SBG's C3

Grampy said:
you musta got the high performance reverse flows. These are what ya call restrictive - maybe turn 5K thru these.

Grampy
Click to expand...

wow, now I have to figure out another way of advertising them as mine are a lot bigger than that.... you have no idea how tempted I was to simply blast a through-hole in the reversion mufflers rather than buying new - now I'm glad I didn't
 
SuperBuickGuy said:
and MidAmerica and/or Ecklers is getting richer
So I checked the runout on the rear bearings.... which was a waste of time
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what this picture doesn't show you is that I took the nut off without needing to loosen it - what you can see in the picture is my next Corvette purchase..... who knew that blanching could make curves
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until I bought this car, it was stone stock - and I suspect this happened before I bought it
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also notice the nice rust color.... strangely the bearings were neither noisy nor crunchy

while the passenger side spindle dropped out (literally), the driver's side took a bit more convincing (20lbs of convincing)
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picture of how the brake shoes go together.... thinking I might need to replace these
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Click to expand...

I though all c3's had 4 wheel disc brakes. Never knew some had drum brakes.
 
Remind me again... why do I need a parking brake? it is the biggest PITA to clean, put together, adjust, and make the console fit around.... oh yeah, because I like doing e-brake turns :D

However, because of this, this job is taking me forever... but I don't have all the parts (missing shims), so it won't be together until next week at the earliest
got some parts
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I haven't decided whether or not those spindles are Chinese (they're Yukon) but it'd sure be cool if they were.... :chinese:
and pressed in studs.. sorry to disappoint TT, they're ARP and come from the People's republic of California....
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this is the bad side - maybe it can be seen - the race has waves in it (friendly little chap, ain't it?)
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this picture is to remind me what side the "wide" race came out of
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all the other parts cleaned and POR15'd
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press races in place
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schnazzy tool (not from Napa)
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works like this
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used for checking play (should be between .010 and .025)
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shims are in the inside but this shows assembly

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starting the assembly of trailing arm
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I'd post this on CF, but I'm sure I'd get grief for using mexican races with japanese bearings.... oh, and I'm .002 off on the tolerance (too wide).... ask me if I give a schmit :D
 
more progress
For those who wish to rebuild brakes - here's how the brakes go together
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one of the problems I had was a frozen adjuster... best I could find locally was one from a Camaro - so a bit of modification was in order
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there, fixed
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this is the completed parking brake assembly
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my press paid for itself tonight
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hey, getting back together
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and the other side
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I've got a ways to go yet, I need to change the geometry of the lower control arms, and put the rest back together... then get it aligned (not enough alignment shims either - but I made due)
 
anyway, despite the grief I've been getting, I did manage to get it pretty close to done (literally, one bolt away - one bolt that I have to purchase)

true ARP bolts for lug bolts
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I'll be so not stylish - but I so don't care, I've never seen a person stylishly slide into a wall after losing their tire... but then again, I hang out at the wrong places (churches, courts, etc)

and it looks pretty much exactly like it looked before
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guess I overlooked this for a while, nice progress !!!

were you able to get he endplay correct with he shims that came in the kit? I had my shims custom ground (thanks Gary) to get he clearnace perfect to under .002" .... think I ended up at .0015" dry without grease.....
 
MYBAD79 said:
guess I overlooked this for a while, nice progress !!!

were you able to get he endplay correct with he shims that came in the kit? I had my shims custom ground (thanks Gary) to get he clearnace perfect to under .002" .... think I ended up at .0015" dry without grease.....
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I ended at .0011, and .0023 without having to shave shims

also, I realized after I put it together, I could have simply put the large shim (the bell shaped one) in my lathe and taken .0005 off

and I'll say this forever, the smartest thing I unknowingly did was buy the set up tool... that makes life SOOOOOOOOOOOO much easier

the one place I didn't have enough shims was for the johnny joints in the trailing arms - I ended up using one of my thick shims (that didn't get destroyed being removed) to make up the difference....
 
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Alignment
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replacing bumpstops
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now to finish the interior and get the last little bits on the outside (aluminum strips)

I can safely say I won't need a radio as I already have stereo :thumbs:.... it is a bit loud for the geriatric and tree hugging types :grin:
 
time for a review of the updates to my car.
First, a recap
tubular control arms
remove power steering
adjust steering box
bilstein shocks
poly joints
van steel arms
adjustable control rods
johnny joints
420# spring
stock springs front, minus 1.5 coils
1 1/8" sway bar
no rear sway bar


:bounce::bounce::thumbs::thankyou::clap:

granted, it's wet out... so I had to be kind of careful - but dang this thing drives and handles excellent!
 
well, continued with the finish-it-up list

to remind, here is the rear end before, note the driveshafts go down to the wheels?
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now - much better
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the theory being, with the driveshafts as the upper control arm, you want them to pull in and the bottom to push out (more camber) in a corner.... now it'll finally do so correctly.... sad thing, I've no idea how I managed to get it lower - car sits at the same ride height

and the interior... new steering wheel, and now full dash lights (special, huh?)
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I just need to find a new brake console (will check with friend tomorrow).... finally down to the last little bit list :thumbs:
 
Longer outboard bolts on the rear monospring. They will remove the tension on the spring and lower the ride height and road clearance.

Cheers - Jim
 
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