I set the body on and started with 1 shim per mount and things look good so I tightened everything up.My question: Would the addition of more shims make a difference for the clearance of trans.at tunnel area for future 5 speed?
Tks.

 

I've had a TKO600 in my '66 for about five years now and it has been my best upgrade next to my Vintage Air unit. The shop that put the 5spd in did place a shim on both side of the rear cross bar. Each shim thickness is less a little less than 1/2" in total. The shims are made up of a rubber pad and then a wood shim. I've included a photo. I don't know if the shop had to add these after they tried to install it or if they just did it in as a safety aid. Keisler recommended the shop because they had installed other 5spd units and said they would know how to install the unit properly.




Hope this helps you.

 

If your panel fit and gaps are all good and there wasn't any open space at any of the mounts before tightening, then I would leave well enough alone. You would have to add quite a few shims to gain much additional space for a 5-speed.

 

You are aware that it does not work like that. ALL of the mount areas are not the same....thus the shim counts can be different.

Do you know how many shims were at the body mount points previously???

ALSO....take into account your bumper mount brackets that get attached to the frame in the rear and this will also allow you to know that you have it correct.

AND...in the AIM...there is a page on how to check your 'ride height'.

Be careful if your car is a convertible....the placement of the shims can effect your door gaps to your quarter panels.

DUB

 

According to Noland Adams, you should have at least 3 shims on the rear 3 mounts.

Shimming a C2 Body
This information comes from the April, 2000 issue of Corvette Fever in the Resto Clinic section authored by Noland Adams. The question that was answered by this info was from a gentleman that had purchased a '66 convertible. At the time of purchase, the body had been
removed from the frame and the frame had been blasted and painted, any frame marks at the mounting points had not been noted and the shim counts had not been noted as well. In paraphrase form, here's the information about properly mounting and shimming the body.
There was a gauge used at the St. Louis assembly plant to measure variations in the frame. Color coded stripes were placed near each body mount to help figure out the final shim count for each body mount. These stripes were only a starting guideline. Due to inaccuracies in the gauge or variations in the body, shims were often added or subtracted as required. The gentleman with the above mentioned '66 simply lost his starting point.
The first thing to do is to identify the body mount locations. '64
and
later convertibles have 10 body mounts, five per side. Coupes
have four on each side, but the procedures are the same.
The front body mount (#1) is between the radiator support and the frame. The shims are welded in place at the factory and rarely need to be modified.
The second body mount (#2) is under the ends of the windshield. You reach this mount from under the hood - the left one is under the brake master cylinder, but a little more towards the rear and out side of the car.
The third mount (#3} is only for "64 to '75 convertibles and it's
located
under the sill plate.
The fourth mount (#4) is in the rear corner of the passenger
compartment, hidden behind a metal rectangular cover in front of the rear tire.
The last mount (#5) is in the rear of the body and is the last mount to be shimmed and adjusted.
To mount the body to the frame, we are concerned with the adjustments to six body mounts. They are #2 left and right, #3 left and right and #4 left and right. Start with a minimum number of shims, which is either three or four at each mount. Hold them in place with masking tape and align them for the mounting holes. Lower the body onto the frame.
Install the body mount bolts, washers, shims, nuts, etc. on the six body
mounts that surround the passenger compartment - left and right sides #2, #3 and #4. Correct placement for parts is shown in the Assembly Instruction Manual (AIM). AIM shows rough drawing and part numbers, but most body mount kits come with an instruction sheet.
Tighten the six body mount bolts to firm, just a little more than finger

tight. Look closely at the shims at each of the six locations. The
weight of the body should hold each stack of shims solidly in
place. If any of the shims have spaces, remove the bolts and add
shims as required. Replace the bolts and again firmly tighten all
six bolts.
The bolts are slowly tightened until two things happen: the six bolts are evenly adjusted, but are all quite tight, and there are no gaps between the shims. These are the ideal body mounting conditions for the mounts around the passenger compartment.
The doors are installed next. Each door hinge has six bolts and there are a number of shims at each hinge, varying from none to six. Getting the doors adjusted can be rather difficult. There are two vertical gaps, one at the front of the door and one at the rear. The goal is to get both door gaps even. The front door gap is changed by adjusting the shims on the front mounts, #1 right
and left, under the radiator support. Adding shims to mount #1 closes the front door gap at the top.
Each corner of the body is adjusted with more or fewer shims under the four corner body mounts. These are #1 left and right and #5 left and right. If the doors adjust properly, you're done. Some body work may be required for a perfect fit and you may have to adjust the doors a few more times.
If the body has to come off again for paint, the shims are already in place. You still need to adjust the doors after the body is placed back on the frame. Expect this whole procedure to take quite a bit of time.
Again, credit for this procedure should be given to Noland Adams.

 

Tks. to all-- 66 coupe --The panel fit / gaps are ok.I didn't count shims when body was removed so was going to start with 1 shim per mount and using Adams article as a reference, everything fell in place with bumper mounts installed.went good but has me looking over my shoulder for something I missed. tks,Larry

 

Just to respond to your original question, adding the same number of shims at each body mount will raise the body with respect to the frame, while maintaing the relative alignment of the door gaps.

I added four shims at each body mount to gain some hood clearance for a taller intake manifold. This also gave me more clearance for the TKO 600 5-speed that was already in the car but never had the correct drive shaft angle. Visually I can't tell the difference when looking at the car, but the extra clearance helped a lot with both the intake and the driveshaft angle.

 

...but that adding 4 shims (1/4") to a frame that is already shimmed correctly is fine because you are adding shims to the current shims packs at each location.

The 'problem' that some may find is when they go to set the inner bracket at the rear cross member for the bumpers..and have raised the body too high for the built in adjustment of these brackets....or the fan hitting on the shroud...or the angle at the steering column being drastic and needing some adjustment.

DUB

 

good to hear,sort of.I'll probably go back and add a few

 

Good points. I loosened the bumper brackets and the steering column before adding the shims and had no trouble with them.

However, I never looked at the fan and fan shroud. I'll have to check that when I get home tomorrow!

I've put several thousand miles on the car since I added the shims, so I know that there's no actual interference, but it could be really close and I wouldn't know it because I never checked.

 

I am glad it worked for you and did not mean to come across that it was bad idea. All I was trying to communicate was that on some cars....adding 1/4" more shims can throw things off to where some 'things' do not line up and work.

DUB

 

The drive shaft angle would NOT change.
Rear end pinion position is fixed, to the frame. The transmission is also in a fixed position, to the frame.
Don

 

Well, I agree that the driveshaft angle does not change by simply raising the body 1/4", but after I raised the body I raised the Tremec tail shaft 1/4". Prior to adding the shims I had raised the Tremec tail shaft as far as I could without hitting the transmission tunnel. After adding the shims I was able to raise the tailshaft another 1/4". That helped a lot with getting the driveshaft angle into the desired range.

 

anything wrong with using the U shaped shims at body mounts