[Tripowergoat66]

Please help this wreched kitty. I've about had it and ready to give up!

The cars runs great, stops well, never runs hot,but there's something not right with the front end..it's all over the road! The car cannot be driven without constantly correcting the steering. And dips on the freeway? Yikes! Frightening! I've owned a few 60's full size cars and I know they exert little road feel, but this car is down right dangerous. Here's what's been done:
New..
Centerlink, upper a-arm bushings, lower ball joints, springs, shocks, idler arm. Packed and adjusted wheel bearings properly. All other steering parts have been checked MANY times by myself and others. Car has been aligned 4 times! It is within specs but just bearily within Camber on the RH side. The tires are eh..OK. I bought them used. There is NO play in the steering linkage and the steering gear box (power) has nopt been messed with and the "over the center" play is normal. The ride height is slightly lower than stock. I cut the new springs to lower it because there was NO room for camber adj. The odd things is that when I put the original springs back in, the car drivers 80% better,but they're so weak the car dives hard on stops and turns. The front tires do "railroad track" on uneven pavement. Also, with the car parked and wheels turned to full stops, the front tires show a serious neg. camber!

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. If I can't repair this problem, I'm going to have to bow out and sell it because I already have WAY too much invested in the front end.

THANKS

[Tripowergoat66]

Please help this wreched kitty. I've about had it and ready to give up!

The cars runs great, stops well, never runs hot,but there's something not right with the front end..it's all over the road! The car cannot be driven without constantly correcting the steering. And dips on the freeway? Yikes! Frightening! I've owned a few 60's full size cars and I know they exert little road feel, but this car is down right dangerous. Here's what's been done:
New..
Centerlink, upper a-arm bushings, lower ball joints, springs, shocks, idler arm. Packed and adjusted wheel bearings properly. All other steering parts have been checked MANY times by myself and others. Car has been aligned 4 times! It is within specs but just bearily within Camber on the RH side. The tires are eh..OK. I bought them used. There is NO play in the steering linkage and the steering gear box (power) has nopt been messed with and the "over the center" play is normal. The ride height is slightly lower than stock. I cut the new springs to lower it because there was NO room for camber adj. The odd things is that when I put the original springs back in, the car drivers 80% better,but they're so weak the car dives hard on stops and turns. The front tires do "railroad track" on uneven pavement. Also, with the car parked and wheels turned to full stops, the front tires show a serious neg. camber!

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. If I can't repair this problem, I'm going to have to bow out and sell it because I already have WAY too much invested in the front end.

THANKS

[stevep]

2 questions:
Do you have radial or bias ply tires?

Are you sure you don't have a bent control arm?

The difference between inlaws and outlaws-outlaws are wanted

[PMDRACER]

Sounds like you have a bit of frame sag, since you say you have no camber adjustment.
Has the car ever been hit? Had a guy come into the Goodyear I worked at with similar stuff, and it ended up he hi-sided the car on a center median a few weeks before. He had mangled one of the lower control arm frame mounts and twisted the lower arm.
What happens if you swap sides with the front tires? If the problems go the other direction, it's the tires. Can you swap front to rear?
What about the center link? The points where the inner tie rods bolt on should be in the same place as the lower control arm pivots, or you'll get bump steer.
As for the alignment specs, are both sides at the same point? Forget the tolerances given. Are the number left to right almost equal? I say forget the tolerances because the local shop here has the tolerances for camber and caster +/- .75 degree. So, if you have both tires at opposite ends of the scale, there will be a 1.5 degree difference right to left.

TIGER EFI - Electronic Fuel Injection for the Traditional Pontiac Engine. bill@tigerefi.com

[Tripowergoat66]

Stevep, I have radials on the car.I cannot see any bends or signs of damage on any of the control arms. However, 2 things..the car has been in an accident at one time because the LH front fender was replaced with one that was white (car is blue) but the rims appear to be all original and you'd think a rim would be bent if a control are and/or spindle were. One thing I did notice was the the distance between the LH dust shield and the upper control are is VERY close compared to the RH side...almost touching.

PMDRACER,I 'm sure there a bit of frame sag but very minimal. I swapped tires left to right and front to rear. Vertually no diff. OKAY, you hit on something with the centerlink...NO, the points were the inner tie rods connect are NOT at the same place as each other. I thought that was odd because with the new centerlink and idler arm, the centerlink comes within an 1/8" of the original exh. cross-over pipe! The RH side is higher than the left. I tried turning out the idler arm but in order to level it out I'd almost have to unscrew it all the way out! What's also interesting is that the car drove better with worn ball joints, a VERY worn idler arm and worn Pitman arm side centerlink bushing...Hmmm.How do I change that centerlink height to match up with the lower control arm bolt??
One time it was aligned they evened out the camber/caster left to right and it didn't help at all..

THANKS

[PMDRACER]

Something is wierd with that center link. Look it up and make sure you have the right one. Simple geometry says that if the attachment points are different on either side, they will both act differently.

TIGER EFI - Electronic Fuel Injection for the Traditional Pontiac Engine. bill@tigerefi.com

[connman]

What toe in are u running? most new cars call for a lot of toe in and too much on that old of a car will cause it to follow the cracks in the road and dart all over the place. Keep the toe in down to 1/32 to 0{1/8 to 0 spec}. Camber {+1/4 + or - 1/2} should 1/4 less on the right side and caster should be -1 1/2 and even. U should have toe out on turns 19 degrees outter and 20 degrees inner acording to Motors manual. If u look at the front suspension the center link where the steering box and the idler arm mounts should be level. The tie rod ends at the spindles should be level. The tie rod assembly should be real close to same length. I would check and see if u have the right idler arm and the check the centerlink. By putting in the old springs u lower the car giving u more camber which gives u more toe out.

DRIVE IT LIKE U STOLE IT!

connman