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what is ride height from the top of wheelwell arch to the ground. should be 27.5 to 28 inches. I would do the longer bolts right away and go back to worrying about the spring. it will bring sway bar ends and u-joints closer to straight in the mean time and already paid for.
The rear sway bar seems to not be adjusted correctly in this photo due to it appears that the bolt is now bent.. The sway bar seems to need to go forward.
Depending on the spring rate of the fiberglass rear leaf spring...it may need the longer bolts.
I am often not overly concerned if the half shafts look like what you have due to weight transfer when you accelerate...thus it causes the rear end to squat...thus can level out the half shafts. The angle of your half shaft I can pretty much guarantee the universal joints are not going to bind. If by using the longer bolts it gets the half shaft to come down more but still are not level....I would NOT loose any sleep over it.
All of what I just wrote is contingent on how stout your rear leaf spring is...and your shock absorbers also. But if anyone has taken a look at the driveshaft angle of some old cars and trucks...they would agree that the angle of your half shafts are nowhere near any critical angle that can cause a problem.....or at least the numerous Corvettes I have worked on....factory can customs...never have me replacing u-joints in them when they look like yours.
Thanks for your comments on half shaft height. I disconnected the sway bar and both bolts were bent offside much more as can be seen, I will get these replaced, the sway bar Is in its factory location.
Last edited by mysticpete; 04-13-2018 at 09:25 AM.
The rear sway bar bracket that holds the bar and bushing to the frame looks like the aftermarket design where there are slots in this mount bracket and it is somewhat 'adjustable'.
And it is up to you but in the photo I can see one of the bolts that holds the caliper to the trailing arm and it appears not to have a split lock washer under the head of the bolt....instead it seems to be a flat washer.
The rear sway bar bracket that holds the bar and bushing to the frame looks like the aftermarket design where there are slots in this mount bracket and it is somewhat 'adjustable'.
And it is up to you but in the photo I can see one of the bolts that holds the caliper to the trailing arm and it appears not to have a split lock washer under the head of the bolt....instead it seems to be a flat washer.
DUB
Hi Dub, yes this is one of the after market designs, I personally do not think it is as good as the factory but they are hard to come by. The Calliper bolts do not have any split washers, they are all just flat, I'll check the AIM to see if that's correct?
Last edited by mysticpete; 04-13-2018 at 09:03 PM.
So I had a set of new 8" spring bolts and have now fitted them, they do not have split pin securing but are Nylock nuts which are very tight but use once only type. as you can see from the Before and After photos, adding the 2 inches made a good bit of difference to the half shaft angle and I'm happy with that, the shots are of the car at curb weight, I do notice it bottom out a little more but I guess that's to be expected, the wheels have filled the arches a little better now also.
Ride Height is now 27.5" on the drivers side and just over 28" on the other, not sure why this is but maybe tyre pressure?
Before
After
Last edited by mysticpete; 04-13-2018 at 09:07 PM.
Could be bottoming out due to shocks being inadequate. I know my '80 was real soft and bouncy with a fiberglass spring combined with factory shocks originally designed for a steel leaf spring.
Swapped in the better shocks to match the fiberglass spring and the soft bouncy feeling went away completely.
Trust me...your brake caliper bolts are supposed to have split lock washers and not flat washers on them.
Just make sure that your rear is at least one inch higher than the front.
And it should not be bottoming out under normal driving. You might want to raise it a bit...and not get so caught up in 'numbers'.
Question:
What is bottoming out??? I am guessing it is your exhaust.
DUB
Hi DUB
Yes its the exhaust, but it did before also. I'll get the lock washers and fit them.
I'm going to have to cut the front springs down because I have a lighter LS1 fitted now, it's approx. 200lb lighter than the stock block.
Last edited by mysticpete; 04-16-2018 at 07:22 AM.
Could be bottoming out due to shocks being inadequate. I know my '80 was real soft and bouncy with a fiberglass spring combined with factory shocks originally designed for a steel leaf spring.
Swapped in the better shocks to match the fiberglass spring and the soft bouncy feeling went away completely.
HI stingr69
I have brand new shocks all round, they are equal to the factory spec I believe.
Last edited by mysticpete; 04-16-2018 at 07:22 AM.
I have brand new shocks all round, they are equal to the factory spec I believe.
If it feels soft in the back when going over bumps and moves a lot more in the back than the front, I would advise trying some shocks to match the fiberglass spring.
If it feels soft in the back when going over bumps and moves a lot more in the back than the front, I would advise trying some shocks to match the fiberglass spring.
There have been a lot of people testing out shocks with fiberglass springs; if there's anything close to consensus, it's that the 360lb VB&P Spring is perfectly matched to the Bilstein Sports.
I don't know anything about the TRW springs & matching them to a rear spring.
Last I checked TireRack.com is the single cheapest place to get Bilstein shocks.
Look at any corporate photo from the side that GM has on a Corvette of your era and the rear is higher than the front due to weight transfer.
IF your car is level and sitting still..and you take off...then normally the rear squats...thus causing the nose to point up which is NOT what you want. In my opinion and makes sense to me.
You want the rear slightly higher so when you take off...if it levels out...that is fine.
And to prove it...If your car is an automatic transmission car it make sit easier to do. Crank the car...Put your foot on the brake so it will not move. Put the car in DRIVE and push on your accelerator pedal and the rear of the car will squat down.
Now if you do this I hope you have enough common sense NOT to have anything in front of your car that you can run into if you have a brake failure issue or whatever due to I do not know your car and how everything works. You do not have to press down too hard on the accelerator pedal to make this work. Also if you have the transmission in REVERSE..and do this...the rear will RAISE UP.
04-11-2018, 01:52 PM
