1967 Body Lift for Chassis & Frame Restoration

[Richard M.]

Re: 1967 Body Lift for Chassis & Frame Restoration

Front suspension mostly assembled. The F41 springs were a treat to install.

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A few questions regarding torques. Since the entire steering hub, rotor, caliper, steering arm and backplate was installed as a assembly, the AIM does not show specific torques for their individual components.

I found the spec for the upper large bolt, 75 lbs/ft......

but I cannot seem to find the torque specs for the steering arm to spindle attach nuts.

These.... They are the 1965 to 1968 7/16" bolts.
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Edit.....The torque spec exists nowhere. I found several discussion threads asking and was never found. I'll use 70 lbs/ft as was recommended by Joe Lucia HERE.

Upper anchor bolt is 75 lbs/ft. But nothing about the lower arm to spindle bolts/nuts.

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Note the line "Steering Arm Attaching Nuts" is blank in the Corvette column.
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I've seen this before, a typo right? It is NOT 130 lbs/ft for the caliper to bracket attach bolts, right? What is it?
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No steering arm torque here.
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Thanks,
Rich

[James G.]

Re: 1967 Body Lift for Chassis & Frame Restoration

HAPPY BIRTHDAY old man. Have fun celebrating

[Richard M.]

Re: 1967 Body Lift for Chassis & Frame Restoration

HAPPY BIRTHDAY old man. Have fun celebrating

How'd you know that! It's tomorrow.

Thanks Jim,
Rich

[Gary R.]

Re: 1967 Body Lift for Chassis & Frame Restoration

Happy B'day Rich, the car is coming along very nice. That first shakedown drive is coming up!

[Richard M.]

Re: 1967 Body Lift for Chassis & Frame Restoration

Thanks Gary! I'm kinda being lazy today. Wifey told me to take a break today but I can't get too far away from the assembly fun.

It by far is the best part of restoring. It takes so much planning, preparation, little piece restoring, parts acquisition, phone calls, ordering, mix-up fixes etc. Finally when all of the pieces are here it's so enjoyable to put it all together.

The rebuilt steering box you did for us is going on very soon. Just need a few hardware pieces and good to go.

I have the steering coupler/rag joint to contend with also. It's the original, tired rubber cushion and the copper lead was broken when I took it off the box/column. Prone to give electrical shocks when hitting the horn button.
Not sure if I'll rebuild or replace.

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......
Also recently got 4 correctly cast-numbered brake calipers. I have a little detailing to do on the machined areas on the calipers before installation.

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Fronts- 5452270 Inner, 5452273 Outer
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Rears- 5452281 Inner, 5452284 Outer
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Rich

[Richard M.]

Re: 1967 Body Lift for Chassis & Frame Restoration

Restored and rebuilt front wheel hubs. Media blasted, cleaned, primed, cast painted, and installed new USA bearings and cups. Bearings packed and hubs mounted on their restored spindles.

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Hubs temporarily mounted.
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New USA front rotors. I will check run-out specs with a dial indicator and if necessary(which I expect), they will be turned on a brake lathe while mounted on the hubs. Also installed the front sway bar, which is left unconnected to the links until full weight is back.
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Rich

[Mike E.]

Re: 1967 Body Lift for Chassis & Frame Restoration

New USA front rotors. I will check run-out specs with a dial indicator and if necessary(which I expect), they will be turned on a brake lathe while mounted on the hubs.

Rich

That's really coming together nice, looks great! If you want leave as much material on the rotors as possible, you might consider shimming the rotors to get rid of the run-out. Gary Ramadei turned me on to this, here is a before and after video. It's more labor intensive but gets good results. I went crazy too and riveted the rotors back on so they would never be index incorrectly.





Before:

The admins limit the videos to one per post. The after is in the next post.

Mike

[Mike E.]

Re: 1967 Body Lift for Chassis & Frame Restoration

After:

Mike

[Richard M.]

Re: 1967 Body Lift for Chassis & Frame Restoration

Hi Mike,

Yes that's a good idea. I actually have done that with the shims on new rear rotors in the past, but not up front since easier to get turned with the hubs. I'm going through the run-out tests right now so I'll report back with results.

Rich

[Richard M.]

Re: 1967 Body Lift for Chassis & Frame Restoration

In all 5 positions on each side.....

