Trying to get to 2 3/4 of positive caster on my Vette is a problem on the right side. I cannot get the desired caster before the tire hits the fiberglass lower fender lip. Also, I am out of adjustment ( no shims) . This is the case on both my 73' and my 68'. After measuring from different points on the frame to the front lower A arm, the right side is 1 inch different than the left side. Both cars must have been hit. Has anyone had this problem? How is this fixed?

 

Yes Sir; Go to a good Frame shop and find out what the problem is. They can put their gauges on and find the problem in a matter of minutes. Kansas City, is lucky to have Leroy's Frame shop in Independence, Mo. Five or six frame machines in shop. He has worked on tons of Corvettes. Gene

 

I do ALL my own work on my Vette's and was hoping someone has had a similiar problem with their car. It looks like if the rear mounting point of the lower A arm was moved outward, this would get the A arm back to where it should be. Any thought?

 

I'm not that smart to answer any of those type questions. LOL, That's why I go to a good Frame shop and don't guess. Hope you find the problem. Have a great weekend. Gene

 

You probably need go to electric fans to accomplish this but a VBP cross support from upper control arm to arm will help keep that frame straighter.....

 

Mr. Vette, Do you know if a street driven car needs this, or is this a car, that a guy runs hard, twisting the frame at those points. Or is this a normal car. That needs this bracing
installed. Lots of expense to change, when you have to install electric Fans. My Frame shop has checked my Alignment, do to trailing arms installed and didn't find any problems, on my front end Alignment. Just wanting knowledge, thanks Mr jagan for getting into this
Frame Alignment, sure can make a bunch of changes in these Money eaters. LOL Gene

 

I understand the problem on these frames is that the mounting area for the upper control arms sag in toward each other. That's why a frame spreader from VB&P, as mrvette suggested, would get your frame back the way is should be. An alternative, albeit kind of a band-aid, is to use off-set upper control arm pivot shafts. They are made for this very purpose. They mount to the frame like the stock ones, but the pivot points is moved outward a bit so you can get more shims between the frame and the pivot. Is that a Bubba fix, or a practical way to save an aging frame?

 

I bought my '72 with about 130k on the clock about 15 years ago...not much miles even with 200 showing for a near 40 y/o car....
right off the bat the rad dumped, so with the rad change went serp drive and a electric fan from '87 vette, into the stock shroud....but without any cross support....by winter 01-2 I had installed a rack and many other mods not critical to this....about 3 years later I finally got around to putting in the cross support/strut....it's a VBP unit....

the improvement in handling and ride/control was very noticeable ....so since then other modifications....

but with my '89 vette rims and 275/50/17 in rear and 255/50/17 in front, with Bilstein shocks....the car rides and handles well.....I would do it again in a flash....

NOW, I have worked on probably about two dozen sharks over the years, and so done one frame swap due to accident, not rust....I have not personally observed OR attempted to measure any frame thickness differentials from early to late sharks...I KNOW NOT.....one way or other....I HEAR the later ones were thinner metal....so therefore obviously not as durable...and prone to welds breaking and frame actually splitting in the extrusions, cracking.....so obviously something is not happy....these breaks are in the front ends...pix of them all over the net, not just here....shock towers, control arms, frames, cross supports,

but lets not forget under all sorts of conditions from million milers down to garage queens, let alone climate and storage, the variations are crazy.....I have seen my mother's '63 Olds F 85 4 dr sedan rust like silly mad underneath over 25 years of setting in the garage in Maryland...for instance....owned for 30 years....on the road for just 5.....35k miles when sold...

 

I don't think we are talking about frame sag here. The right front is one inch further back than the left side. I measured from three different places on the frame on each side, always came up with the same measurement, one inch different from side to side.