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Super T10 - TKO 600 part 1: Raising and leveling the car
Ok, so I thought I would create a post on my upcoming swap from the Super T10 I installed here: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...on-thread.html
to a new TKO 600 which is on order. I liked going through that old post and I think it was helpful to some people. I also think it's helpful to me cuz I have some guys looking over my shoulder so to speak, as I go.
In researching the swap, I read a lot about the driveline angles and how important that is to smooth operation. At one time I had a bad driveline vibration so I know it's annoying. So I did a bunch or reading on how to do it right. Basically the U joint working angles need to be in the 1/2 - 3 degree range and they need to be the same end to end. And, in order to measure this accurately you have to have the car lifted and on the suspension, which means on the tires. So that brings me to where I am here, which is how to get the car on it's tires up in the air. Well I saw some others that had created wooden tire blocks and that is what I did. Hint: it takes a lot of 2x4's! And a lot of screws. But they came out nice. Since this was a project in itself I decided to share it here.
After making the blocks, getting the car up to that level was not easy either because it's higher than normal, so I had to do a couple different things front and rear. The front is fairly easy because you can lift from under the spring pockets and that's that. The back is tricky because you can't really get the jack close enough to where the strut mount is. So I ended up lifting from the frame which required paver blocks under the jack!
OK, so with that done, I had the car up but it was not level. I had leveled the car one other time when I was doing a home alignment so I knew about how much the floor was off. I created a couple movable things to hold a long section of clear tubing and filled it with red water (not blood hahaha). Then I compared them all to the highest point and modified the blocks as needed. They were 5/8, 7/8, and 1/2" low from the highest one so I added boards. Car is up and level.. yaay. Ready for some work.
So the car is up and level, and ready for some work!
Oh, the blocks are 21" x 12" and I made them in two sections so the lower section could be used if I only need less height sometime, or to lift the car in stages, which is what I did.
why on a Corvette does the car have to be on it's suspension?
Both the transmission and the rear are attached to the frame and neither moves with the suspension.
why not place it on a known level floor with 4 identical floor jacks?
why on a Corvette does the car have to be on it's suspension?
Both the transmission and the rear are attached to the frame and neither moves with the suspension.
why not place it on a known level floor with 4 identical floor jacks?
I don't know - that's just what they say. I guess for more accurate measurements in case of frame flex.. ?
I understand you want to have this installation as near perfect as you can get. I installed my TKO600 over 10 years ago. Like you I read whatever I could find and read about various drive line vibrations.
In the end I decided not to go thru all the angles etc and just install the TKO and take it out on the road for a test first.
I'm glad I did, there wasn't even a hint of vibration. So I saved myself a lot of "fussing" with the drive line.
Not every TKO installation results in drive line issues.
I understand you want to have this installation as near perfect as you can get. I installed my TKO600 over 10 years ago. Like you I read whatever I could find and read about various drive line vibrations.
In the end I decided not to go thru all the angles etc and just install the TKO and take it out on the road for a test first.
I'm glad I did, there wasn't even a hint of vibration. So I saved myself a lot of "fussing" with the drive line.
Not every TKO installation results in drive line issues.
Yeah, I think I will at least attempt to check the angles since it is up there and a pain to put up on the blocks. Hopefully they are not way off and I don't have to do anything.
That link is for a generic set of instructions where the rear axle drops changing the angles unless the vehicle is supported by the suspension. That is not necessary on a Corvette.
Your getting way to hung up on the driveline angles. I have done 10 and only 1 needed a slight tweak of the driveline angle. I have never checked this. Only after a drive with some speed do you really find if you need to mess with it. What you want to be real careful on is dialing in the bellhousing. This can cause vibration for sure. I spend the most time here on all my installs. I have had to adjust 9 out of 10 bellhousings.
Alright so to finish off this post, I thought I'd share this. To remove the drive shaft, I had to rotate it which would not happen with the wheels on the wooden blocks. So I had to lift the back of the car. I came up with a nice solution. I had our shop cut me a 48" long section of C6x8.2 structural channel and I laid it on it's back between the wheels and it nicely cups under the strut mount and shock. This allowed me to raise the back of the car and set it on jack stands. Worked great! And this might be useful in the future as well if I want to just raise the car a without lifting the body. The only thing I might add is some padding.
I like the blocks you made, pretty clever. They are likely more sturdy than jackstands and are out of the way which would make crawling under the car much easier.
I spent quite a bit of time on drive line angles and the cliff notes are that the rear of the TKO needs to go up in the tunnel as far as possible. It will hit the floor before you achieve 'perfect' angles, but since the drive shaft is so short the slight imperfection will not cause a vibration. If your transmission U-joint is a 1350 you will likely have interference to the side of the tunnel. I cut a hole in the tunnel and covered it from the cabin side with a plate. With the carpet in place it is not noticeable.
12-05-2017, 12:41 PM
Super T10 - TKO 600 part 1: Raising and leveling the car
