soulbounder

I know the difference between the setups, at least visually. I'm more interested in the geometry differences. Like which one is better for autox and handling. I'm sure a lot of other members would like to learn the differences between front suspension too. And If anyone has knowledge on double A arm suspension like the vettes please share. I'm seriously considering that swap. Thanks.

NuclearPwrIroc

Generally speaking a short long arm suspension is superior to what we've got stock in 3rd gens. One point for fourth gens there. MacPherson strut is a strut with a coil spring held between semi rigid perches...that differs from coil overs by....well not by much, except coil overs are usualyl adjustable. We dont really have either a short-long arm suspesion or a real macpherson...soo...good luck? actually the 3rd gens hold a ton of records to this day even though 4th gens have "superior suspension". But theoretically speaking short long arm suspension....is the #1.....also...by the way air springs are the best springs, period no ifs ands or buts....oem nor aftermarket have just not made alot of effort to match an airspring to passenger cars...think about it, variable spring rate, ride height, and finally a way to get rid of that jarring rattle and shake us third gen have.

Tom84L69

You'd have to do a pretty huge tearup to put vette front suspension on the front. I've never seen it done before though i have seen C4 corvette rearends on thirdgens. Corvettes have transverse front and rear leaf springs, meaning a fiberglass spring goes across the car front and rear. Pretty unusual stuff, but it works wonderfully.

The C5 suspension is superior to C4s, they have more links in the rear so that the axles are not stressed members like a C4. One cool thing about Corvettes is that you can lower them by simply turning bolts on the ends of the springs. Ok, enough of me dreaming of having a vette.

Our front suspension is called a modified macpherson strut.

SpeedCat86

Technically, a McPherson Strut is a coil-over, because the spring is fitted over the top half of the strut. On our suspensions, the spring is held between the A-arm and the frame rail. One nice feature of the 3rdGen suspenion is that you can change springs more easily, and caster-camber adjustments are easy because the springs are not involved. The 4thGen suspension is more coplicated, and fussier to adjust.
The S-L-A setup on a 4th Gen car is GM's attempt to make the F-body ride smoother. For performance use, especially Autocross, the consensus is that there is much more tuning potential in the 3rd Gen cars.
If you want to build a hardcore racing suspension, there are lots of people who make parts:
Ground Control is the place for springs and shocks, as well as height adjusters, weight jacks, and a really neat camber/caster plate
PA Racing, among others, makes tubular A-arms, and K-frames, and I know some one makes a coil-over conversion if that's your bag.
If you are really good at fabrication, and/or money is not an object, you could look in to Short-Long-arm, but there are so many tuning opportunites in the stock suspension, that it is not really worth the time or effort in a swap to make a difference.
Start with new springs and good struts (Koni Adjustable). Throw on some poly bushings while you're at it
Next would be a Camber/Caster plate, for real tweaking.
Tubular A-arms and K-frame are lighter and look so cool. If you're really going all out (and don't care about a hard ride on the street, get A-Arms with spherical steel bushings.
Don't forget a good tire/wheel combo and better brakes.

Happy wrenching!

soulbounder

Yea. I'm not really wanting to put in the front suspension of a vette. I like our thirdgen suspension and the way it's setup. I do plan on the IRS conversion though. I'm still waiting on a few figures about the C5 rear and dimensions of the thing. I think I will be able to reach my goal of 1.0+ Gs with our stock front suspension, modified with superior parts of course, and the IRS. That rear will just take a lot of tuning. The fab work shouldn't be that bad. Heh, maybe I'll even make a tech article.