Riley P

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Jan 11, 2009
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Saska-ba-toon!
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So, I've gotten sick of my car moving a little more than I like around corners and over bumps. Pulled the plug and ordered C6Z06 shocks for it. Hopefully it'll make a difference! The next mod will be C6Z51 swaybars, but that's really down the list. Actually, I heard my brakes squeaking the other day, so it may be time to move up to C6Z51 brakes.....but I'm hoping to save that until next year as I was driving through rain and the squeeking may have just been rust on the rotors....not to mention, twice now I think the clutch has slipped on me a bit going into 2nd gear....... My car now has 145,000km on it. In the 10 years I've owned it, I haven't had to do one dollar in repairs until this year. I'm wondering if, with it being almost 20 years old, and with that amount of km, if it's in the slow decline of needing a lot of maintenance...... I hope not, but this allows for upgrades......:D
 
Sounds like your car has given very good service. Being a mostly city car I presume then things like the clutch and brakes get used alot. Not sure if these new cars have the warning scrapers on the pads telling you the end is near thus the squeal ? But I think if you do all these upgrades the car will be very happy again and give you many more years of trouble free cruising.......:happy:........
 
Sounds like your car has given very good service. Being a mostly city car I presume then things like the clutch and brakes get used alot. Not sure if these new cars have the warning scrapers on the pads telling you the end is near thus the squeal ? But I think if you do all these upgrades the car will be very happy again and give you many more years of trouble free cruising.......:happy:........

The clutch should be ok. I like to use it to hold me from rolling back on hills during stop lights. That's good for it, right? :D
But it is mostly a city car so the clutch could be near the end of it's life??? I don't know. I have no idea how long a clutch is supposed to last. As for the brakes, they must have the warning scrapers. I believe I heard a small chirp this morning, so they're getting close. I'll just use the clutch more to keep from wearing the brakes. :rofl:
But in more seriousness. It has been a very, very good car. If I have to spend some money now to replace the wear items, I think it's doing pretty good.

Clearly time to upgrade to a C8 Riley! But really if you need shop space I can always make room.
T

I just might have to take you up on that Taylor! Jay's Mustang has been in the way all summer so I wouldn't mind putting her car in your shop. :D
 
There's hills in Sask-ba-toon :rofl: ?? But seriously if you suspect your brakes are near the end of their life then err on the side of caution and replace them. Your mistriss has given impressive service and deserves a bit of TLC.
 
So, I've gotten sick of my car moving a little more than I like around corners and over bumps. Pulled the plug and ordered C6Z06 shocks for it. Hopefully it'll make a difference! The next mod will be C6Z51 swaybars, but that's really down the list. Actually, I heard my brakes squeaking the other day, so it may be time to move up to C6Z51 brakes.....but I'm hoping to save that until next year as I was driving through rain and the squeeking may have just been rust on the rotors....not to mention, twice now I think the clutch has slipped on me a bit going into 2nd gear....... My car now has 145,000km on it. In the 10 years I've owned it, I haven't had to do one dollar in repairs until this year. I'm wondering if, with it being almost 20 years old, and with that amount of km, if it's in the slow decline of needing a lot of maintenance...... I hope not, but this allows for upgrades......:D
Great service you are getting Riley. That is impressive without any repairs. Obviously riding the clutch has helped prolong lining life... And you can totally remove the brakes and all components with the simple install of a drag chute.... Just an idea my friend... would look kewl and without that unnecessary brake parts weight, you may just get that girl running in the high 12's.... ;)
 
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I never saw this reply Rruff! Too funny.....I like the idea of no brakes...so much less rotational weight, I bet I would hit the 12's. :rofl:

Had other priorities (renovating the yard) so FINALLY I was able to start tackling the shocks last night. While I was at it, I raised the rear suspension half a turn as it's just a bit too low. I have no idea if that will actually do anything, but it's a start. Anyway, rear shocks are in. The old one's don't feel that bad but it will be nice to have the upgrade. The R/R wasn't too bad, it just took some time, and the Zip Ties helped to hold the shock in it's most compressed position to make it easier to take out. The only question I have is the manual states to torque the rear, lower, mounting bolt to 162 lb-ft. My torque wrench only goes to 150, sooooo, is this good enough? I mean, all this bolt does is hold the shock. Not a lot of force there.

Tonight, I will try to tackle the fronts, then take the car for a drive, see where the suspension settles, and adjust from there before my wheel alignment on Monday.
 
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I never saw this reply Rruff! Too funny.....I like the idea of no brakes...so much less rotational weight, I bet I would hit the 12's. :rofl:

Had other priorities (renovating the yard) so FINALLY I was able to start tackling the shocks last night. While I was at it, I raised the rear suspension half a turn as it's just a bit too low. I have no idea if that will actually do anything, but it's a start. Anyway, rear shocks are in. The old one's don't feel that bad but it will be nice to have the upgrade. The R/R wasn't too bad, it just took some time, and the Zip Ties helped to hold the shock in it's most compressed position to make it easier to take out. The only question I have is the manual states to torque the rear, lower, mounting bolt to 162 lb-ft. My torque wrench only goes to 150, sooooo, is this good enough? I mean, all this bolt does is hold the shock. Not a lot of force there.

Tonight, I will try to tackle the fronts, then take the car for a drive, see where the suspension settles, and adjust from there before my wheel alignment on Monday.

Less than 10% off the spec torque shouldn't be problematic but what the heck do I know Riley. Of course I may not be taking the Saskatoodle roads into consideration.... Stay off 51. lol
 
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Funny that it’s such a specific torque spec. 162, not 160, but 162. Maybe it’s more rounded in Nm....220.... anyway. Torquing to 92%. With what it’s holding and how tight it was at 150, I’m good. They should shake off before we hit Moose Jaw if they aren’t tight enough. :D
Anyway, got them on on Friday. The difference is absolutely night and day. Car doesn’t feel like it’s hitting the bump stops and there is way more control of the rebound after hitting a bump. I’m getting the car aligned this morning so after that, I can actually drive it to see how much of a difference there is.
 
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The fact that you are putting a torque wrench on is more than I would do on a shock bolt....2' breaker bar and pull at about 80lb!

If it is any comparison to my truck when I did the shocks (they were shot bad) it will feel amazing.

T
 
Agreed. Bolts like this, I would assume most people would just go by the German torque specification of gut-n-tite. :D
But it does feel way better, however the front feels really high. I have the car in at Phobia to have an alignment done and Steve brought out two lowering bolts for the front. Whooo-hooo! So at least the front can match the back end.
 
Agreed. Bolts like this, I would assume most people would just go by the German torque specification of gut-n-tite. :D
But it does feel way better, however the front feels really high. I have the car in at Phobia to have an alignment done and Steve brought out two lowering bolts for the front. Whooo-hooo! So at least the front can match the back end.
hmmmmm Phobia.... May as well spring for the twin turbos while it's there Riley.... ;)
 
hmmmmm Phobia.... May as well spring for the twin turbos while it's there Riley.... ;)

Booya!! Agree 100% Eric. Riley needs to move to the forced induction world.
2 Chinese turbos for 1/2 the price of the “original” one from the US. (Piping, coolers and clamps extra).
It’s a perfectly natural next step after installing new shocks.
:ROFL:
 
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Yes. That would be great. I can actually get twin scrollers installed pretty reasonably. It’s the new clutch, diff brace, engine mounts that I want to go along with the build that adds a good chunk of coin.
 
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Yes. That would be great. I can actually get twin scrollers installed pretty reasonably. It’s the new clutch, diff brace, engine mounts that I want to go along with the build that adds a good chunk of coin.


Yes you are so right Riley. The mods guy at Sherwood Pk Chev is turboing up an old impala the old school way for dragging.
He is modeling it after a set up of a guy on YouTube. Well not copying the guy but the car is built for function... not grace or looks as one of the main tools for the job is a sawsall. Dam ugly old car that lifts the fronts and pulls 9s. The grass roots fun is all these guys are about.
Not something I can see any of us doing to a perfectly good corvette.... however we haven’t seen an update from our friend putting the turbo on his lately.
Was that @AlbertaZ06 ?
 
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The car is working so well now. Super pumped. Steve put in lowering bolts in the front before doing the alignment because I was whining that I couldn’t lower the front to match the rear. It matches the rear for gap perfectly now. So happy about that. I changed the spark plugs and the engine is running smoother and oddly sounds a bit different now, but nice to have changes done where you can actually tell a difference.
CDD24311-59C5-42A8-A79E-A6224BBC70DD.jpeg
 
Riley, I just ordered the C6Z06 shocks and C6Z51 sway bar and end links, and I was wondering did you do the work yourself? If you did, how hard was it and do you have any tips? If you had it done somewhere, do you mind me asking where, and what it would cost?
 
Hey dub! I put the shocks in myself. I wished I would have taken pictures or written some notes! Aaaaaah!
I do know it took about 3 hours to do one side, then about 45 minutes to do the second side. :Woot:
The biggest pain in the butt I found was trying to get the old shocks out. I don’t think the rear was too bad, it was more the fronts and trying to compress them so they would wiggle out. The best method I found was to put a zip tie (or string zip ties together) around the top threaded rod and through the bottom mounting hole of the shock, then every time I compressed the shock, I would take the slack out of the zip tie to keep it compressed. It was a pain and a bit sketchy as the top wasn’t as securely fastened as I would like, but doable.
The other item, also with the front shocks, was holding the threaded rod while undoing the nut on the top, but holding it from the side, then from the top with the correct sized wrench that just fit the end of the threaded rod worked.
Lastly, the bolt that holds the lower rear shock mount is excessively huge for what it needs to do. Once the nut was off, I just used a punch to get it out. My torque wrench didn’t go high enough to retorque it so I used the maximum torque setting, then after, gave it a bit of a pull with a breaker bar. Knock on wood, the car is still together. I’m super happy with the results. Going from worn-ish Z51 shocks to the Z06 shocks has been great.

In the future, I hope to get the C6Z51 sway bars and end links such as yourself.
 
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