C-2/C-3 steering arm difference??

[Howard Nardick]

Besides the difference in the size of the mounting holes are the 65-68 and 69-82 steering arms physically different?? I am trying to fit an early (65-67) J-56 stiffener bracket onto a spindle assembly with (I think) a 69+up steering arm and there seems to be a space between the stiffener and the (stock) caliper bracket and the steering arm OR do all J-56 brackets just fit like cr*p??
thanks in advance!! ,,,HN

[Joe L.]

Re: C-2/C-3 steering arm difference??

Howard------

First of all, the bolt hole size for the 1968 arms is the same as the 1969-82. So, 1969-82 arms will work perfectly on a 1968, although the original 1968 arms were unique-to-1968. 1968 uses the small SPINDLE size a la 1965-67, but the steering arm bolt hole size is the same as 69-82.

As far as the C2 and C3 steering arms are concerned, I THINK that the only difference is the size of the bolt holes. This difference in bolt hole size required a change in the forging to provide enough "meat" at the bolt hole bosses. That's why you can't safely modify a 65-67 steering arm for use in a C3. I don't THINK that there was any other change in the forging between C2 and C3 years. However, I wouldn't rule out some very subtle change in configuration. I have not carefully compared a C2 arm to a C3 arm. By the way, there were several different C3 arms although all are interchangeable (unless you use a later PRODUCTION arm on an earlier C3 without power steering and want to maintain standard ratio-----later PRODUCTION arms do not have the tie rod hole position for standard ratio manual steering). However, the later PRODUCTION and SERVICE arms are, by far, the strongest of all 63-82 Corvette steering arms.

As far as fitment goes for the J-56 support brackets, they often fit poorly and require shimming. They must be shimmed properly or, when the bolts are torqued, it will distort the caliper and produce totally unsatisfactory brake performance. I don't know how the sub-assembly operation that produced the front spindle assemblies for J-56 did it; I can't imagine how they could have done it without shimming in some cases. However, no shims were ever sold by GM in SERVICE for this application.