DIY 63 rear camber adjustment

[Frank D.]

Thought I'd start a new thread asking for some guidance...rear end of original 63 taken apart (trailing arms, shocks, strut rods, leaf spring) and reassembled. T/A front bushing alignment shims CAREFULLY put back as original. Now working on camber... I marked the eccentric bolts and put them back as close as possible.

Drove the car 1/4 mile this morning and pulled straight into garage (normalized suspension) and now have these readings. First is driver's side rear, second is passenger side rear. Measurements against 2x6 placed hard against the reproduction 63 wheel outer rim...at top and bottom.
Readings shown are NEGATIVE from 90*. (Top of tire tilted inboard).

Van Steel specs are .28* NEG and I've see a thread on here for .50* NEG. What do I want here and what is an acceptable range ? One adviser said to go for 0* (it will be 90* on my gauge) and the car will go negative when weighted down.

[John L.]

Re: DIY 63 rear camber adjustment

Frank<br />
Funny thing is I just did this yesterday after installing a new rear spring and had to make a similar adjustment (+88.8 degrees on one side the other was +89.8) and using essentially the same method. I wanted zero (90) straight up so I jacked the car up removed the rear tire (placed a jack stand) to get to the cam and added 1 degree to the camber by reading the level off the rotor/drum... I know the trialing arm is hanging way down, but 1 degree is 1 degree ....Replaced everything drove it around the block and it measured 89.6 with a half tank of fuel is perfect to me.<br />
Only improvements I would recommend is zero your level to the surface your on. Find a better straight edge and a longer magnetic level would be nice ....

[Frank D.]

Re: DIY 63 rear camber adjustment

Great minds think alike - even as you were typing I cut up some bar stock for a more consistent measurement...will forge ahead with the adjustment now - thanks !

[Joe R.]

Re: DIY 63 rear camber adjustment

Frank,

Please illustrate how to adjust toe-in on the rear trailing arms.

JR

[Frank D.]

Re: DIY 63 rear camber adjustment

Frank,

Please illustrate how to adjust toe-in on the rear trailing arms.

JR

Didn't do that Joe - put the T/A front bushing shims exactly back how they were and got the camber tweaked today - didn't take much.
That's gonna have to do it until after some minor eye surgery then I'll have my "guy" check the adjustments. If he doesn't have to mess with anything a check-up is cheap...

[Frank D.]

Re: DIY 63 rear camber adjustment

Well my rear camber adjustment didn't hold and now I know why - pays to have young eyes I guess...
At least one bad strut rod bushing; I've ordered 4 NOS "small" bushings (3775762) and will replace and readjust things next week....ugh!

[Leif A.]

Re: DIY 63 rear camber adjustment

Well my rear camber adjustment didn't hold and now I know why - pays to have young eyes I guess...
At least one bad strut rod bushing; I've ordered 4 NOS "small" bushings (3775762) and will replace and readjust things next week....ugh!

Is there any point to ordering new cam adjustment bolts/washers/hardware or is the original stuff still fine ?

Frank,
Unless you notice something wrong with the adjustments bolts/washers, etc you can reuse them. As to ordering new bushings, by the time you buy bushings at about $18 apiece and pay to have the old one pressed out and the new ones pressed in you could probably buy new strut rods with the rubber bushings already in place. Just a thought...

https://www.paragoncorvette.com/p-35...it-rubber.aspx

[Mike T.]

Re: DIY 63 rear camber adjustment

I ran across a problem when I tried to press in NOS GM strut rod bushings into my existing 'small end' 65 strut rods. The GM replacement bushings have an outer steel sleeve, unlike the original setup which had only an inner sleeve and the outer rubber part was (I believe) 'vulcanized' into the strut rod end. The bottom line is...there's too much bushing for the size of the old strut rod hole. The 'fix' as suggested by folks like Jim Lockwood on the CF, was to use the readily available C3 strut rod that comes with new bushings. Here's the thread from the Corvette Forum.
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-bushings.html

[Frank D.]

Re: DIY 63 rear camber adjustment

We'll see, in that same thread, 65hihp installed NOS bushings in his original 65 strut rods with a bit of anti-seize and a hefty press. I'm gonna just hope that works for me too...

I installed NOS metal-sleeved bushings in my '61 strut rods without issue...but that may not relate whatsoever...

[Frank D.]

Re: DIY 63 rear camber adjustment

Frank,
Unless you notice something wrong with the adjustments bolts/washers, etc you can reuse them. As to ordering new bushings, by the time you buy bushings at about $18 apiece and pay to have the old one pressed out and the new ones pressed in you could probably buy new strut rods with the rubber bushings already in place. Just a thought...

https://www.paragoncorvette.com/p-35...it-rubber.aspx

I hear you Leif - I am not a fan of newer rubber compounds if they can be avoided... I don't think its the same consistency and durability of the original rubber and I've had premature failures with a lot of the repro stuff (C1 clutch rod bellcrank bushings in particular)...

I've installed bushings before with the 'ole threaded rod/sockets and washers method so I hope not to be paying anybody to do it.

[Bob W.]

Re: DIY 63 rear camber adjustment

frank...
I have heard that if you freeze the bushings it make it easer.

[Frank D.]

Re: DIY 63 rear camber adjustment

Worth trying Bob - I did NOT do it on my 61 bushings and I muscled them in but it was a LOT of work!

[Mike T.]

Re: DIY 63 rear camber adjustment

It might work if you find your existing strut rod ends are closer to the 1.204 OD of the replacement steel sleeved bushings. In my case, three out of the four ends were closer to 1.850 than the one end that was around 1.950 and those numbers were after a fair amount of drum roll sanding.
Good luck.

[Bob R.]

Re: DIY 63 rear camber adjustment

I bought bushings at Bairs last year and used my bench vise with some old sockets and easily pressed the old bushings out and the new bushings in. It really wasn't that difficult.

[Frank D.]

Re: DIY 63 rear camber adjustment

I'll figure it out, just a PITA since I reinstalled the leaf spring a few days ago and there isn't enough clearance now to get the camber adjusting bolts out to remove the strut rod; meaning; I'll have to take off the strut rod mounting bracket from the differential.

Just another day at the office.