hello, i purchased my 1980 about eight months ago, i noticed that there is a gap difference between the right front fender and right front wheel. larger than on the left side. so i measured from center wheel to center wheel on both sides.(front to rear). there is a 1.5 inch difference front to rear, i believe the passengers side front wheel sits back the 1.5 inches due to the gap at wheel to fender on the passenger side. the car drives straight, does not pull or vibrate. my question is? is this something i should try to fix or leave it alone. i dont know much of the cars history..wrecked etc. thanks.

 

The best way to see if the frame was bent is to put it up on a hoist. Look to see if there are any wrinkles in it and any welded areas. If there are, it was more than likely in an accident and was straightened. I would leave it alone as long as it is safe. Have a mechanic check it out.

 

I am chasing a very similar problem on my '72 right now. Drivers side center of rear wheel to center of front is 98", passenger side is only 97". The difference is noticable when looking where the tire is in relation to the wheel well. With the car parked in the garage, I used a string with a weight to mark some key points of the frame on the floor (hold the non-weighted end of the string at the reference point of the frame, let the weight dangle down and mark the floor under it when it comes to a rest). I used the points where the rear trailing arms connect, the transmission crossmember joints, the body mounts just behind the front wheels, and the front of the frame in front of the front cross member. After marking the floor and removing the car, I measured points across the frame to check squareness (for example -- right trailing arm connection to left transmission crossmember vs. left trailing arm connection to right transmission crossmember). I found that my frame is square. I also marked the points under the front ball joints. The passenger side is definitely different. That is as far as I have gotten. This weekend I'll look at the front lower a-arms a little closer to see if I can see what is going on.

 

Differences in wheel alignment, specifically caster, can change the position of the front wheel in relation to the body.

 

I think they're made that way. ???

I bought an '81 in '1983 and it was like that and my current '77 is like that too. Alignment is perfect.

 

The front clips always don't get put on straight at the factory. No big deal if frame/suspension are OK.

 

If your wheelbase is different from side to side, it has nothing to do with how the body was put on. I found out my frame was bent when I tried to have the car aligned. It simply could not be aligned because the frame was bent. The difference in wheelbase on my car was about 1.5" as well.

Look for other signs of damage. My car has one aluminum and one fiberglass headlight bucket. There were some spacers under the core support that were new. The passenger side headlight vacuum canister was new. Chances are that you will find the same types of items.

What do you do about it? Well, I tried to find a Corvette shop that would fix the frame. The lowest quote I got was $1500. I didn't want to pay that much. I finally found a GM collision shop that said they would pull the frame if I took off all the pieces and put them back on. I removed the radiator, core support, front bumper, passenger headlight, and the frame extensions. This leaves the front clip hanging. Be extremely careful; do not put any weight on the front end. You should try to support the clip during transport. It took about 2 days, and the shop was able to pull the frame. The alignment came out great.

Now, the bad part. When the car was hit, Bubba found a way to make the front clip fit the bent frame. With the frame straight, I now have a large gap between the fender and the door. I have yet to figure out how I am going to fix this. Several weeks after having the work done, I crawled under the car and found that the shop had actually torn the frame where they pulled on it. They hooked a chain to a hole in the frame, and when they pulled, the hole tore open. They didn't bother to fix it or tell me. I am going to cut that section out and weld in a new one this winter.

So, try to find a shop that will do it and then inspect the work very carefully before taking the car back.

Good luck.
Ken

 

Had a the same problem when I was finishing my 73. My right side wheel base was about an inch short. It ended up being a bent right side lower control arm and a bent shaft. The brackets that hold the lower control arm were also twisted and cracked. I replaced all the above parts. This fixed the problem. My wheel base is within 1/8 inch side to side. I believe it is supposed to be 98 inches.

Dennis

 

both my 71 and 72 have the same issue.

 

If you are in California, there is but one place for frame work and that is Grace-Way Machine, inc. He's located east of Lodi and is "THE MAN" for corvette frame work. Check out his web site @:

http://gracewaymachine.com/

good luck.

 

You can tell if your car was wrecked if the front clip is on straight

 

thanks for all the feedback.

 

I bought a 1980 and noticed a difference between left and right side front. I read this thread yesterday and decided to measure mine.

Driver side 99.5"
Passenger side 98"

The door, hood gaps are all good and looking from the front the clip seems to be straight- although there has been body work done on this car. Car drives straight so I am not too worried.

It just seems strange that several posts talk about a 1.5" inch difference in wheel base left to right.

If everything checks out - no bent borken frame or parts-

Can anyone confirm that you could get 1.5" back out by adjusting the Caster?

Darrel1

 

To get 1.5" of movement at the wheel center, the upper ball joint would have to be moved more than 1.5". I suppose it could be possible that one wheel has a huge amount of positive castor, and the other negative. I would suggest that you get out a string and plumb bob and start measuring your frame and lower a-arms. It took me about an hour, but I finally found the problem in my frame by taking some diagonal measurements across the car.

I don't mean to sound glum, but if you ever go to the insurance salvage yards and see how many cars get hit every week, it's not too hard to believe that most of our cars have been hit at some time. My car drove straight as well. The only problem I had was instability over ruts in the road. That was caused by the negative castor, which was caused by the bent frame.

Good luck.
Ken