Technical Corvette 63 On Front Suspension Bolts

I’m having a recurring problem where the 8 bolts that hold the A arm pivots keep coming undone. I can’t see a way to lock wire them, they have the factory spring washers. Do I go with Loc***e or any other suggestions?

 

Are the factory washers original?
Sixty three years might be beyond usable limit.

 

Blue Loc-***e will be your friend. That’s one of the problems with urethane bushings also. They will turn the bolt until it falls out.

 

No they’re new, as are bolts. I might change them for a Nordloc style serrated style washer. I’ve noticed in recent years a lot of spring washers seem to catch and bend as you tighten them.

 

Yep, they are urethane bushes.

 

If the serrations on the sleeve have any kind of wear that won’t help matters either. Needs to bite into the big flat washer to help keep it still.

 

I’ll replace them as I’ve got a new bush kit as one is now missing!

 

Nice to learn that you are caring for a Sting Ray.
Good Luck. I care not to mention why the washers seem weaker.

 

Since it’s not original, why not drill the heads for safety wire?

 

There’s nowhere I can see to fix the other end of a lock wire to. Because of the shape of the arm pressing i cant get a straight run to a fixed point. It’d foul on the arm or top hat of the bush.

 

perhaps post a picture of the hardware you're using. Showing us that the bolt is gone gives us no clues as to why it's gone.

The original design with rubber bushings and the very thick curved washers worked OK, but not perfectly. Later year GM cars used a shaft with larger studs sticking out the ends. I think this happened in the 1970s. I don't think Corvettes ever went to this though on the C2-C3 design.

First thing I would do is try to find original washers....

 

Weld a tab that sticks out from the crossmember to wire it to.

 

Old ones, dont have the one thats come off for obvious reasons, but this one was loose too.
New ones, from same supplier.


I have feeling that because the “old” spring washer is zinc plated the ones that came in the bolt kit bent as I tightened them.

 

If that large washer is a used one, there is no evidence of the serrations on the end of the inner sleeve digging into it. I think that's your problem...perhaps the urethane bushings are too long?

I gave up on urethane bushings on street cars a long time ago.

 

Thats a new one, used one has evidence of it bitting. I wouldn’t use them on a street car either but this only gets raced and they have some advantages to me over either a bronze bush or the stock rubber

 

Apply a light coating of grease where the urethane rides on the washer.

 

I do. I just cleaned that one so you could see the serrations. Surprisingly polished though isn’t it

 

Was the Vette on jack stands or all 4 tires sitting on the ground when you tighten the bolts that keep falling out?

 

Always on the ground.

 

What about staking the washer to the bolt after it is torqued. Just thinking out loud here.

 

I worked for a power sports manufacturer a decade or so ago that was having the same problem. The suspension pivot joint bolts would keep loosening up in the field. The fix was a combination of red Loc-***e and Ny-lock nuts. Pissed the dealers and service techs off something fierce, but the nuts stopped coming loose....

 

https://www.globalwest.net/product/...80-81-corvette-replacement-upper-a-arm-shaft/

Interesting

 

Ah, you could loc***e the snot out of a stud to hold it in place and use a self locking nut.


I remember doing wheel alignments on 70’s/80’s full size GM cars and they had self locking nuts that had a bit of an acorn shape to hold in place. Albeit they were not on the bushing end they held the shaft to the ch***is but still a nice piece of hardware.

Edit; I actually still have a few of these in my stash, 36 years later lol

 

The nylocs seem to be an issue around here with the traditional crowd, may not be the sitch here but those distorted crimp nuts should work fine, but god forbid a 63 Corvette racecar with nylocs.

 

If he’s using urethane bushings he might as well use nyloc nuts. Gluing the studs in with high strength loc***e and clamping it all tight with nyloc nuts sounds like the easiest solution.

 

Those are called stover nuts. And I also have to admit, if it's got urethane bushings I don't see the problem with poly-locks....

...

 

The bolt goes into the cast arm so unless I convert it to studs I’ve got to use a bolt. There’s nylocks, lock wire or split pins everywhere else.

Something I found interesting when I rebuilt the FE in my Mercury was these bolts, never seen them before or since. They’ve got a nylock insert in the bolt.

Mine isn’t a ‘63 but my friends is and he’s having similar issues.

 

If you can get these shipped to you, they'd probably solve the problem, eh?

 

I’ve been looking at those and still can’t work out if they’d work. I say this because I know the mounting bolt centre to centre on a Vette is 6.5” and I’ve never found anything else the same when looking for single piece camber shims.

I also use an offset arm but I guess there’s way round that.