RichyB33

Forgive me if this question has been asked and answered before. I've searched until my eyes hurt and can't find the answers that I am looking for. Long story short, I am considering a LQ4 for my C5 vette with the intention of eventually going FI. My question is what other supporting mods I need to make to the car to facilitate the difference in weight and such. Do I need to make suspension changes to the front end? Will there be a significant difference in handling characteristics? Again, I am sorry if this has been hashed out before. Thoughts?

Ls7colorado

iTrader: (3)

The lowered compression of the lq4 will be were you lose your power. if this is on a tight budget I would swap on some 706 or 862 heads with summit stage2 turbo cam and a set of pac beehive springs. to wake it up... but some more info on your goals will help decide that
Ive heard the weight is between 70-100lbs differance.
I dont know why I havent ever measured before but either way, that is a bit of weight to add over the nose.
But on a corvette I dont think you will really notice it other than the car being probably .5" lower in the front (if that), unless you road race the thing.....

drdave88

There's a thread on here somewhere showing block weight differences. I think it was around 105lbs or so.

Found it: https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...ls-blocks.html

RichyB33

I understand the weight difference. It's about 110lbs. My question is more toward whether suspension mods would be needed.

drdave88

I guess it would depend on what your goals with the car are. Just driving around, not likely.

Ls7colorado

iTrader: (3)

do you modify the suspension when you add a full tank of fuel vs empty?
do you modify the suspension if you had a 250lb passenger?

like I said... what do you do with the car???????
or what do you plan to do with the car??
without that information there is no way to answer that question

RichyB33

It's planned to be a streep/occasional strip car. I get your point about passengers and such. I guess I was just being OCD and trying to make sure that I knew exactly what I was getting myself into if I went the swap route. Thanks for the help. That actually makes a lot of sense.

Ls7colorado

iTrader: (3)

Yea your good, has been done countless times with no problems.

68Formula

What type of boost are you planning to run? Turbo, Positive Displacement Blower, or Centrifugal Blower? I think the LQ4 compression is a good starting point for planning boost later.

Don't forget whatever method you are adding boost, is also going to kick up the weight due to hardware (including intercooler, lines, etc.). So include that in the total. To compensate, you'll want stiffer front springs. Probably best if you switch to coil overs so you can adjust the ride height. The extra weight and spring rate will both increase understeer. So you'll want to increase rear spring rate as well, plus stiffer rear sway bar to bring back more neutral handling. If they make an adjustable rear bar, go with that, so you can tune the handling.

RichyB33

I'm undecided between a centrifugal or the magnuson. Thank you for the coil over suggestion. Solid ideas. Exactly what I was looking for.