SMART STRUTS INSTALLATION
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Joined: Jun 2002
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SMART STRUTS INSTALLATION
Just got the set from VBP, and am dropping my car off at the shop tomorrow for installation. I've read related postings and exchanged e-mails with a few CFers. You guys are right - the instructions leave a bunch to the imagination. For a point of reference for my shop (which has never done a SS install), does anyone have any images of Smart Struts as installed on their car? Or know where I can find photos or links on the web? Please note the car's year, as there are slightly different SS versions for '80-'82 Vettes
Le Mans Master
Joined: Feb 1999
Posts: 8,351
Likes: 75
From: Tampa Bay FL
Re: SMART STRUTS INSTALLATION (Runner81)
I used the 'Corvette Weekend Projects' book. Although the strut rod bushing replacement documented was the stock style, I was able to use it as a reference (pages 153-155). I also supplemented with the 1980 Shop Manual and a good dose of common sense (I ended up disconnecting the leaf spring and dropping the strut mount off of the differential also).
This was an afternoon project for me. Just take your time, you can do this yourself. I'm sure the shop will charge you more than double the price of the struts.
This was an afternoon project for me. Just take your time, you can do this yourself. I'm sure the shop will charge you more than double the price of the struts.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2000
Posts: 2,386
Likes: 3
From: far, far away
Re: SMART STRUTS INSTALLATION (Runner81)
Hey, Runner,
I do have pics but unfortunately my PC was "upgraded" recently from win98 to win2k, which resulted in my digicam transfer software no longer working. :(
Sorry.
I can offer these thoughts, for whatever you think they're worth.
The instructions that came with mine for my '81 contained illustrations intended for the 63-79 version. As you know, the 80-82 is different. The stock 80-82 central bracket is 1-piece, but the SmartStrut (SS) replacement is 2-piece. For the 63-79 version, the replacement is still 1-piece, and that's what's shown in the instructions. Not a big deal, but some non-vette oriented "mechanics" that you might have do it for you could get confused.
When you install the two-piece central bracket set, you will lose your mounting location for your stock heat shield. Now, mine is a 4-speed, so it had a steel stock spring which I replaced with a VB 330 monospring. If yours is automatic, you should have had a monospring to begin with, and I don't know if that makes your heat shield different from mine. Anyway, for a 4-speed '81, the VB SS brackets have no provision for attaching the heat shield.
The new brackets, because of their location downward and outward from the stock bracket, get in the way of the stock heat shield anyway. I figured out that I could make two parallel cuts into each side of the shield (i.e., two cuts in the left, two cuts in the right) in order to create two "tabs", which could then be bent down at about a 45-degree angle so as to mate up with the two new brackets. Then it is a very simple matter of drilling holes through the heat shield and the brackets (one on each side is enough) and then driving self-tapping screws into the holes to attach the shield.
Of course, all this assumes that you have the stock exhaust arrangement which routes the rear Y-pipe under the differential and spring mount. Otherwise, you don't need the stock shield anyway.
Next is the business of the inboard pivot. Like the stock strut, the SS retains the eccentric bolt mechanism. Unlike the stock strut, it is not used to adjust the rear end alignment. It is used to fine tune the arc of travel of the rear wheels. I set mine in the middle of the adjustment range when I installed them, thinking that I could adjust them after everthing else was installed, if I needed to, in order to get the least amount of arc in the up-and-down movement range of the rear wheel. As it turns out, I've needed to make no adjustments.
The SS units use the threaded sleeve and locknuts to adjust wheel alignment. After everything is installed and a rear end alignment done, then I would suggest loosening all the locknuts, coating the appropriate threads with Loctite, and retightening them. Note that this has no effect whatsoever on your alignment, as long as you don't turn the sleeves.
Good luck with it! :cheers:
I do have pics but unfortunately my PC was "upgraded" recently from win98 to win2k, which resulted in my digicam transfer software no longer working. :(
Sorry.
I can offer these thoughts, for whatever you think they're worth.
The instructions that came with mine for my '81 contained illustrations intended for the 63-79 version. As you know, the 80-82 is different. The stock 80-82 central bracket is 1-piece, but the SmartStrut (SS) replacement is 2-piece. For the 63-79 version, the replacement is still 1-piece, and that's what's shown in the instructions. Not a big deal, but some non-vette oriented "mechanics" that you might have do it for you could get confused.
When you install the two-piece central bracket set, you will lose your mounting location for your stock heat shield. Now, mine is a 4-speed, so it had a steel stock spring which I replaced with a VB 330 monospring. If yours is automatic, you should have had a monospring to begin with, and I don't know if that makes your heat shield different from mine. Anyway, for a 4-speed '81, the VB SS brackets have no provision for attaching the heat shield.
The new brackets, because of their location downward and outward from the stock bracket, get in the way of the stock heat shield anyway. I figured out that I could make two parallel cuts into each side of the shield (i.e., two cuts in the left, two cuts in the right) in order to create two "tabs", which could then be bent down at about a 45-degree angle so as to mate up with the two new brackets. Then it is a very simple matter of drilling holes through the heat shield and the brackets (one on each side is enough) and then driving self-tapping screws into the holes to attach the shield.
Of course, all this assumes that you have the stock exhaust arrangement which routes the rear Y-pipe under the differential and spring mount. Otherwise, you don't need the stock shield anyway.
Next is the business of the inboard pivot. Like the stock strut, the SS retains the eccentric bolt mechanism. Unlike the stock strut, it is not used to adjust the rear end alignment. It is used to fine tune the arc of travel of the rear wheels. I set mine in the middle of the adjustment range when I installed them, thinking that I could adjust them after everthing else was installed, if I needed to, in order to get the least amount of arc in the up-and-down movement range of the rear wheel. As it turns out, I've needed to make no adjustments.
The SS units use the threaded sleeve and locknuts to adjust wheel alignment. After everything is installed and a rear end alignment done, then I would suggest loosening all the locknuts, coating the appropriate threads with Loctite, and retightening them. Note that this has no effect whatsoever on your alignment, as long as you don't turn the sleeves.
Good luck with it! :cheers:
