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Thread: Corvette leaf springs

  1. #61
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    Quote Originally Posted by cambertoes View Post
    anyone know about the zo6's, are they any good?
    I have removed your link to the Corvette tuning site. May be you can rephrase your question.
    "I find the whole business of religion profoundly interesting, but it does mystify me that otherwise intelligent people take it seriously." Douglas Adams

  2. #62
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    Well Mr Spam brought this page back from the dead so I figured I would add a link to this recent Edmunds article. It's got a number of great shots of the Corvette's suspension. In several of the shots you can the the very limited space between the dampers and suspension arms which encouraged GM to continue the use of the leaf springs rather than switch to cheaper coils.
    2011 Chevrolet Corvette Z06: Suspension Walkaround

  3. #63
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    We will see what the C7 has - leafs or coils.

    I've heard the rumour of it being mid-engined - the same rumour that apparently starts for every Corvette generation - but at this point, I think that'd be dumb.

  4. #64
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    From what I've read (which isn't much). The C7 will be another evolution of the basic C5 design. That's not saying the parts will be interchangeable but the basic design will be used for a third time (the Solstice and Sky almost count as a forth time given their similarities). However, I suspect just as the C6 was basically an improvement in all ways over the C5 the C7 will be an improvement over the C6. If the new chassis is basically the same design as the C6 then I suspect we will see leaves again. The story is the C7 will be a short term car and the C8 will be the next full up redesign. The C8 may lose the leaves. It does make sense to dump them if possible only because the extra cost is significant compared to the extra benefit.

    As for what type of chassis the C8 should have, that's hard to say. The current layout is nice because the car is quite livable/usable as is. You have a good sized trunk and great performance. However, GM is also likely hitting the limits of what they can do with that layout. I'm sure they aren't at the limit yet but a switch to mid engine could help performance quite a bit. However, there are two issues. One is the hit to practicality. Many people like the Corvette in part because it's so livable. The other issue would be parts and costs. The Corvette needs to turn a profit despite being low volume. Right now we have a Corvette only chassis. So long as that stays true GM has to be very frugal since they can't share many Corvette parts with a higher volume line as Nissan does with the 350Z for example. The designers of the C5 had always hoped for a rear mounted gear box but they were only able to get one when the truck group decided they needed an automatic transmission that could have a bolt on bell housing and a transfer case. Those features meant the same basic transmission could be used in a rear mount setup. That saved the Corvette team millions of dollars. Basically had it not been for the high volume truck group picking up that tab the C5 would have remained with a front mounted transmission.

  5. #65
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    The other, more important, non-design/cost issue related to a mid-engined format for the Corvette is nearly 60 years of tradition.

  6. #66
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    A next-gen Zeta platform could be designed with the 'Vette in mind, that'd share things with the Conformadore anc Camaro and whatnot. 'Cept the rear gearbox, that wouldn't make sense in a family car.
    Life's too short to drive bad cars.

  7. #67
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    Quote Originally Posted by culver View Post
    very limited space between the dampers and suspension arms which encouraged GM to continue the use of the leaf springs rather than switch to cheaper coils.
    Don't see that
    The white arrow clearly shows where they could VERY easily fit ( and always have been able to ) a decent coil over and STILL have room for the fancy adpative damper setup
    Econoboxes put double wishbone into much smaller spaces.
    "A woman without curves is like a road without bends, you might get to your destination quicker but the ride is boring as hell'

  8. #68
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    Quote Originally Posted by Matra et Alpine View Post
    Don't see that
    The white arrow clearly shows where they could VERY easily fit ( and always have been able to ) a decent coil over and STILL have room for the fancy adpative damper setup
    Econoboxes put double wishbone into much smaller spaces.
    if there was that little space, why do the Corvette GT racers than go for coils?
    "I find the whole business of religion profoundly interesting, but it does mystify me that otherwise intelligent people take it seriously." Douglas Adams

  9. #69
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    Quote Originally Posted by Matra et Alpine View Post
    Don't see that
    The white arrow clearly shows where they could VERY easily fit ( and always have been able to ) a decent coil over and STILL have room for the fancy adpative damper setup
    Econoboxes put double wishbone into much smaller spaces.
    In at least one photo the clearance between the damper shaft and A-arm in full droop appears to be less than 1/2"
    http://blogs.insideline.com/straight..._rr_oa_low.jpg

    Yes, you can fit coils but they now must be either below or above the A-arms or you must limit droop as compared to the factory fitments. Here are two examples:
    http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/7465/asuspension.jpg
    http://www.honda.co.jp/ACCORD/webcat.../front-sus.jpg

    Note that to create clearance the designs are much taller than the Corvette setup. Note that both designs use an upper spindle pickup point which is way outside of the wheel. That ends up not being a smaller space when you are done.

