Tools Needed

• 9/16”, 5/8”, 11/16” & 3⁄4” Wrench & Socket
• Pry Bar or Long Screwdriver
• Rubber Mallet
• 3/8” Allen Head Socket/T-handle • Torque Wrench
• (oiled)=Anti-seize

Once you have the old arms removed from the car you can start installing the tubular arms on your Corvette.

Installing Van Steel Tubular Lower A-Arms

First, start with the lower a-arms. The flat part of the shaft goes against the frame. There is a bolt that comes in the lower control arm cross shaft (Figure 1). This bolt goes toward the rear of the car. There is a top hat style reducing washer. Remove the bolt and washer from the arm and drop it through the frame bracket. The top hat part of the washer should face down. This washer is designed to reduce the gap of the OE hole to accommodate the 1⁄2” bolt supplied.

Moving toward the front side of the arm you can install the aluminum cradle bracket that is supplied with the (Figure 2) 7/16-20-1.5” Allen head bolts and lock washers. You are to re-use your existing 2 hole plate that came on the car. You will need a 3/8” Allen head socket/wrench/T-handle to tighten these down. (Figure 3) Do not torque these yet as you should move to the rear bolt again and torque it 1st. Torque the rear bolt to 60 ft/ lbs. (oiled) and the front bolts to 40ft/lbs.

Installing Upper A-Arms

The ball joint is going to sit further back in the car than the OE upper a-arm. Shown in Figure 4 is a left front upper. Align the holes in the cross shaft to the alignment studs in the frame. (We recommend using a rubber mallet as these bolts can be tweaked a little bit and you may need to hit a stud forward or backward.) If the studs are out and you are installing new studs, slide the a-arm into po- sition and push the studs through the frame and through the cross shaft by hand until you get to the knurl of the stud. Place the 7/16” flat washers over the stud and thread the alignment nut onto the alignment stud and drive the studs into place so that they are seated. Once the studs are seated, tighten the alignment nuts. For starters, you can use a 1/16” shim on the front stud and a 1/16” + a 1/8” shim on the rear stud. Once you get the car aligned, the alignment shop will correctly place the correct size shims be- tween the frame and the cross shaft. Refer to the Alignment Spec Sheet at the end of the instruction packet.

Installing Coilover Shocks – top only

<- On top of the Coilover is a clevis mount. The mount will have 1 flat washer and a flange pinch nut. Remove the nut as the washer will stay on the top of the mount. (Figure 6)

Next, slide the shock into place. You may need to grind the threaded section of the bolt that goes through the clevis to go up through the hole in the frame.

Once the shock is in place and the stud is through the OE shock hole, install the flange nut that you removed before you started the install and tighten so the stud engages the pinch nut. Make sure the head of the bolt (Figure 7) is facing the front of the car. You will need a pry bar or screwdriver to hold the upper clevis from rotating as you tighten the nyloc nut (Figure 8). Torque to 40 ft/lbs.

Installing Front Spindle Assembly

Install the lower ball joint on to the bearing assembly spindle and thread the nut on.

Next, place your floor jack under the lower a-arm with a block of wood. (Figure 9) Jack the arm up until you have clearance to insert the upper ball joint into the spindle. Once the stud of the upper ball joint is through the spindle, thread the nut on. ***PLEASE NOTE THE CAR MAY START TO LIFT OFF THE JACK STANDS/LIFT. 

Once the front assembly is on you can refer to your assembly manual on how to install the rest of the steering parts (i.e., tie rod ends, center link etc).

Install Lower Shock Mount

On the lower a-arm, remove the 1⁄2” bolt and nut from the shock mount. Loosen the spring collar all the way down and make sure your valving is at zero. Now you can compress the shock to line up the shock mount hole with the bracket for the lower mount. Slide the 1⁄2” bolt through the hole and install the nut. We use a long bolt here because we like to get as much of the shank of the bolt through the shock as possible because it’s stronger. Torque to 50 ft/lbs. Retighten the spring collar up until it gets hard to tighten by hand. This should put the car just under factory ride height depending on the spring rate and weight of your Vette.

