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I noticed today that my 68 coupe sits 3/4 inch lower on the driver side than the passenger side. This is noticeable when looking at the rear of the car. It's a completely restored garage queen that never leaves the driveway.
Any suggestions on what is causing the "imbalance" and also how to go about correcting it.
All 4 tires have equal tire pressure so I don't think that's the cause.The rear spring and trailing arms were all replaced during restoration.
Any suggestions are appreciated.
Thank you
Kurt
The front is a little bit harder to diagnose. I would check to make sure both of the front springs are fully seated in their pockets. There should be witness holes on both the lower control arm and the upper shock mount.
For the rear I would check to make sure the nuts on the leaf spring are run up on the bolt an equal amount on both sides.
Last edited by Piersonpie; Oct 20, 2024 at 09:22 PM.
As Piersonpie recommends plus:
How long ago did you do the restoration?
How many miles, if any, have you driven it?
Front and rear sway bars?
If you find what Piersonpie recommends is good, it may just be that the suspension components are settling with the weight of the car on them and things may need some miles put on them and adjustments made.
Suspension components should only be tightened and torqued to specs with the full weight of the vehicle on them.
Chances are if the rear is sitting uneven it is more than possible the issue is that an adjustment is needed in the front.
If the front springs are in their pockets, you should loosen everything up in the front, roll the car around, bounce it a few times, or actually drive it in and out of the garage, then torque to spec.
Then repeat all the rear suspension.
Last thing to tighten should be the front and rear sway bars, if you have them and get a good alignment.
The alignment should be done by a professional who knows classic Corvettes and not at the local tire store with a computer controlled alignment rack.
sounds weird but front height affects rear height and rear affects front.
make sure you measure from frame not just wheel arches.
someone might have the factory measuring info with chart
to post
Thank you all for the replies.
I took measurements at the wheel arches at the center of the wheel; I will look in the GM assembly manual for the correct measurements.
Should have done that in the first place,,,
Kurt
My 79 is back on the ground, with no drivetrain. The left rear is noticeably lower than the right. That's because it only has (low) semi coil-overs on the front left side.
So, I agree, check the front first, especially the clocking of the spring in the pockets.
Here’s a picture of my ’78 before cutting off the ends of the lowering bolts. Front and rear springs and shocks have since been changed with a composite spring in the rear. Result; same problem, adjust at the nut and cut off the excess bolt. Saw someone else on this forum use a castle nut with the threads reamed out to raise the low side. I haven’t tried this, but the spring has a little side-to-side play if the mount is loose. With it loose, tap the spring or individual leaves toward the high side with a BFH and retighten.
Charlie
Most likely the front springs were not indexed correctly in the frame. See the AIM. The top end of the spring must be within 3/8" of the inspection hole in the top of the frame pocket. Don't worry about the bottom of the spring. If the front springs are not indexed correctly, you will have different heights in the front and back of the car. Jerry
Most likely the front springs were not indexed correctly in the frame. See the AIM. The top end of the spring must be within 3/8" of the inspection hole in the top of the frame pocket. Don't worry about the bottom of the spring. If the front springs are not indexed correctly, you will have different heights in the front and back of the car. Jerry
What should you do if you know for a fact that the front coil springs are absolutely, positively indexed correctly? Just throwing that out there.
With 99.9% of the rear ride height complaints being the right side being higher than the the left side side, (and pretty much all model years) I'm convinced something was molded wrong.
With 99.9% of the rear ride height complaints being the right side being higher than the the left side side, (and pretty much all model years) I'm convinced something was molded wrong.
Fyi, I had this similar problem on my 80 Corvette. I ended up replacing front springs all front suspension, bushings, and all the shocks as well as put a new low arch 360 composite leaf spring in the rear with 8" bolts. Over all outcome $1500 in and still a slight .25 difference in the rear. Learned to accept it and move on.
Fyi, you might notice a bigger difference when you fill the tank with gas.
I had a similar issue with my base 71 convertible after a frame off restoration. Rear was crooked as was the front. I ended up reversing the rear leaf spring and this corrected the rear end issue as well as the front end issue. (I stand to be corrected but when the right rear sits high, it will cause the left front to sit lower.)
In addition the rear end was sitting high and I had already installed longer adjusting bolts. I wanted the rear lowered about 2 inches so I removed the rear spring….again….off to the spring shop where I had them “ flatten” the spring 2 inches from when I brought it in. Put it back together and it now sits perfect.
Ride Height Question
Just throwing that out there.
