mfb_lt1birdman

Over the Christmas weekend I put in Koni's all around and UMI's C5 brakes with Hawk HPS pads on all 4's.

Koni's:
Not much new to say here. Stuck with stock springs. Lower perch and heater hose mod. I have them set 4 sweeps from hard up front and about half a turn from full soft in rear based on Sams recommendation.

Install was pretty ez with this write up http://www3.sympatico.ca/brian.mackay/Koni_shocks.htm

Drivers side was the only place I had issues which was with the master cylinder allowing access to the torx bolts. Based on a few posts here I found out the master cyl can pull right off the vaccum booster bolts w/o removing the lines. The ball joints concerned me a bit but they popped off easy using the pickle fork and slowly popping it in with a sledge.

Around town driving is a bit firmer, but a good firm. Very controlled and tight. It was not until taking a 25mph circular on ramp at about 60 until these things really blew me away. They inspire much confidence in turning. The car feels much less floaty on dips and bumps. With stockers it just seemed like the body was going to detach on dips now it really feels connected to the road. Also high speed stability was much improved as I found out passing a line of traffic at about 110 on back country Missouri hwy 50. And the small ride height drop really enhances the cars appearance. After driving a few days I have not noticed any extra scraping. All in all a very nice mod-best I have done anyway.

C5's

The lt1 spindles really require some work. I should have taken pix but I forgot my camera. But 2 ears need to be removed and a little tit for lack of a better word on the back side, upper aft bolt location. This area also required some grinding to remove a contour in the spindle which prevented the bracket to mount flush. I also to my suprise had to slightly lengthen an existing notch in the bracket as it was still interfering with the lwr ball joint.

After the grinding everything was cake. The kit went together without a hitch, well except those damn brake flare fittings My dad did not have metric flare wrences so a trip to the Sears store solved that. However those were so tight and on the brink of rounding and stripping. Thankfully they finally broke loose. I changed to c5 brake lines as well. I had heard the HPS pads can squeak so I was sure to coat the anti-rattle shims with grease and so far no squeaks at all.

This kit maybe a bit overkill for my daily driver and occasional spirited driving. But in the future I would like to autoX so why not do it right the first time. For every day traffic not a huge difference in braking. However when you stomp on them from 40-50 mph I hope your seat belt is on. I made several hard consecutive stops from 30-60 mph without any noticeable fade. With the stock brakes doing that I would not have much left after one hard stop let alone several. Another very nice mod.

Overall I'm very pleased. $1700 well spent according to me at least-the wife does not agree but oh well.

teke184

good info to hear on the shocks....that is my planned route now that i learned the fronts have moveable perches.

i've been strugling with how to get a SMALL drop but still a firmer ride.