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Greg, I know you have the car sitting on plates, but remember that while the trailing arms seem like they would travel in a single plane, they actually travel in an arc. While it will mess up your strings and reference points, you need to roll the car forwards and backwards a few times and remeasure. I think you will be surprised at how much change you see. All of this assumes the suspension is complete and final torque happened at ride height with the wheels on the ground. Good luck!
Greg, I know you have the car sitting on plates, but remember that while the trailing arms seem like they would travel in a single plane, they actually travel in an arc. While it will mess up your strings and reference points, you need to roll the car forwards and backwards a few times and remeasure. I think you will be surprised at how much change you see. All of this assumes the suspension is complete and final torque happened at ride height with the wheels on the ground. Good luck!
Ill give it as shot as you are correct, I haven't moved the car at all. Everything in the rear is torqued to spec, with the weight of the car on the ground.
There is a lot of friction in the suspension system which can prevent the car from settling and the car needs to be at ride height. The rear tire moves in an arc during travel and the trailing arm pivot is in a fixed location on the frame. This motion is why you got the GW trailing arms with the spherical bearing. The wheel travel will change rear toe so you have to set the toe at ride height.
While I continue to unsuccessfully wrestle with my rear wheel alignment, I thought some of you would appreciate this.....
I grabbed this tailgate at a local estate sale almost a year ago....mostly because it was cool and cheap. I think its from an early 50's 3100 series truck, but I'm sure someone more educated than I can fill me in. We have a local pinstripe artist who is very talented here in Virginia Beach, and I've always wanted to have him paint something for me, but neither of my cars are really of the style that warrant pin striping, lettering, etc. but I figured this tailgate was the perfect thing to let him go nuts on as I just wanted a cool piece to hang in my garage. So I dropped it off a few weeks ago and told him to do whatever he would do if he was going to hang it in his shop. Needless to say, I love it. Being an equal opportunity car guy, I like how he worked in the logos of the "Big 3" as well as the old school hot rodding influences of Ed Roth. Also, given that we live in Virginia Beach, I love the ocean/beach horizon he used in the "CHEVROLET" lettering.
Anyway, just thought some of you would appreciate it....I've done some more research, and at least have a few things to look at with regard to the rear toe issue on the car. More to follow.
Well, still trying to eat the elephant one bite at a time....currently have 3 major road blocks:
1. front sway bar....13/16 poly support bushings don't fit in the stock mounting brackets. I found an NOS rubber pair on ebay, those should be here this week. If that doesn't work, I've got the poly bushings in the freezer which I will shave down until they fit properly.
2. still haven't figured out my issues with the rear alignment.....may just bite the bullet and trailer it up to Zip Corvette outside of Richmond once I have everything else sorted
3. while attempting to push the car up and down the driveway a few times to settle the suspension and readdress the rear alignment, realized that I still have a relatively soft brake pedal. This makes no sense to me as I bled the ever living hell out of the system, and its about as simple a brake system as you can get.
Finally splurged for a Quick Jack BL-3500SLX.... the *** pain of the jack/jack-stand dance in my very narrow garage has finally pried my wallet open after seven years of renting in this condo...should be here Monday. I'll try to get the brakes sorted and the sway bar installed this weekend, and then get back after the brakes after I get the Quick Jack set up.
That’s the one I got and use it on everything but the tundra.
Edit: I got the 5000slx.
Yea, I've wanted one for a while now, but always viewed it as a luxury item, but with the number of times I've had this car on and off stands, its probably a good investment. The terrible creaking noises these things make as you jack them one point at a time is also a little unnerving.
On the plus side, I've found a lot of good info over on the C3 board about bleeding this system (specifically the Wilwood calipers). Apparently, despite bench bleeding the master twice, I need to tilt the car forward (*** end high) in order to get the last bit of air out of a new master. Theres some pretty good videos posted covering the subject as well. I believe that's likely my issue as the pedal goes to the floor on the first pump, but on the second pump, I'm back to having a firm pedal. Heres hoping!
Finally splurged for a Quick Jack BL-3500SLX.... the *** pain of the jack/jack-stand dance in my very narrow garage has finally pried my wallet open after seven years of renting in this condo...should be here Monday. I'll try to get the brakes sorted and the sway bar installed this weekend, and then get back after the brakes after I get the Quick Jack set up.
You're going to love your new Quick Jack. I opted for the 5000SLX...a bit more piece of mind and not that much more money.
Yea, I thought about the 5000, but without driver, I'm sitting at just under 3100 lbs, and given my space constraints, I wanted the lightest, most maneuverable unit that would fit the bill.
Love the tailgate! What a great idea for garage art!
Thanks....I was very happy with it. When we finally move to our house in Austin, the idea is to use it to cover a recessed bourbon storage area in the wall....flip it down, and you'll have a little garage bar...flip it up, just looks like wall art.
He's doing another piece for me...I have a complete tail rotor blade from one of our helicopters that burned to the ground in 2014 (nobody hurt). He's doing a gold leaf/ pin stripe rendition of the Naval Aviator's wings on it for me. I'm very excited to see that hanging in the garage as well.
06-23-2019, 08:55 AM
