Hot Rods I finally got an injected 1961 Corvette !

Several years ago I had a 60 vette that was nowhere near NCRS friendly. When I would go to the local cruise night I would park with the real car guys not the gold chainer late model vette guys I may have even flipped them off (allegedly).

 

I am! I used a spring compressor but I’ll try using a Jack under the control arm. Thanks!


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Scott, I know you probably removed the pin that keeps the kingpin from turning but if that is out and you removed the C-clips top and bottom then it may be stuck in the center area that is the spindle support. Since there is no bushing in that knuckle and the kingpin is a close fit, they get rusted and do not want to budge on occasion. You have to heat that knuckle (spindle support arm center) and then drive the pin out. Sometimes I heat it and then shoot some WD 40 around the knuckle to penetrate into the knuckle. The jack may help brace the lower control arm but make sure you have the spring secured so it doesn't take a trip and hurt you. A big hammer is a must. I have had some really stuck.

Good luck.

 

Sounds like my kinda guy. Years ago I was in my black 57 210 noisy stock car which still wears its FI badges and I was leaving a goodguys event next to a very stock 57 FI vette and they guy was annoyed to be in my loud presence. I was enjoying myself! Lol


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Hi Jim,
Was I not suppose to take out the pin? Oops. Still working on it. I’ll try heating up the spindle support and see if that works. I got my big big hammer out! [emoji1303]


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Scott I believed taking out the pin was obvious but wanted to use a little tact just in case. I am not sure how much heat your little torch puts out since I have never used on in this procedure. Hopefully it works but always remember you have a couple of other options. I also want to state the obvious to have the spring compressed, preferably with a threaded rod and the ends double nutted. That way you can slowly remove the spring once you have removed the spindle support. I have a spring compressor but it does not work very well in the close confines IMO. If you get the kingpin shaft out then I believe you should remove the spindle support so that you can add new rubber bushings in the lower and upper control arm shafts and you need the spring compressed for that. Also there is a chance the upper shaft that is your caster and camber adjustment should be inspected and replaced if necessary. It is not uncommon for the ends where the hex key fits to be stripped-I have a few stripped ones that I saved for whatever stupid reason. Sometimes the cups that hold the shafts in are worn. If they are let me know as I probably have a few good ones that would work. Also when you get the spring out it is wise to rock the upper control arm back and forth and see what kind of play you have on the inner shaft that goes through the cradle. I generally remove the upper control arm to see if that shaft is worn. It will be easy to see. If so then that job is a bit of miserable job but it is doable. Let's hope we don't have to go thru that job. It will make the kingpin job look like a fun time.

As to the other options, if you cannot remove the kingpin then you may have to remove the support and the spindle as one unit and then try to remove the kingpin in a press or take the assembly to the local machine shop to have them press it out. I have done it in my press but it is a bit tricky since the assembly does not want to sit comfortably in a press. The jury rigging to hold it in my press was almost comical. Next time I would take it to my local machine shop. Just trying to help keep your frustration level at a minimum. Good luck.

 

Thank you Jim! Semi Victory!....sort of. I got the spindle support out. That was not fun but I’m not if I like drilling out rivets on factory ball joints any better.


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The plug on the bottom kingpin assembly is kicking my ass!


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The threads from the lower “rod” look okay. I’ll know for sure when I clean them up. This all that is left of the rubber seals. I was originally hoping I didn’t have to do all this but it is better that I do. Hopefully I can still make my goal and make the car move under its own power by spring. We shall see.


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I’m not even sure I understand how this is suppose to work. I’ll have to stare at it some more!


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Hey Scott, can't help on the king pin removal I'm sorry. The seals on what I'll call the lower outer pin kit (where the ball joint would be on a later car) are just a round o-ring. The upper ones are a bit more elaborate, you may have to source them from a Corvette or '49-54 passenger car specialist such as Filling Station. The centre section of the top pin is eccentric so you rotate it in the top of the spindle support to adjust your camber. If your old pieces are fairly tight I'd suggest cleaning, greasing, and re-using them. Most of the aftermarket ones I see these days are of questionable quality. If you can find some old Moog brand parts they'll be nice. You're looking for # K133 upper outer, K134 lower outer, K131 upper inner shafts, and K135 lower inner shafts.
Keep up the good work, I'm enjoying following your resurrection of the old girl.
Cheers,
Arnold.