Left 0.021" Runout
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Right 0.015" Runout
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Spec is 0.002".

Mike, where did you get the shims and what is their material? Stainless Steel?

Rich

[Mike E.]

Re: 1967 Body Lift for Chassis & Frame Restoration

In all 5 positions on each side.....

Left 0.021" Runout
[ATTACH=CONFIG]61481[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]61482[/ATTACH]

Right 0.015" Runout
[ATTACH=CONFIG]61483[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]61484[/ATTACH]

Spec is 0.002".

Mike, where did you get the shims and what is their material? Stainless Steel?

Rich

Yes they are Stainless Steel. I got some sheet shim stock from McMaster-Carr, a buddy at a tool and die shop has a good sized punch cut the large circle. I used my own small punch to cut the lug hole. You can get by with square shims, cut with some tin snips. If you do this be really careful handling the shim stock, wear some gloves the edges are like razor blades. Don't ask how I found out.

One of mine was almost .020" too, if I remember correctly, the video was the better of the two. I tried those premade tapered shims from NAPA, they were a big zero, could not get enough adjustment out of them. You're are not that bad, the brake lathe might be the way to go. Like I said the brake lathe is much less labor intensive, I couldn't find locally anyone with an off car brake lathe, it seems like in this throw away world we live in today nobody turns them, just replace or turn them on the car, that really wasn't an option.





Mike

[Gary R.]

Re: 1967 Body Lift for Chassis & Frame Restoration

Rich, that is a lot of runout there. I don't recall ever dialing in front or rears with over 015" and that is a lot. Take a minute and go over the mating surfaces with a die grinder. The metal deforms around the holes so I dress them a little. Do the inside of the rotor hat too. I am building a set of front spindles and T/A's now as well.

[Richard M.]

Re: 1967 Body Lift for Chassis & Frame Restoration

Mike, Thanks for that info.

Gary, These hubs were media blasted and cleaned very well. I'll remove the rotors and check the insides again and swap left to right and see if there's any variation.

Thanks Guys,
Rich

[Richard M.]

Re: 1967 Body Lift for Chassis & Frame Restoration

I swapped rotors with hubs and the excessive runout stayed with the hub, and then swapped assemblies left to right and all the same, so the spindles and rotors are fine. I also removed the rotors from the hubs and checked for any debris or telltale issues. None found. Since the factory never machine trued the hubs, and had them machined as a hub/rotor assembly, I decided to just go ahead and get the assemblies turned on a brake lathe. My local NAPA lost their lathe, so I had to do road trip to a well known Restoration Shop that had a machine.

Just got back a while ago and did another runout test, looking for 0.0020" maximum.

All set....each side 0.0015".

Left
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Right
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[Richard M.]

Re: 1967 Body Lift for Chassis & Frame Restoration

Update: Steering parts:

Yesterday I attempted to restore the remaining steering parts to complete the front suspension for the upcoming rolling frame. I disassembled the relay rod and tie rod tubes and took everything apart to mediablast and refinish.

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My Pitman Arm puller was giving me trouble so I decided to remove the assembly from the drag link and use my shop press to remove the ball socket. I purchased a new one to replace the original.
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When I went to remove the cotter pin from the end of the link, I got a surprise. The cotter pin head was broken off, and the two cotter pin pieces fell out. As you can see, this could have been a problem if the drag link end cap turned out too far. Another disaster averted.
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Pieces removed. I have a new seal, seal cover, screws and socket ball.
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I then removed the old idler arms from one of the tubes. A pile of rust came out when it came loose, and one end had a bend at the joint where the internal threads of the idler was stopped. Experimentally, I media blasted the tube and could then see the poor internal condition of the tube.
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At this point I decided it's time to order 2 new tie-rod tube kits including new clamps and bolts. I will not use these marginal original parts.

The relay rod cleaned up and ready for prime, paint and reassembly.
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While I was in the steering department, I took the tele-column off the shelf to see if I needed parts while placing a order for the undercar parts. To my surprise I found this....
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I did a quick check in my wiring diagram, and see that the Purple wire, which likely has been rubbing something and maybe shorting to ground, comes from the flasher unit, which comes from the Brown Acc feed from the IGN switch. I would imagine that the directionals may have been intermittent in certain telescopic column positions.

I also ordered a new directional switch and harness to replace this one.

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