Passenger side has one thick shim front, 1 thick and one thin rear. Drivers side has one thick in the front, 2 thick and 2 thin in the rear. I had it aligned by a shop, but I'll do it myself next time as I ended up redoing the rear. Will need to redo it as the new engine going in is significantly lighter, it should raise a bit. From memory the results given by the shop were 5.5 caster and -1.5 camber, I only checked the camber myself and it was pretty spot on (I asked for the -1.5 camber and "as much caster as you can"). 5.5 Caster was pretty good I think, particularly with the bit of a rake (which will lessen caster). I couldn't really run more with the current 255/50r17s, as they've polished a section in the rear of each wheel well as it is. Going to a slightly shorter 275/40 or 285/40 would allow a bit more, as will having the front ride height increase a little with the weight taken off the front end.

 

While waiting for some suspension parts to arrive I decided to clean a few other things up.

I had replaced one of my Power Window switches a while back with a new one but it lasted a short time and failed. Had a couple more of other new ones here but.....

So I went in search of originals and found OEM NOS was not cheap for the Vette.... But the same part was also used by Buick and by Cadillac in the 60's.

Picked up a couple at a very reasonable price and when up against my other original they look identical.

All fitted and ready to go back in.

 

Cleaned up the Stereo system as well.

Stayed with the Antique Automobile Radio.

Tested it with an external amp with high pass filters etc but was not happy with the noise this unit created on power on and off. Tried some Stinger pop removers but still not fully happy, just a lot of extra noise.

Love its original looks but its not a great base for a more complex system as the line outs etc are "in my View" an after thought and have too much noise. Don't have balance control etc.

However using its internal amps works fine and i did some more mods with inline capacitors to limit the bass going to the kick panel 5.25" speakers.

I removed the small sub of was running in the back as while it added some nice ambiance when the car was parked it was hard to notice when driving, especially with windows down or roof off, and I lost too much rear compartment utility. Still thinking about options there.

Setup the deck so it gets power directly from Battery , not via the Vette harness, so added a small relay that switches the direct power once ignition is on. This way the deck and all its add ons (iPod etc) all get power and ground from same point.

Added a ground loop isolator between iPod and AAR deck to remove charging hum. iPod is powered from a USB port on same power circuit.

Tidied up the wiring and separated each cable as best i could.

 

After Alan pointed out the dents in my front cross member I just kept seeing them more and more. Always knew they were there but.......



So while waiting for some suspension parts I asked Ernie from Willcox if he could stock the cross member dent removal tool mentioned before and then purchased one and Willcox shipped it to Australia.

Well its a basic tool, heavy, and seemed to work fairly well.



I did need to grind down one side to get it to fit into my well dented cross member.





First couple of goes pulls it all down. Just wind the bolt till you see it moving, then release and do it again. You need a long handle for leverage and will need a good amount of force !!!





Then you place extra metal (washers etc) on the pulling surface to pull down any extra low areas.



Once its as good as it will get a little body filler and I can think about painting it again and getting back to my suspension.

Will still have some highs and lows but will be a lot better.

 

Came out looking good Craig

Did you think about carefully heating the area up or did it pull out ok cold?

 

Hi Brad

All done cold.

The instructions say not to use heat but that seams to be because they are concerned about 40 years of crud inside the frame and fire risk.

Took a couple of hours of work to get it repaired and I can certainly feel it today.

No need for upper body gym work with that tool :-)

 

Resprayed the front cross member and got a little bit of paint reaction so once its dry i will sand it and do it again. Used a different enamel paint to before.

 

Started assembling the coilover for the new application. Had to remove the tab fitting at bottom for stock lower arms and press in the tube for the new arms.



Grease up the bearing plates and get ready for fitting spring.

 

Have been running the QA1 setup for a while with Speed Direct springs and when i pulled it all out I found a weakness with the setup.

The rubber bush on top of the shock absorber presses up into the standard mount point but in my mind does not have any where near enough taper on the rubber bush to seat properly in the hole.

The result is it can twists and offsets the bush and allows for excessive shock movement.

Resultant bush



I looked around for better bushes that would hold the shock (Damper) more correctly to the frame mount.

