:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

For months now I've been measuring and checking and trying to find out what was and what wasn't square on "what's left of" the factory frame in my car. I believe I've finally gotten to the bottom of it. I have all of the front suspension removed (and of course I don't have an engine or any other pesky parts in the way).

The first observation is that there are no two holes in the Corvette frame rails that are in the same location right to left that can be used as reference points. The second and more amusing observation is that my frame is actually square, but the suspension points weren't installed in the correct location by the factory :smash:

Let me elaborate. The frame, front cross member, and lower suspension mounting locations are all symmetric and square. The upper suspension mounting locations and the upper spring cups are not. In fact, the left upper A-arm mount and left upper spring cup are 3/8" aft of the location of the right side (I have no idea which side is correct and which side is wrong). The upper a-arm mounts are parallel to each other, and each a-arm mount is equally located with respect to it's upper spring cup. Just one side has a "little" more caster than the other.

If you have the engine out of YOUR car and would like to see if you car is a well built as mine, put a framing square on one upper A-arm mount aligned with one of the mount studs and lay it across to the opposite side to see where it ends up. Mine is "off" by a full stud diameter :lol: . Guess in it's 35+ year life no one every bothered to check, they just added one more adjusting shim and went on their merry way.

Chalk up a new one for the General.

-Greg

 

Greg,

I saw your post over on NCRS as well and have been thinking about this problem since last night.Midyears 63-67(as well as some later years)had a great propensity for collapsing the front upper A-frames inward towards each other.Sometimes just one side depending on the instance.This problem came from extreme hard usage.When you look at almost any old corvette racer you will notice that the front upper A-frames utilize an upper spreader bar(usually a heim jointed affair).Of course this means that the fan has to go but usually thats not too much of a problem on a race car.Im not sure if this could have anything to do with your problem or not,but thought it would be worth passing by you in any event..............Bill S

 

Interesting thought. I've never thought that this car might have any road racing in it's past, always just thought it showed signs of being an old drag car.

I wouldn't think that is the case here as the mount brackets don't "look" deformed (I've been staring at them a lot recently), are still parallel to each other, and the spring cups match the offset of the arm mounts. Don't see how loading the upper a-arms would move the upper spring cups too.

I'll take another stare at them tonight to see if there is any sign one of them was tweaked.

-Greg

 

Greg - Two questions: Didn't the general buy the frames from an outside supplier? Is it possible that the car was hit in the suspension from the side - that is - are you sure all the fenders are original?

Having asked those questions - my 66 had a water leak at the heater case for many years before I got it. I could tell by the layers of caulk, putty, and tar applied to the mounting surface. In 89, when the heater core blew, I took the cover off and found a golf ball sized lump in the "firewall" at the top of the mounting surface inside the St Louis body. After grinding it off, the leak went away. The fresh air vents were also factory mounted about a half inch off the holes in the body that they should fit into. No other holes were in the body, except the ones that mount the vents askew. And last but not least, my left fender is almost a quarter of an inch higher than the right one.

Pass the shims.

 

The body is original except for the front ahead of the spindle centerline. I'm sure it was hit, and I've already "moved" the frame rails back about 1/4" with a 10 ton ram. The initial "correction" didn't take much force from the ram, but once it got to the current shape applying more pressure didn't move the rails anymore, just buckled my temporary cross bracing I was pushing agains.

I've been measuring and scratching my head since to see where I needed another "pull", but everything I can check says the actual rails and crossmember are now symmetric ... everything but the upper A-arm mounting bracket that is.

-Greg

 

Started on the frame stretch this weekend, and it's even more apparent
that the original alignment poblems were all started at the factory. I cut the front frame section off over the weekend. Once free I was able to jig everything into place to get all the suspension points, front cross member etc back in the correct place. The left frame rail needs a 2 1/2" plug, and of course the right one needs a 2 1/8" one.

Once jigged it was obvious that the radiator mounts were now WAY out of line. You guessed it, the factory shortened one forward frame horn and welded in a body mount shim to move the radiator frame mounting hole. The body mounts are all welded in place "correctly", but of course in different locations with respect to the bends in the frame rails.

It looks like one entire frame rail was slid back too far, and the front crossmember was twisted to fit then everything welded up (the front spring cup is actually part of the front crossmember stamping). Then the body mounts must have been attached (using a second jig?) and the "repair" work done on the right side frame horn.

One other interesting thing, there was a LOT of stress in the welded frame. Once the front was cut free the main rails sprung inward over 2 inches. To get it all to jig up I had to use my hydraulic frame ram to re-spread the main rails, and cut tapers into the stub ends of both the front and rear sections of where the splice will go to change the curvature of the rails (so they will line up again now that the entire front section has been rotated to get the cross member and suspension mounts all square again).

We took a few pictures (never leave a hot rodder alone with a sawsall in the house ) and will try to post them to the project web page when they get developed.

-Greg