gettin' squirrely
Thread Starter
1st Gear
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
From: tulsa ok
gettin' squirrely
I am new to the Corvette world and am needing some advice. I bought an '84 crossfire corvette about 2 months ago. Don't know much history on the car. Engine runs fine, but slightly high idle (about 1000 RPM in neutral). Transmission is a typical 700R4 with hard 1st / 2nd shift. All this I am working out. The main issue is the rear. When on throttle or off, the car is stable, but during the transission between throttle and deceleration and hard acceleration shifts, the car gets squirrely. I don't want to just needlessly throw parts at the car, so any help in solving this problem would help.
Racer
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 325
Likes: 8
From: Princeton Jct. New Jersey
I had the same issue with my '84. The rear toe rods were poorly adjusted. I took it in to a local tire shop for a 4 wheel alignment. After messing around with it for over an hour they told me they couldn't adjust the toe-in because something was "broken" in the rod assembly. While driving home the car was all over the road every time I applied throttle. When I got home (just barely) I jacked up the rear, took the spare tire carrier off and discovered the right toe rod was just being held on (at the differential ball joint end) by the rubber boot! I suspect the shop had tried adjusting the right toe rod without putting a wrench on the inner flats to prevent the inner ball joint retainer from screwing out of the center housing. This was confirmed when I removed the assembly and cut open the boot -nothing was broken, just un-screwed:
I replaced the assembly with one that had spherical rod ends (Heim joints), adjusted the toe-in to zero degrees and the car runs straight and true now with no "squirrely" handling issues. Needless to say I won't be going back to that shop again.
I replaced the assembly with one that had spherical rod ends (Heim joints), adjusted the toe-in to zero degrees and the car runs straight and true now with no "squirrely" handling issues. Needless to say I won't be going back to that shop again.
Race Director
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 17,700
Likes: 1,667
From: moraga ca
Good catch. That's why I do my own alignments at home. I don't trust anyone and I know when I'm done that everything is right. It may take me some time, but I know that when I am done, the alignment will be spot on, not just "within specs".