Setting Ride Height

Now that your system is installed minus your sway bar end links, you’ll need to adjust the springs to set your ride height. The system ships with the springs just hand tightened. This is typically a good starting point and should allow for around a 1” drop. If you want a closer to factory ride height, I’d go up on the collar 3/4”. 

The shock shown to the left is just hand tightened and is our recommended lowest starting point.

When adjusting coilovers, make sure you disconnect at least one end link so the sway bar doesn’t hold up any ride height changes.

Sway Bar End Link Orientation

DO NOT install the front end links on the sway bar until the car is at the preferred ride height. At least one end link should be disconnected when adjusting ride height.

The 1 1/8” bar (which works well for all models using 215-225 width tires for C2 or 225-255 on C3s) uses rod ends for end links for better sway bar orientation when altering ride height. Figure 10 shows how the end link hardware should be oriented on the lower control arm.

The dip in the sway bar should dip down away from the radiator. The end links should mount to the inboard side of the sway bar to keep them as vertical as possible.

To set up the heim end, you must first have the car at ride height (ramps or drive on lift). Next choose your sway bar stiffness (two hole adjustable), the closest to the end of the bar will be the softer of the two settings. You’ll want to setup the end link to be as close to perpendicular to the ground as

you can. Once both end links are installed, you should be able to rotate the heim with minimal to no binding (by hand or with a wrench). Enjoy the upgraded handling of you Corvette!

For composite springs, they are an easy way to update your stock style chassis with a better riding AND handling Corvette. The composite achieves this by being able to flex equally in both compression and rebound. A steel spring is always fighting against itself when rebounding back up and therefore has rebound built in. With that, most factory replacement shocks have compression and little to no rebound valving in the shock to maintain as good a ride quality as possible. Factory steel leaf springs ran from 180lbs to 330 lbs with higher rates available for track usage.

A 330 lb composite spring will hold up the rear of the Corvette much better under cornering and hard acceleration than the 9 leaf 180lb steel spring, yet ride much better. A 360 composite spring is the advanced street, drag setup, high horsepower and light track spring rate. This rate will ride better than a 7 leaf 330lb steel spring, plus give you much better performance. When looking at a 300lb composite spring, this will be for smooth riding and a mild increase in handling. Shortened composite springs are only for wheel and tire clearances. No matter how you use your Corvette, when not wanting to change your trailing arms, a composite spring is a quick and easy way to upgrade the rear suspension.

For rear coilovers, these are a great option when wanting or needing to replace your rear trailing arms. Coilovers allow for wider wheel and tire options when not using a rear sway bar or using a Van Steel offset rear sway bar. With rear coilovers you don’t have to worry about spring clearances at all. Our small block spring rates are ideal for the street and are tuned for excellent ride quality. For high horsepower Vette, spirited driving, track or drag race usage, the big block spring rates are a must. The 600 lb rear springs reduce squat under hard acceleration or cornering keeping the car planted and moving forward quickly. With proper tuning, they are still quite enjoyable on the street although they are a firm ride quality.

Both systems allow for approximately 1-1.5″ drop in the rear. The coilover kit applies a better spring rate right at the wheel. A coilover kit is much easier to change spring rate if you change how you drive your car. We’ve had many a customer order a small block spring rate and find themselves auto crossing or going to the track. Then the big block spring rates are a much better setup. A quick and easy spring swap and you’ve upgraded your suspension again. For a composite spring, you’d have to replace your entire spring or at least upgrade the shocks.

So it all comes down to how far do you want to go with your rear suspension and how much do you want to spend. A coilover kit provides a modern approach to spring rates, ride quality and upgraded trailing arms. A composite spring is a quicker, easier and cheaper way to make your corvette ride or handle better when matched with proper shocks.

