i have a 76 corvette that iv owned for a year. i am having a problem with it pulling both to the left and right from time to time. it comes and goes. also if feels like u are driving a boat with the way the front steering feels. i have not driven many c3's so i do not know if this is normal or not. any advise on where to start looking would be a great help.

 

It is not normal. Apparently some component or components in your suspension or steering are worn. Some thing to check:

Ball joints
Tie rod ends
Control arm busings
Wheel bearings
Idler arm
Steering gear
Steering coupler

Worn components in the back could also cause it to wander:

Wheel bearings
Trailing arm bushins/shims

If it happens only when you are braking then you should also check the brakes.

 

check tires and tires pressure.

 

From my other post on rack and pinion conversion steering thread:

Thanx for the feedback. I just hand my OEM Saginaw box with 65,000 miles on it blue printed and rebuilt by GTR1999 (the price of the rebuild is a fraction of the conversion kits or a borgenson box) even though it was in very good shape and the difference in steering wheel free play before and after the rebuild is unbelieveable-better than it ever came from the factory. There is zero play in the steering now and it was not bad before! GTR1999 hand adjusts, replaced the necessary bushings, new bearing *****, and a custom shaft bushing that reduces free play from the factory spec of .005 down to .002. The box was not built with these tolerances or adjustment from GM. It really is a terrific option for those that want to keep the OEM system-it is very good when functioning properly with this type of recirculating ball steering box-16:1 though which is not an issue for me with my car on the street.

The 16:1 ratio is not an issue to me since I have eliminated just about all the other slop in the OEM suspension.

Front-Poly bushings everywhere on the OEM 1 1/8 sway bar and the Bilstein HD shock towers. Poly upper and lower control arm bushings which eliminated MUCH slop in the front suspension. 255/45/17 ZR tires on SLP rims in front

Rear-360 monospring with poly cushions, 3/4 rear OEM type sway bar with poly mounting bushings, Competition Heavy duty adjustable strut rods with Heim joints (no bushings), Bilstein Sports, 255/50/17 ZR ultra high performance tires.

The car steers and handles like a modern sports car with the standard steering ratio. Just my 2 cents!

And this:

Thanx for the feedback-sounds like the steering box needed a rebuild. My experience with my OEM steering box which did not have a lot of miles on it really (65K) and after talking with GTR1999 in person (he lives not too far from me and I brought my box to him and he disassembled it in front of me) is that any and all OEM Saginaw steering boxes can benefit from a blue printed rebuild since he not only replaces all the necessary internal components but uses a couple of custom components (steering shaft bushing, for example) that makes the boxes MUCH more responsive and eliminates all the free play that came with them from the factory when NEW (each box is hand adjusted eliminating any free play)! I think many C3 owners would be shocked at how good a saginaw recirculating ball OEM steering box can be when setup up correctly. I should have had the blue printed rebuild done years ago as well! I am extremely happy with the OEM steering system now plus I am not a big fan of reengineering the OEM steering system, using components from more recent cars. That's just me!

I have replaced/upgraded every component in the front and rear suspensions and any and all pulling under braking finally disappeared with the blue printed rebuilt steering box.

I agree with the other recommendations above as well as areas to investigate. It can be a multitude of issues or just 1-2!

 

The car is 34 years old- the play could be anywhere in the front or rear suspension.

 

look at the rear end alignment, are the wheels straight up and down? the should be, look at the rear end and see if everything looks straight up and down in there, it could be in your sway arm's..... this will make it feel like a boat on the water..