ANYWAY, I've had "Z51 Envy" from the first time I rode in a C5 with that option. I thought my C5 cornered great -- and it did -- but the Z51 was so much flatter in the curves. Now, it seems, that the consensus in the C5 community that the Z51 option is the best price/performance suspension option on the car.
Oh, well, I thought, I'll know better next time.
Then I saw on the Corvette Forum that Ken Fichtner (Fichtner Chevrolet, Laurel, Montana) has put together the suspension parts for installing the front and rear Z51 antisway bars -- and he sells the kit at a discount to Corvette Forum folks!
Sure, it's not all the components that make up the Z51 factory option (though the rest of the parts are also available) but for under $300 the kit (is said) to give you much of the performance benefits of Z51.
To make a long story short, I ordered the kit from Ken and it came this week.
Note: You should know this: I'm not very mechanical. But I've participated in several Corsa exhaust installations and the rear antisway bar has to be partially disconnected in order to remove the stock exhaust -- so I thought I was man enough to try this.
So today I installed the rear antisway bar -- didn't have time to attempt the front bar yet -- and tomorrow Registry member Bob Hardt and I leave in my C5 for a weekend trip to Ohio to pick up his 2000 Torch HARDTop Mallet 396. I've only driven my C5 (with the rear bar upgrade) for about an hour this evening but I can feel the cornering improvement in the seat of my pants already!
Here's how the kit comes:
It doesn't look like it travelled well but the contents are rubber and steel; no damage. Here's the contents of the box:
And this is the same picture with the part numbers and identification:
Since this may be hard to read, here are the parts:
Part number | Description |
10424741 | Front antisway bar | 10424743 | Rear antisway bar | 10424745 | Front link (2 of these) | 10424742 | Front insulator (2 of these) | 10424744 | Rear insulator (2 of these) | 10425691 | Rear clamp (2 of these) |
The sockets are 18mm (one regular, one deep) and the box/open end is also 18mm. The adjustable wrench I used to hold the head of the bottom clamp bolts. The torx wrench is T40.
This operation can be done without removing the wheels -- but you pretty much have to have a lift to do the work. In case you've never looked closely at your rear antisway bar, here's how it looks:
It attaches to two links with one nut each, and attaches to the rear suspension with two nuts and two bolts; that's four nuts, two bolts altogether - no biggie.
Here's a closeup of the leftmost link and how the bar is attached:
This is the trickiest to disconnect since you must put the T40 torx wrench into the end of the bolt to hold it and use a box or open end 18mm wrench to remove the nut.
Here's how the clamps and insulators are attached. The bar is free to turn/flex inside the insulators. The top bolt threads into the suspension member; the bottom nut comes off and its bolt stays in place.
I first loosened all four nuts and both bolts; there's some loading on the bar and you want to relieve it. Then I removed all four nuts and both bolts. When you do that, you have the anti-sway bar in hand.
Just reverse the process with the new bar, new insulators and new clamps. The torque values for the various nuts and bolts are:
Fastener | Torque to |
Link nut | 53 lb ft(*) |
Lower clamp nut | 70 lb ft |
Upper clamp bolt | 49 lb ft |
(*) I couldn't figure out how to use the torque wrench on this nut since you can't use a socket on it (remember the torx wrench/open end arrangement?) so I just snugged it as best I could.
I wish this next picture came out better. For this picture I hung the old bar beneath the new one so you can see the difference in diameter (barely). It doesn't look like much but it makes the bar much stiffer and controls roll on corners much better:
Well, we're off to Berea, Ohio; watch this space: the front antisway bar change is coming soon to a monitor near you!
I tackled the front anti-sway bar without help; just couldn't wait. Of course, I carried the front-end parts with me to Ohio (thought they'd like the ride) and forgot to take them out of the car before I put it up on the lift. But that's what wives (freshly recovered from knee surgery) are for....
By this time I only have these parts left -- so these must be for the front!
Just like the rear links, you have to use a T40 torx wrench and a 18mm open end/box to remove the nuts. Here's a picture of how that's done.
And this time we have to remove both nuts because we're discarding the link for the new, solid one that comes with the kit.
Unlike the rear, you can unbolt the link from the chassis member and remove the bar with the links attached since they're being replaced anyhow.
Unlike the rears we'll be retaining and reusing the metal brackets that hold the insulators in place. I forgot to take the picture before I removed the bottom bolt (sorry).
As an aid to installing things properly (the new insulators have a top and a bottom; there's a ridge on the top) the bar and insulators came painted with a helpful stripe so you can't make a mistake.
So we just snug things up and we're done. Torque settings for the front are:
March 2, 2000
Back from Berea (great visit to Mallett Cars, Ltd. and Corsa Performance; if you're interested, click HERE).
Fastener | Torque to |
Link nut | 53 lb ft |
Lower clamp bolt | 43 lb ft |
Upper clamp bolt | 43 lb ft |
There's nothing to it! Have confidence to take it on. If I can do it, anyone can do it.
But the proof, as they say, is in the pudding -- in this case, the cornering. All I can say is the cornering performance is a vast improvement -- and with no compromise in ride quality. What a terrific $300 investment this is. Do it!