    A much closer design would be that of the GM Kappa platform. The Kappa chassis is closely related to the Corvette.
    http://www.solsticeforum.com/photopo...spension_2.jpg
    http://www.solsticeforum.com/photopo...suspension.jpg
    This design suggests it could have been done with coils. However, at this point we need think about it, GM clearly knows how to do a similar suspension with coils. Coils are cheaper. GM chose to use a much more expensive spring. So either the GM engineers, who are always accused of trying to save a buck, were dumb and chose the leaf or actually did find that they couldn't meet the packaging requirements and chose an alternative spring type hence the leaf. Note that the Kappa design, unlike the Honda design wouldn't raise the hood line much vs the Corvette setup though the Vette design keeps the top of the damper still lower than the Kappa setup.

    It's possible the Kappa design, by having a wider A-arm would have clearance issues with wider wheels. It is clear that when doing a Corvette like suspension with coils GM felt they needed far more clearance around the damper than the Corvette offers.

  10. #70
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    Quote Originally Posted by henk4 View Post
    if there was that little space, why do the Corvette GT racers than go for coils?
    There are several practical reasons. First, they don't have to worry about coils lasting 200,000 miles. This means they can use coils that are operated closer to their elastic yield limit and not worry about cyclic fatigue. Second they can limit the total travel of the suspension so they stay in the travel range of the coils. This allows them to use smaller, stiffer coils. So that is what makes their application different than an OEM application and thus makes it possible for them to use coils when GM Engineering said coils won't due in this application.

    Now as to why they would want to switch, well as I said when I started this thread a long time ago, racing coils are a universal item. Just specify a few basic parameters and the same coils which are used on a racing Ferrari could be fitted to a Corvette or a Nissan Z car. This means you have a very wide range of coil choices. The leaf is specific to the Corvette only. So it would be expensive to stock a large range of leaf spring rates. It's simply cheaper and more practical to accept the limitations of coils (which don't really mater to the racing teams) to gain low cost and wide selection (which does mater).

  11. #71
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    Quote Originally Posted by pimento View Post
    A next-gen Zeta platform could be designed with the 'Vette in mind, that'd share things with the Conformadore anc Camaro and whatnot. 'Cept the rear gearbox, that wouldn't make sense in a family car.
    I suspect we could see just that. At least I would expect to see more parts sharing. Of course it will depend in the end. I think the current GM RWD chassis use rather tall suspension bits. Part of that makes the Corvette different than other GM RWD platforms is the very low fender lines.

  12. #72
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    Quote Originally Posted by culver View Post
    There are several practical reasons. First, they don't have to worry about coils lasting 200,000 miles. This means they can use coils that are operated closer to their elastic yield limit and not worry about cyclic fatigue. Second they can limit the total travel of the suspension so they stay in the travel range of the coils. This allows them to use smaller, stiffer coils. So that is what makes their application different than an OEM application and thus makes it possible for them to use coils when GM Engineering said coils won't due in this application.

    Now as to why they would want to switch, well as I said when I started this thread a long time ago, racing coils are a universal item. Just specify a few basic parameters and the same coils which are used on a racing Ferrari could be fitted to a Corvette or a Nissan Z car. This means you have a very wide range of coil choices. The leaf is specific to the Corvette only. So it would be expensive to stock a large range of leaf spring rates. It's simply cheaper and more practical to accept the limitations of coils (which don't really mater to the racing teams) to gain low cost and wide selection (which does mater).

    Not to mention its easier to change/adjust coils for setup reason....
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  13. #73
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    Actually in the case of the Corvette the leaf is easier to change and possibly even to adjust but it's not conventional. The Corvette leaf can be replaced without unbolting the shocks.

  14. #74
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    But you have to change a pair of them at the same time. Its not unusual to run asymmetrical setup even for road courses....
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  15. #75
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    Actually you can get asymmetrical setups with the leaf spring but it's not as intuitive as doing the same with individual coils. As a point of interest, when Pratt and Miller did their C6RS road car they retained the leaf springs (though not the factory springs IIRC) rather than change them out for coils as they used on their C6-GT cars.
    Pratt & Miller C6RS

    Also interesting that they changed the seats to ones appropriate for a car of the Corvette's capabilities... man GM needed to do that a long time ago!

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