Here are 3 different bushes.

Left to right, first 2 are NOS GM parts and right is the QA1 bush.





Notice the QA1 part has almost no taper and when you look in the frame where it mounts its not flat and needs taper to sit properly and protect the shaft from hitting the metal of the frame.

The middle one fitted perfectly and I pick up one of them in a NOS 60's 70's chevy package on eBay I purchased.

Once I realised the middle one fitted so well i contacted the seller (Iowa Parts Depot) and he happily went through the stock he had and found me a second one.

Shipped that to Australia and now I will be using the tapered NOS bush under frame and the QA1 flat one on top.

Given the semi coilovers put a lot of stress through that point I wanted to get the best fitting parts possible and avoid bush damage like before.

Time between first oder of NOS and getting last one was 8 weeks but thats what you have to live with being so far away :-)

 

Fitted shock assembly to tower and bolted it into lower arm.





Checked clearance through full deflection up and down and found the swaybar arm hits the frame extension before the lower arm hits bump stop. Fixed by bending up the corner of the frame extension.

 

Fitted hub assembly and did some more checking







Tab of frame extension bent to allow full deflection of sway bar.









On full drop deflection the upper bump stop is about 1cm off touching but shock is fully extended.

Checked the videos on Global West site and found that when using extended reach lower arms you need longer top bump stops. Something else to order :-)



Overall happy with how it goes together so will bolt the other side up when i get some more free time.

Also needed to make some spacers for under the swaybar mounts to ensure on deflection the bar does not push on the lower radiator hose.

Amazing what you find when you try deflecting the suspension fully up and down and watch all the connected parts. Hopefully will never deflect that much in day to day but worth the exercise.

So Global West recommend normal lower arms if you want to lower your car by between 0 and 1.25", for any more than that use the extended reach lowers to ensure you have enough shock movement.

Great video explaining it here....http://www.globalwest.net/a-body-ext...s-cutlass.html

 

Craig all I can say is big thank you for your post! I was following it at australiancorvettes for quite some time! I also have a 1971 Corvette and your post was outstanding source of information for me. Keep up the good work and enjoy your 71!

 

Glad your getting some value from the thread.

Always like seeing other peoples 71's.

Hope to have my 71 drivable again soon :-)

Certainly looking forward to see what difference the new gear will make !

 

Just replaced the 5.25" kick panel speakers with some better quality separates.

Placed a capacitor in line to block the bass as the last ones ended up with torn outer edges from over driving. Easy to do with a noisy interior like the Vette.

All fits behind kick panels.

 

Craig I'm doing a/c delete as youd did. Do you have any extra suggestions beside the ones posted on your australian corvettes website?

 

Hi

Removal was fairly easy once you can get to all the fasteners that hold the halves together. Then split it comes out without damage.

The aftermarket cover fitted well but I added a bit of extra glass to get it to match the shape of my firewall a bit better.

Certainly cleans up the look of the engine bay.

Coverage starts here..... https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ourney-11.html

 

Thanks! The issue I have is that I have long tube headers and when I try to pry the box from the firewall it hits the headers and leaves me no space to pull it out! Will try again.
Did you remove the heater core as well? Or does that have to be done from inside the car?

 

I think you may need to drop the header on that side if its in the way. If it's a flanged header should be fairly quick to remove.

Once the a/c is out you can see the core but I think it's removed from inside.

Mine was in great shape and had probably been replaced previously so I left it alone. All works fine.

 

I took the Vette for its first run with the new Global West Upper and Extended Travel Lower arms and it was very smooth and no obvious tracking issues.

The extra Caster available in the Upper arms seems to have had a good effect on straight line stability.

This run was with also some obvious toe out.

I got out the QuickTrick alignment kit and adjusted the Toe back to 1/8" total Toe in and took for another run. (First run was with 1/2" Toe out :-)







Feels very nice. Still have a fair amount of Camber (was 1.5 previously) but will have a closer look at adjusting that later.

 

Hi Craig,

I see what you mean about your sway bar. Seems like the mounting on the control arm could have been lowered an inch or so and possibly placed further out.