for those of you who know me, you know i already have the answer to that question. for those that don't, yes it does.
i was at the track this weekend and the car ran nearly flawlessly (as usual :yesnod: ) but just before lunch i come around turn 5 and hear what sounds like metal going 'clink-clink-clink' all the way down the car. "hmmm", i says, "me thinks this might not be good." so i slow way down and cruise on back to the paddock. i check everything i can think of but turn up nothing. so i think i must have just run over a piece of crap someone else dropped. it's about lunch time so i'm going out to grab something to eat and when i get to the end of the track driveway and stop i feel this really odd 'shift' in the brakes. well, i must go back and investigate this. so i jump out and start looking again--nothing! by this time it's lunch time and i talk to the worker chief and ask them to keep an eye out for anything at turn 5 when they pick up their workers. i'm getting ready to take the wheels off and check the hubs and spindles when they roll up and ask me if i lost "this". "this" turns out to be an alignment shim. i take a look and sure enough on the right a-arm the back bolt has worked loose enough that all (how ever many) alignment shims are gone!
so the noise i heard was the a-arm shifting fore and aft when braking. fortunately, nothing else was damaged and i managed to go to a parts house in town and pick up an emergency set to run the rest of the day. hey the alignment may be whacked but i got in another 30-40 minutes of track time. can't beat that.
all that and yes, i do already have the spreader bar on my car. i will probably modify it this winter to have gussets that go to either end of the mounting flage so it holds more evenly. the VB design i have now puts most of the force right at the front bolt and just uses the rear more as a mounting location. at least that's my thoughts. van steel, you listening?
so any of you wondering if this thing really does what it says it does, wonder no more! if you drive hard at all, you will want this.

 

Well, that's good to know, as I"m going to install one soon enough...whenever I get that electric fan relocated on the lower mounts for clearance...and also relocate that power steering reservoir.....ton's of fun...more damn plumbing....hate plumbing...Need a spot to stick that reservoir too, dunno where I might stick it, but it's needing stuck somewhere...

GENE :D :D :D :eek: :smash: :smash: :lolg:

 

You were lucky you noticed it before any major damage. When I go back home this Christmas, I will try to fabricate a spreader bar for my car too! :cheers:

 

It is on my TO DO LIST this winter. :)

 

do you have an electric fan?

its impossible to install correctly when you have an engine driven fan.

the modification would bump me into a class where i would need a roll bar.

sounds like your track is pretty leniate (sp)

 

Been wanting one for some time. Just haven't coughed up the money.

 

Gary...This is the mount and gusset I made up for my spreader bar.

 

Weren't we just talking about a-arms moving around, just last week ?????

Of course I was talking about loosing a a-arm shaft bolt, not the shims. Good thing nothing else broke, and that you still got to finish playing on the track.

 

bryan, yes we were as a matter of fact. isn't that ironic?
brutus, that's alot more like how the VB should look. the only thing i noticed is yours has the bar more centered where the VB one is located more forward to clear the water pump pulley. how did you get yours to clear with the bar mounted that far back?
turtlevette, yes i have electric fans. the groups i run with are just looking for a car in good mechanical condition. there are not too many limitations on what can be done although they will restrict convertibles without rollbars on some of the faster tracks.

 

CD, After you get your car realigned you might think about some safety wire on the shims!! ..redvetracr

 

CD, I have found that I lost A-Shims when ever i had my castor settings over 4 degrees. So I have mine set to 3.94 without ever loosing any. I still am not convinced that a spreader bar would help in a 78-79 model frame.

If you were to install poly or solid motor mounts the motors block becomes a ridged cross member.

Other years that are prone to breakage in the A-Arm area yes,

 

That is my concern about using them as the support base, took a couple shots for even mentioning is Brutus' post regarding his design. Not that I think it is bad but I wondered about the long term affects of applying stress to them and how the stress transfer would affect the opposite side. Using some poly mounts of some sort might help alleviate some of the stress.

 

agree, I did that right after I lost all my drivers side shims while doing 110 on the freeway, not funny enough to ever do again

 

What is the difference on a 78-79 frame? I have a 78, so I am really curious to hear anything about this subject? :confused:

 

The 78-79's have the heaviest frame installed and for that matter heaviest total weight of any C-3.

If you do a side by side comparision to any of the flat rear window cars it's amazing how much beefier the 78-79's are The 80's had a big frame also with lighter weight windows...................... Then of course 81-82 went with lots of aluminum like the rearends.

 

For the 78-79 frame was it just a matter of the gauge of materials used or was there additional gussets or other changes in the design??

Ryan