1. Brake pedal ratio

2. Master cylinder bore size

3. Effective caliper piston area

An OE manual brake C2 or C3 by my comparison formula has a 36:1 front circuit leverage ratio. The rear circuit is a little over 19:1. When you compare those two leverage ratios front to rear, that gives you your static front to rear bias ratio which in this case is 65/35.

If you use the 1.125″ MC on a manual brake D8 caliper car, instead of the normal 1″, your front leverage drops to 28.5:1. When you drop to the piston area of his SL6 calipers, and using the 1.125″ power brake master cylinder, your front leverage ratio drops to 21:1, representing a 39% loss in brake leverage from OE D8. That translates to requiring 39% more leg effort to get comparable clamping force.

If you install the 7/8″ master cylinder, this will restore the front leverage ratio to 34.7:1, or almost back to to OE D8 effort levels. The pedal will be slightly firmer than an OE D8 manual brake car, but will now be able to make 39% more pressure with the same amount of pedal effort..

So yes, it will make a measurable difference.

And for an FYI, the current version of the SL6 using 1.75/1.25/1.25 pistons with a 15/16″ bore master cylinder give a front circuit leverage ratio of 36.19:1 which is a hair higher than OE D8 manual, but probably not enough to feel a difference.

Slide reinforcement bracket over OE bracket

Tap all the way on to line up the shock mount hole.

Weld bracket to frame along the outside frame rail. 

Weld the short side bracket to frame

Drill out the factory 7/16 hole to 1/2 for new coilover hardware. 

Working on your frame but not ready to buy the rear coilover kit. You can order the rear brackets separately so you can have all your frame work done and ready for when your parts arrive.

For composite springs, Van Steel can build a springs ranging from 300lbs for easy cruising to well over 400lbs for racing applications. Each composite spring is a low arch style that allows for factory ride height to around 1 1/2″ lower. A composite spring must be controlled by a quality shock to get the best handling or ride quality out of your Corvette. For this simple fact, the composite spring out handles and rides much better than a steel transverse leaf spring. The composite spring allows the shock to do the tuning for ride or handling and the spring is just holding the car up. The higher the spring rate, the more the spring can hold the car up with higher forces for cornering or hard launching.

So, how do you choose the spring needed for your Corvette chassis? There are a few factors we take into consideration. First is the weight of the car, mainly for cars that have been lightened or it’s a different model with a Corvette chassis swap. Second is horsepower, this is why most spring setups are called small block and big block. And lastly, how and where are you going to drive your car.

For weight, if it’s a lightened C2 Vette, the 300 and 330 lb springs are most common. This allows for shocks with light valving and will give you great ride quality along with minor handling gains over a 9-leaf steel spring. We typically pair these two springs with QA-1s standard non-adjustable shocks for excellent ride quality. If the car is heavier than original, whether it’s under a Chevy Nomad or you have a huge sound system in the back, a stiffer spring rate will help you get the car up to a proper ride height. These are more typically your 360lbs springs but can even be 400lbs if there is a lot of added weight over a factory Corvette.

Next up is your horsepower or projected horsepower rating. With more power and grip, the more the rear of the Vette wants to dip or squat under heavy throttle. This isn’t great for a lot of your rear end components on a IRS setup, plus it’s wasted motion. With high horsepower small blocks or even standard big blocks, anyone over 400hp typically should go with a 360 lb spring. The 360 spring gets just enough weight transfer to give proper grip to your tires, then the motion of your Corvette goes forward instead of down. Drag only and some road course applications run 400-500lb spring rates.

Then, how do you plan to drive your Corvette? Is it just a weekend cruiser just waiting for a parade to join in on, or do you like to carve up the mountain roads? Do you have the tendency to want to get a jump on that car next to you at a red light and just itching for the light to turn green? These are all things we ask to dial in your ideal composite spring.

