Front wheel bearings: The front wheel bearings on C2 and C3 Vettes can wear out due to factors such as lack of lubrication, contamination, and normal wear over time. Signs of worn front wheel bearings may include a grinding or humming noise from the front wheels, uneven tire wear, steering wheel vibration, pulsating or spongy brake pedal, uneven brake pad wear, or excessive play in the wheel when jacked up off the ground. If these symptoms are present, it is advisable to have the front wheel bearings inspected and potentially replaced.

Front wheel bearing hubs: The front hubs not the Corvette are prone to warpage like a rotor. The face of the hub, when clean, should have a run out of no more than .008 and we prefer less than .005. These low numbers are due to the fact the C2 and C3 Vettes have a fixed caliper versus a floating caliper like most standard late model Corvettes. If you are constantly bleeding the brakes for a spongy pedal and/or have uneven brake pad wear, you probably need to replace your hubs not just rebuild with new bearings.

Rear wheel bearings: The rear wheel bearings are also susceptible to wear and tear. Symptoms of worn rear wheel bearings are similar to those of the front bearings and may include noise that increase and decreases with speed along with play in the wheels. The rears tend to actually wear out faster than the fronts due to the OE manufacturing spec to produce cars at a production speeds. Parts to inspect when you find play in the rear wheels before replacing any parts include; the strut rod/camber rod bushings, t-arm bushings, half shaft u-joints and inner axle in and out play.

If the rest of the components are good, then it’s time for a rebuild. When rebuilding your own parts you must inspect all the components to ensure proper bearing life and brake pedal feel. The rear spindle has to be inspected for run out on the face of a clean spindle. This should be no higher than .005. The bearing surface areas should be inspected for excessive wear or if they have been machined down for a slip fit. The slip fit helps with install but is not the proper way and can lead to premature bearing failure. We’ve rebuilt many a bearing assembly that were fresh rebuilds to find they had overly worn or slip fit spindles. Finally an often over looked item are the caliper mounting brackets. They can be bent from the car bottoming out and/or pad knock from worn out bearings. For proper braking on a fixed caliper, these should be replaced if not spot on.

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.

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.

<- 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.

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).

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.

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.

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!