff an inch and it gave me enough clearance to get the mounts out:


The studs on the Hinson transmission mounts were a little longer than stock so it took a little work to get the new ones in, you can see the difference in this pic:


Here is a new mount in before I lowered the transmission:


It took a little work lining up the mounts while lowering the transmission, just had to lower it a bit at a time and everything went into place. Then tightened up the new mounts and that was it. I did this in my garage with jack stands and pucks, only hand tools, and it took me about 2.5 hours from start to finish. No driving impressions yet, I'm going to start on the motor mounts tonight. After those are installed I'll take it for a drive.

[93gtpeater]

Nice write up. Looks like a straight forward install. What are your plans after the mounts?

[19TsiAwd90]

TURBOOOSSSSSS

[asshanson]

Got the motor mounts installed, took me three hours. I'm pretty happy with that, because I've heard numbers like 5-6 hours for the install. Again, it was pretty straightforward: unbolt old motor mounts, place jack under oil pan, lower front subframe (had to unbolt the upper control arms on both sides to get it to lower enough), take out old mounts and reverse process to put back together.

The whole reason I ordered this kit was because a couple months ago I saw a bunch of brown liquid sprayed all over the passenger side of the front subframe. I assumed the motor mount had broken, either before I bought it in May or at the road course event I did back in June (same thing happened to my CTS-V last year, and I upgraded to poly mounts then). Anyway, this is what it looked like:


The top part just flops back and forth, it's very broken.

I took the car out for a few mile test drive with a bunch of stop and go, and I absolutely love the new mounts. The car has a 427 LS3 with a pretty big cam and monster stage 4 clutch. The car used to shake a lot at idle (1000rpm), and it sometimes bucks while cruising at low speeds. Also, the clutch would sometimes shake the entire car while starting from a stop if I didn't have the RPMs high enough.

Now, the car doesn't shake side to side nearly as bad at idle, but I do feel more vibration. This isn't really bad, I actually like the feedback. While cruising if it bucks/hesitates I do hear more drivetrain noise, that is really the only complaint I have, which I'm sure I'll get used to in a week or two. While starting from a stop, the car actually behaves a LOT better, no more bucking and shaking the car. I assume all this was because the one motor mount was falling apart and the motor could shake all it wanted. Oh, and the shifter doesn't move around anymore, it's very planted and shifting feel is definitely improved (hoping I never miss another 2-3 shift again, haha).

Originally Posted by 93gtpeater

What are your plans after the mounts?

Eventually I want to go FI, but we'll see what happens. This winter I'm upgrading my dual 2.5" exhaust to a full 3" system with bi-mode mufflers that are either quiet or straight pipes. Sort of like an exhaust cutout inside the muffler from the factory.

[turbotalon1g]

supercharger, roots/screw type!!!

whipple.

[19TsiAwd90]

Originally Posted by turbotalon1g

supercharger, roots/screw type!!!

whipple.

yumm love that sound

[scheides]

Hah, no idea your mounts were blown so bad, that's crazy! Glad you like the new ones; hopefully the vibration isn't too much, but then again this isn't exactly your DD

[asshanson]

Getting a big brake kit soon I think, debating between three different colors - black, red, or blue. What do you guys think? I tried to find some pics of similar c6's but couldn't find any black ones with black wheels and calipers.





I'm sort of leaning towards the blue, I think it's a nice contrast on the black.

[viridionplague]

ill agree. i like the blue as well. sweet ride chief.

[A//// Guy]

RED.