On a final note, we also have shortened composite springs. These are for one thing and one thing only, tire clearance. Just a half inch off per side can be enough to give ample clearance from your wheel and tires. For those running 15″ wheels, we generally recommend going a full 1″ off per side, just note there can be some minor wear on the spring from the increased angle on the ride height adjustment bolts. For 16-17″ tires it’ll depend on how wide you go and your tire size, but generally 1/2″ off is enough. For 18″ and larger, you typically do not need a shortened composite, but depending on your width and backspacing, you could have some minor contact at full droop, but then it’ll clear once back on the ground.

For any further questions on composite springs, you can message us on Facebook, @vansteelcorvettes, give us a call at the shop 800-418-5397, or email us, salesteam@vansteel.com.

What is in a Van Steel t-arm rebuild? First off, all our assemblies whether new or used are built the same. It’s all starts with properly prepared parts. Our used assemblies are completely torn down to bare metal. All races, seals, bushings, and paint is removed. We fully inspect these parts in their raw form for accuracy.

Bearing assemblies are checked for cracks, weld repairs, straightness, and for spun races. Spindles are checked for their bearing surface diameter for the inner and outer bearings. The threads are checked for mushrooming and if they are stripping out. Finally the spindles are checked for a run out on the face of spindle for less than .005. This ensures proper pad contact on the rear brakes due to the Corvette’s fixed caliper setup.

The Trailing arms are also completely stripped down to inspect for cracked welds and internal rusting. They are also jigged to insure they are straight and are visually inspected that they are not twisted. These last two measure are for extended bushing life and for proper alignment.

Finally, the caliper mounting bracket is inspected that it is free of cracks, is not bent (typically from the car bottoming out), and that the threads are clean and straight.

If any parts fail QC, we revise your quote with the new parts for you to review and approve. The parts then go to paint and powder coating. The bearing support, caliper mounting bracket and spindle are all primed and painted with epoxy paint. The trailing arm is powder coated gloss black.

All the freshly painted piece then go into assembly. We only use the highest quality parts available. These consist of Timken bearings and races plus SKF seals. The bearing support is then loaded and built to Van Steel spec, much tighter than GM specs. This is the heart of the Van Steel rebuild and our lifetime guarantee for your bearing assembly.

From here we mount the bearing support to the trailing arm, install the caliper mounting bracket, install the parking brake shoe retaining pins in the backing plate and install the backing plate. The parking brake retaining block and bolt are installed along with the shoes and hardware. We then bolt down the trailing arm to secure the assembly. The spindle is pressed in next to nearly complete the process.

The final step is also very critical. We mount the rotor and preform a final rotor run out. The parking brake adjust holes on the rotor and spindle are aligned to make your parking brake adjustments easier once you receive the trailing arms. If the rotor run out is under .005, we mark the spindle and rotor so the rotor is always installed matching this mark if ever removed for maintenance.

If a spindle flange is included, it is also inspected for excessive wear and that the bolt hole are straight and clean. The flange is then torqued down to a minimum of 100 ft lbs. If the cotter pin holes don’t line up, it’s torqued down further until they do.

Our most popular product, the offset trailing arm. Fit larger wheels and tires on the back of your car without cutting the fenders. 

• Off-set trailing arms: 

For the rest of the list, it’s most of the new products we build. Our QA-1 coilover kits are some of our top sellers.

• Front Coilover Kits: 
• Rear Coilover Kits: 
• HD Rear Coilover Kits:
• 30 Spline Race Differential:
• Rear Composite Spring, 330 lb, Shortened 1″: 
• Car Set of Sport QA-1 Shocks: 
• Differential Crossmember Delrin Bushing Kit: 
• New Front Hub w/Bearings: 
• Wilwood D8 Caliper Kits:
• Wilwood, 13″ Slotted Front Brake Kit 
• Front Van Steel Sway Bar, 1 1/8″:  

We offer much more as well. 

• Trailing Arm Rebuild Service: 
• T-arm Bolt & Shim Kit: 
• Control Arm Rebuild Service: 
• Front and Rear Rebuild Super Kits: 

We have nearly every bolt, nut, and part for your chassis. So give us a call if you can’t find the parts you are looking for.