I'm just about complete with my 68 restoration. I had GTR1999 (Gary) rebuild my original box. I had a alignment done. All is good except the wheel does not return to center without drive input. I am questioning the alignment setup. Can anyone who has had their steering box rebuilt by Gary share your alignment spec's and if your wheel returns to center. Or am I expecting too much?
Thank you,
Peter

 

I did a frame off restoration on my 73 and had Gary rebuild the steering box. I had the same issue with the steering not returning to center without manual input. I chased this problem for a very long time and at a significant expense it was very fustrating. Turns out the issue all along was a bent frame. I finally found a reputable restoration shop that was willing to attempt to straighten the frame. The shop was concerned about causing body damage while pulling the frame and therefore removed all the body mounts prior to straightening the frame. It was not cheap but it fixed the problem. The really fustrating part is when I had the frame stripped down for the body off restoration I took it to a restoration shop to replace the bottom of the #1 cross member that was damaged and to check the frame to be sure it was straight. Needless to say the shop that did the original frame work went out of business a year or so after they did the work on my car. Most likely due to shoddy work. I have found over the years that the old saying "If you want something done right you have to do it yourself" is oh so true. Unfortunately I wasn't capable of doing the frame work myself but in hindsight I could have verified that the frame was straight prior to reassembly. Sorry about the ramble and I hope you are not dealing with a frame issue.

 

Problem could be with parts 'downstream' of the steering box; but it also could be due to sticky bearings or binding in the steering column. I'd suggest discussing this with Gary, since he did the box.

 

This problem new since the box rebuild?

 

I dialed in a bunch of caster and converted to manual steering with an @GTR1999 steering box. The wheel returns to center.

For alignment numbers, @cagotzmann had a thread recently with his numbers. I can't find the numbers now, but here's his thread on how to do an alignment:
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...nt-method.html

 

What are the specs on the alignment the shop performed?

 

no idea. I bought the car 10 years ago. It never ran until a month ago.

 

I did a total nut and bolt restoration. Every piece has been restored or replaced. I did a total column rebuild. New bearings included. All downstream components are new. This is why I'm a little puzzled.

 

wo . Quite a thread. Thank you.

 

What did you tell the alignment shop to align it to?

If you have stock upper A-arms, and they aren't shimmed like crazy to add caster (moving the upper ball joint rearward), you may not have enough.

 

I just went with stock numbers. You may be correct.

 

That alone has to be a great experience!!

 

Stock alignment specs for a 68 with F70x15 tires?
What size tires are on the car?

 

assuming that its power steering cant you just center the wheel with the power steering control valve,, theres a adjuster under the cap on the end of it

 

Hi Guys, Peter
I spoke with Peter the other day about this and suggested he post here for those who have one of my boxes to post what they used for alignment specs. I always used the old VB&P specs they had in the back of their catalog and never had a problem.

What some, well many, don't understand with these boxes is the difference between true center and high lash. I mark all my boxes at high lash as that is where you want to be driving down the road. The common misunderstanding is people think the factory chisel mark is high lash and in some cases it is but more then most it is not. In a text book world both true center and high lash are the same but in reality they seldom are and will affect the feel of the car. They can be off as much 90* in some cases. Add into that the many people who may have played with the car over the years, indexing the steering wheel on the column, getting rag joints with the d-Flat in the wrong position, etc.

Peter's box is like every one I build and final checked for high lash and lost motion on center- the lash is at the highest reading and there is no lost motion at all. Moving the box at the input moves the output at the same time. Peter assured me no one played with the box and that paint mark I install is at 12 o'clock. The few times I have heard about something like this was typically alignment settings, once someone thought my box was too tight and played around with the lash and screwed it and it was alignment related, other times there is play in the center link ball stud on manual cars, the box is dialed in and will not cause that, if it did there would be 100's of them with this problem.

There is no difference between 63-82 manual and ps boxes, they are one and the same - nor does it matter if they're in BB & SB cars, or automatic or 4 speeds. There is a difference at the input spline count where as 63-E69 had 36 & the L69 to 82 had 30 and a D-Flat. the ratios were all the same with the exception of the (5) 63 Grand Sports, they had a faster ratio along with a lighter mag box.

So that is what is going on, I do realize it is getting harder to find a good alignment guy too, one that will take the time to dial in the car not being concerned about getting it done in 30 minutes. I know some guys had to bring their cars in to a couple of different alignment shops to get it right. I have used a local guy for years and was good but he is getting ready to retire too.

 

Go to PDF page 44 for VB&P alignment specs

 

I would check your alignment