problems with new fx3 coil over - ZR-1 Net Registry Forums

rkreigh · 01-27-2009

to continue my saga. car rides like a buckboard milk truck even with the softer springs. I reused the 95 shocks off the car with 50K plus miles, and I suspect they may have at some time been revalved by larry with the moracca valving, or maybe one of them is bound up.
I went with the 400 front , 250 rear spring rates, which should provide a decent ride. I know the 19" GY F1 Supercar EMTs certainly don't help but the car rides WORSE that it did before with the stiffer coil overs so I'm suspecting a shock problem.
it's coming back apart. for now I'm going to put the softer springs on my older coil over setup, and send the shocks back to bilstein to be revalved. Randy at DRM advised the Marlin valving would work well. first time I've hear of that.
I also think the car might be bottoming out. I removed the stock "rubber biscuit's" at the top of the shocks and used the poly bushings from DRM, and also removed the stock rubber at the top of stock shock shaft (bottom out cushion) to provide more shock travel. maybe the shock is bottoming out internally?? the car is pretty low and looks great, so I'm going to raise it back up a bit to both provide more travel and lower the spring rates a bit.
so much for my expensive "upgrade" I'll need to eventually get the car realigned and corner balanced which isn't cheap.
sheesh, my c5 with coil overs rides like a cadillac compared to the ZR-1 but something is definitely wrong. ride is WAY stiff and jarring over bumps, not complaint.
I'm also checking to see if I didn't "over torque" some of the bolts causing the suspension to bind up. I replaced the stock dog bone control arm brackets with the drm camber brackets to hopefully get better traction and handling.
I'll keep you all posted with what I find.

01-27-2009	#1
rkreigh Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Alex VA Posts: 1,080	problems with new fx3 coil over to continue my saga. car rides like a buckboard milk truck even with the softer springs. I reused the 95 shocks off the car with 50K plus miles, and I suspect they may have at some time been revalved by larry with the moracca valving, or maybe one of them is bound up. I went with the 400 front , 250 rear spring rates, which should provide a decent ride. I know the 19" GY F1 Supercar EMTs certainly don't help but the car rides WORSE that it did before with the stiffer coil overs so I'm suspecting a shock problem. it's coming back apart. for now I'm going to put the softer springs on my older coil over setup, and send the shocks back to bilstein to be revalved. Randy at DRM advised the Marlin valving would work well. first time I've hear of that. I also think the car might be bottoming out. I removed the stock "rubber biscuit's" at the top of the shocks and used the poly bushings from DRM, and also removed the stock rubber at the top of stock shock shaft (bottom out cushion) to provide more shock travel. maybe the shock is bottoming out internally?? the car is pretty low and looks great, so I'm going to raise it back up a bit to both provide more travel and lower the spring rates a bit. so much for my expensive "upgrade" I'll need to eventually get the car realigned and corner balanced which isn't cheap. sheesh, my c5 with coil overs rides like a cadillac compared to the ZR-1 but something is definitely wrong. ride is WAY stiff and jarring over bumps, not complaint. I'm also checking to see if I didn't "over torque" some of the bolts causing the suspension to bind up. I replaced the stock dog bone control arm brackets with the drm camber brackets to hopefully get better traction and handling. I'll keep you all posted with what I find.