I bought a 1976 Corvette that had been sitting for 7 years. The guy claimed it was running bad and it seemed to be a fuel problem so he started to rebuild the carb, took it apart and never finished. I bought it, replaced the gas tank, got another carb off another 76 Vette and just put new plugs, wires, filters, etc. The car fired right up and ran great, but when you went down the road it felt weird. The tires on it looked great, but the driver side front wheel was pointing outwards quite a bit. I was going to try an adjust it but the bushings all looked really bad so I bought a complete poly kit and new springs.

Well, it turned out that one of the tires had a big indent on it from sitting on a rock or something. The tires, despite the ton of tread, didn't look as good off the car and was probably my problem, but I already the kit and front looked bad so I went ahead and changed it out. Got some new "used" tires that were in excellent shape and even got new wheel bearings.

Once I got the car done it drove worse then before. Felt like it was pulling in all directions and made a loud pop noise, which I am assuming one of the springs wasn't completely in its spot and popped in. I only went a block, turned around and went back. Looking from the front it appears both tires are pointing outwards... would this be enough to mess up the ride to that extreme? Also the new tires are directional tires (on correctly) but I didn't know if that would enhance anything out of whack.

I'm open to any suggestions of what I may did wrong or other things to look for. I was told that since I had poly bushings I could torque everything down without dropping the car first... was that a mistake?

This car has obviously been damaged on the front before. Aftermarket hood, which I noticed, but the front bumper was rotted off (as a lot of sitting Vettes are that sit outside) and I didn't realize that when I went to replace it I needed a 73 or 74 bumper cover... not a 76!

I got the car pretty cheap but now I can see why.

 

Your car needs a front end alignment to make it drive and track correctly.

 

sorry to tell you but your car has bushings in the back also, trailing arm bushings and if the fronts were bad chances the rears are bad also...

 

The outer tierods have two holes to choose from on the spindle arm. The outer is for manual steering, the inner hole is for power steering. Make sure you used the correct holes. The popping sound from the front could be bad control arm bushings. In the rear, it could be the posi unit. The posi rear popping and creeping is common. Usually some fresh fluid and the correct amount of GM posi additive will quiet it down. Then as stated above, if the front bushings are shot, the rear isn't far behind. These are big negotiating points when sell or buying a vette. To pay a shop can be as much as $1200 for the front or rear.

 

 

And some prayers