54 front alignment

[Joe R.]

When I finished (yeah, right!) the resto on my 54 last September, I set the camber and toe-in with a tape measure. I finally took it to an alignment shop and found the camber to be 1.75 degrees positive (spec is 0 degrees). We adjusted the top a arm shaft (cam) as far as possible, and that's all she had.

Funny that both sides maxed out the same. The a arms are all good and all new shafts/bushings/kingpins. Front springs were NOS with a corvette part number and the height is correct.

Any ideas here?

Joe

[Michael L.]

Re: 54 front alignment

Joe, I have an appointment Tuesday to get mine aligned. The guy doing it is supposedly well versed in C1 cars as well as older Chevy products. I'll ask him when I go in and see how mine works out and let you know.

[Roy B.]

Re: 54 front alignment

I think the lower A-arms could be shimmed at any of the shafts four bolts to correct that problem ,I've seen shims added before???

[Dennis C.]

54 front alignment

There are two reasons one would add shims to correct a C1 alignment issue: (Both wrong)

1: The technician has no idea how to align a C1.

2: There are problems with the frame or front suspension that the technician does not recognize or know how to correct.

One needs to pick their C1 alignment person carefully. Most out there were born long after the C1 suspension was declared totally outdated. Because of this, most have no clue that the first thing they need to do to align the front end is to remove a grease fitting to access an adjustment...

Good luck - and take your ST-12 with you.

Dennis

[John H.]

Re: 54 front alignment

There's no location to "shim" to correct an excessive positive camber issue beyond the adjustment range of the eccentric in the upper outer bushing; either the upper control arm has to move inboard, or the lower control arm has to move outboard. The pivot axis of the upper arm is fixed, and the attachment of the lower arm to the crossmember is vertical, not horizontal.

Back in the day, the "old hands" approached this by bending the spindle holder (upright); most folks who knew how to do this are taking a dirt nap.

[Roy B.]

Re: 54 front alignment

The shims I saw must be for a bent frame then , like I said I dont know why it was done , just memtioning it.

[Joe R.]

Re: 54 front alignment

Thanks all for your responses.

I'm a bit puzzled at the moment, although 1.75 degrees isn't terrible, I want to get it right.

Is it possible that I have the wrong cams (eccentrics) in the upper shaft, not allowing the spindle to move far enough inboard? Was passenger cams different than Vette? I mention passenger because this car did have a lot of MJR parts in it, and as such were wrong.

Joe

[Dennis C.]

54 front alignment

I realize this is more of a caster issue statement, but just wanted to make sure you have your aluminum "Zora Shims" in place... the correct way... Dennis

[Joe R.]

Re: 54 front alignment

Dennis, pardon my ignorance, but is that the shim used in later C1's that altered the caster angle? I don't have one installed. Would that get me the 1.75 degrees i need?

Joe

[Dennis C.]

54 front alignment

Yikes, Joe...

I don't know exactly when Zora added those caster shims to the early Corvette. But, I thought early on when he was trying to improve their handling abilities.

I am hoping some pure soul with more knowledge than I will fill in the blanks with some "factual" input.

I'd probably add them to any 53/55 I might own - if I might own one... Best, Dennis

[Bill M.]

Re: 54 front alignment

Yikes, Joe...

I don't know exactly when Zora added those caster shims to the early Corvette. But, I thought early on when he was trying to improve their handling abilities.

. Best, Dennis

Ludvigsen's book says about the '56: "(Zora made) several chassis changes... Shims between the front crossmember and the frame increased the caster angle to 2 degrees."

[Bill M.]

Re: 54 front alignment

There's no location to "shim" to correct an excessive positive camber issue beyond the adjustment range of the eccentric in the upper outer bushing; either the upper control arm has to move inboard, or the lower control arm has to move outboard. The pivot axis of the upper arm is fixed, and the attachment of the lower arm to the crossmember is vertical, not horizontal.

Back in the day, the "old hands" approached this by bending the spindle holder (upright); most folks who knew how to do this are taking a dirt nap.

The upper control arm pivot axis is not parallel fore-aft. I assembled my upper arms to the rear of available travel which moved them back and in. I did this to get more negative camber for the F60-165s I was running in gymkhanas (autocross today).