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2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
2019 C3 of Year Winner (performance mods)
2016 C3 of Year Finalist
I had some more pics of the cut 68 shim not fitting but i cant upload from my computer. I just ran out and tried to stick my arm under the car so you can see the holes for the pin. You should be able to get the location with the tire off and even better if the cars in the air
The stainless wire i used is viible in the left hand upper area of the first 2 pics with some rust water stain
I think i was able to drill from the outside through with a long bit
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
2019 C3 of Year Winner (performance mods)
2016 C3 of Year Finalist
I had some more pics of the cut 68 shim not fitting but i cant upload from my computer. I just ran out and tried to stick my arm under the car so you can see the holes for the pin. You should be able to get the location with the tire off and even better if the cars in the air
The stainless wire i used is viible in the left hand upper area of the first 2 pics with some rust water stain
I think i was able to drill from the outside through with a long bit
Hi Rescue, we got our '68 about three years ago. I put some tires on it right soon after and the alignment guy spent a lot of time aligning the car and getting it right. He gave me the final spec sheet and said that the right rear was still just barely out of spec, but it wouldn't be worth the $ labor to fix it because it was so close. I wasn't sure what he really meant until I did a bit more research and found that the shim design on our '68s is one of the 'interesting' differences between '68s and other C3s. Crazy design.
Over the past several months I've rebuilt everything under the car - - and made the same change. Bought '69/up shims, got a couple of cobalt drills, and got 'er done. When I take it in for alignment next week the alignment guy (same person) is going to be very happy I think. Thanks for sharing, Paul
If I remember correctly the 63 to early 69 shims (trailing arm) did not have the slot but rather a hole, and the later 69 to 82 had the slot and carter pin.
Milwaukee Torch Sawzall blades last longer.
Last edited by BLUE1972; Sep 17, 2021 at 11:09 AM.
I find this interesting as to what years got the slotted shims vs. shims with holes. When I rebuilt the trailing arms in my July built 70, I took out shims with holes. I'm 95% certain they were installed at the factory. So that's what I put back in. Although a bigger PITA to install, I do like the idea that they're not coming out should the pivot bolt come loose.
I find this interesting as to what years got the slotted shims vs. shims with holes. When I rebuilt the trailing arms in my July built 70, I took out shims with holes. I'm 95% certain they were installed at the factory. So that's what I put back in. Although a bigger PITA to install, I do like the idea that they're not coming out should the pivot bolt come loose.
I have seen them both ways, my friends 70 - late July car had slots and a carter pin. I never had a 70 and don't have a 70 AIM.. You are most likely correct 70 had holes... My 71 was OE and has the slots, which is show in the AIM.
Last edited by BLUE1972; Sep 17, 2021 at 05:30 PM.
My basketcase '68 had a hole in the shims for the pivot bolt.
The carbon steel shims had rust-welded themselves to each other at both arms.
I cleaned out the entire pockets and drilled holes for heavy cotter pins to make sure the later slotted stainless shims stayed in place.
Too bad the General decided to use "sandwich metal" pockets (these cars really were built to last about 5 years )
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
2019 C3 of Year Winner (performance mods)
2016 C3 of Year Finalist
Originally Posted by BLUE1972
If I remember correctly the 63 to early 69 shims (trailing arm) did not have the slot but rather a hole, and the later 69 to 82 had the slot and carter pin.
Milwaukee Torch Sawzall blades last longer.
You are correct on the hole versus the slot. And they are a pain to replace. I took pics of the shims and taped them together aas I took them out then mearsued the thickness to replace them with the slotted ones. And you are right the milwaukees do last longer. I think I will sell some plywood I have in my vault to be able to buy those Torch blades.... lol. But they are a bit pricey. I wish my Dewalt saw had a speed setting so I could keep the RPM down when I cut hard steel like that. It would keep me from melting those cheaper blades
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
2019 C3 of Year Winner (performance mods)
2016 C3 of Year Finalist
Originally Posted by doorgunner
My basketcase '68 had a hole in the shims for the pivot bolt.
The carbon steel shims had rust-welded themselves to each other at both arms.
I cleaned out the entire pockets and drilled holes for heavy cotter pins to make sure the later slotted stainless shims stayed in place.
Too bad the General decided to use "sandwich metal" pockets (these cars really were built to last about 5 years )
You are right Tony. I thiknk they had fully embraced the "Planned Obsolescence" idea and "build them cheap and build them deep" mentalities buy the late 60's. Everything seemed to go to the consumer mentality of buy new everything every few years. I guess thats why you can still drag cars from the 30's, 40's and 50's out of a field and still have a ton of metal on them and rebuild the original chunk of steel that was a motor into a running machine. I understand they had to contend with gas mileage laws vs weight but vehicles that rust out while just sitting in a garage is kind of ridiculous. Its like they build them to rust now a days. And the gas mileage wars where solved as early as the early 80s by the Japanese.
short story
I had a 83 toyota Corolla that I bought from one of my customers for $500 bucks in 2010. She was afraid of the highway so the car always ran in city traffic. If any of you are familiar with Salt lake she lived above Foothill up on the East Bench off of Devonshire. Its at the top of the benches on the East side. I would say from the valley floor to the top had to be almost 1000' elevation change, atleast you would think so if you ever biked or walked it. Its a long uphill hike so that car really had taken some abuse just in rough miles. I drove it home on the highway and it wouldnt do over 50 mph. She really only changed the oil when she owned it. Atleast they looked like really old plugs when I gave it a tune up and some love. Once that baby was running it got over 32 miles to the gallon and would zip along at 75 -80 mph no problem....it was from 83. In 2010 there was only a few car choices getting that kind of mileage....and it was carbureated, not fuel injected and no computers of course
And if you have any old tools from back then they probably still work. Your liucky to get a ratchet to last a few weeks now.....but thats another rant for another thread
Last edited by Rescue Rogers; Sep 17, 2021 at 08:14 PM.
I find this interesting as to what years got the slotted shims vs. shims with holes. When I rebuilt the trailing arms in my July built 70, I took out shims with holes. I'm 95% certain they were installed at the factory. So that's what I put back in. Although a bigger PITA to install, I do like the idea that they're not coming out should the pivot bolt come loose.
My June built '70, had shims with holes, no slots. They were the original shims.
The hole in the frame for the long cotter pin used with the slotted shims appeared during the 1969 model year ( actually, at some point during the 1969 calendar year), but the shims with the holes continued in production.
The shims with the slots began to appear at the very end of the 1970 model year (within the last two weeks of 1970 production).
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
2019 C3 of Year Winner (performance mods)
2016 C3 of Year Finalist
I'm sure that GM used up the old stock until it was gone, no use wasting money for something like that. THeres a lot of 68 stuff that was held over from the 67 that Im sure they just used up and then did a model year change for an upgrade. Most of the very early 68 front end is 67 stock. I can usually find my cooling and front suspension parts in the 67 listings
Last edited by Rescue Rogers; Sep 19, 2021 at 03:26 PM.
Designer Imagines A Corvette That Looks More Like a Corvette Than the Corvette
Slideshow: A Jaguar designer's personal project imagines what a modern front-engined Corvette might look like if Chevrolet revisited the golden age of the Stingray.
68 rear shim pics
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