Body mount 75
Thread Starter
Cruising
Joined: Mar 2015
Posts: 13
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Body mount 75
So I am restoring a 75 coupe, bought a complete body mount kit rubber and a energy suspension kit....After thinkinng about it i went with the rubber just for some ride quality. Taking out the old ones was fun..... most were so gone in couldnt tell how many shims to use so when i installed the new mounts i put one shim on each mount. Now the car sits crooked. The drivers is slightly higher maybe an inch or so but fairly noticable at a glance. Anyone have this issue??? Im thinking the body itself is most likely faaaaar from square the crafstmanship in 75 was awful as the welds on the frame tell me lol. Should i lower the higher side? Or raise the lower side. Mind you that lowering one side will have no shims in it what so ever. Each mount has 1 shim
Race Director
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 19,294
Likes: 2,754
From: Charlotte NC
You can not assume that putting a shim at each mount area is correct.
If the shims were completely rusted away...you need to work on it to get it correct...because each Corvette is different...or can be. it is just going to take time.
Unfortunately...you should have taken measurements so you had a guide line to go by...so in case the shims were all rusted away...you would know how to shim each mount.
I am surprised that the shims completely rusted away...usually there is some material remaining where the shim was not exposed to the elements and would have stayed somewhat intact.
DUB
If the shims were completely rusted away...you need to work on it to get it correct...because each Corvette is different...or can be. it is just going to take time.
Unfortunately...you should have taken measurements so you had a guide line to go by...so in case the shims were all rusted away...you would know how to shim each mount.
I am surprised that the shims completely rusted away...usually there is some material remaining where the shim was not exposed to the elements and would have stayed somewhat intact.
DUB
Race Director
Joined: Apr 1999
Posts: 15,154
Likes: 477
From: NM
You may want to take a look at this thread from last year:
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-the-body.html
Tom...
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-the-body.html
Tom...
Safety Car
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 4,652
Likes: 80
From: Lakeland Florida
I read your post and started thinking of variables that could contribute to this. For the car to sit level before the body mounts, you would have to know that the frame is level to the ground. This would mean that taking measurements of the ground to frame distance per side, you would have to counter any suspension misalignment geometries. If one front coil spring was stiffer than the other may affect the ride height of the frame at that corner, and then shimming the body to compensate for it would be wrong. The same at the rear. If the difference in left to right ride height of the leaf spring was off, then the body may not sit level on the frame.
Next would be to measure the reference height at certain positions. I have seen the ride height measurements in the AIM book. But checking the ground to reference point, such as the wheel arches per side, you can do a comparison if the body is tilted left to right. But then it comes back to the levelness of the frame.
Then the shims may play a part in getting the car to sit level on frame.
kdf
Next would be to measure the reference height at certain positions. I have seen the ride height measurements in the AIM book. But checking the ground to reference point, such as the wheel arches per side, you can do a comparison if the body is tilted left to right. But then it comes back to the levelness of the frame.
Then the shims may play a part in getting the car to sit level on frame.
kdf