 

Scott, I would seriously consider purchasing the rebuild kits for kingpins. I buy mine from Corvette Central but probably all offer the kits. The kit contains two pins, four bushings that the kingpin fit in inside the upper and lower portions of the spindle, two new sealed bearings and a variety of shims, also two new pins that hold the kingpin from turning and new zerk fittings. There is also a separate kit for the rubber pieces that come in a bag and they are reasonable in price. The only rubber pieces I do not like are the rubber sleeves for the upper control arm outer shaft. They are pretty flimsy and I substitute 5/8 heater hose. When you install them on the shaft it is best to install the adjustment shaft and then force the sleeves thru the open ends of the control arm. You will see when you do it.

Also the lower seals are a bit harder than standard O rings but I have seen people use them. As to the adjustment for both caster and camber the way it works is that as you adjust the shaft back towards the rear of the car it allows the support arm to lay back which gives you positive caster. Some explain the principle by looking at a shopping cart. If the front shopping cart wheels are forward they wobble but once you move them back they are more stable. Drag cars want a bit more positive caster so it steers straight on the big end. Then there is camber. Camber is how much the wheel and tire sits out from the top versus the bottom. If the tire has the top of the tire sit out further from the bottom they will wander and even moreso if you lift the suspension. If it sits out too much at the bottom you get excessive tire scrub and tire wear. I like it to sit out a bit more at the base of the tire and you will notice some drag cars do the same-some moreso than others. Well that adjuster that you pictured is a cam and as it moves the cam pushes the tire top out or moves it in. It will do it a number of times when you move the adjuster back and forth with the hex key. Inspect the end where the hex key fits. If it is junk they sell them new. I would suggest you set the adjuster so that it is back and the support is laying back moreso than straight up and move the tire so that with a framers square you can see the tire laying in just a bit at the top. That should be a good starting point IMO.

When I finished my red car I had finished it like a day before Autorama 2013 and was super busy in the spring with work. I also had overhearing problems and long story short I took the car to a shop that said he knew how to set caster and camber. I told him I wanted around 5* positive caster and not too much negative camber. He set it up (with what I later found out was .5* ,which is about all the adjuster allows anyways-so half a degree versus the 5 and a half I have now) and I took the car to Milan for a quick test two days before taking the car to the Meltdown in 2013- my first year there. My wife knows nothing about drag racing and in my test and tune at Milan I could not keep the car in my lane past the 1000ft mark. She asked me if my changing lanes was normal and I played it down or else she would have told me how dangerous it was etc. I played with a bit but in two days I had to leave for Byron so I told myself if it did the same at Byron I would run the 1/8 which I did since it was a real handful. After that nightmare I found out how to set up C1 front suspensions. Depending on what you want to do with your car there is a level of importance to get it correct and they are pretty simple actually.

As to the support assembly you have removed the little plug in the bottom is giving you fits. Take a drill and drill through it and pry it out-it is now junk anyways and the kingpin itself is quite hard and I would not reuse it anyways. When you install the new end plugs I machine the edges a bit to make them fit without having them get stuck in the hole. Once you get the clips on the plug holds the grease in but what I do is when I put the end cap on the top and bottom, I clean it really well and put a dab of epoxy to hold them in place. If you machine the end plug that way you can remove it if necessary. Just machine it a bit so it goes in and out-you will see. I have had to destroy the new end plugs a few times when I had to remove them so now I machine it a bit with good results. If the new ones get stuck use some air through the zerk hole to blow it out and use a magnet. Once you have that plug off then you can try to heat the center portion where the shaft is most likely jammed but if you have a local machine shop they may be an option to heat them up and press out the kingpin. Once they are removed assembly is pretty easy. Now you can see how they are a weird shape to just put in a press but you may have success but heat is your friend.

Don't want to go on and on but if you have a question fire away.

 

55Belairretrorod, thank you for the help and for those moog part numbers! That will help with my search for sure. That’s the kinda of stuff I put in note pad for the swap meet! Thanks again!

Scott


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Jim, definitely no problem with going on and on! I got back and reference yours and others advice pretty often! Thanks again. I’m going to keep plugging along!

Scott


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Bob, from what I understand the du MC and the “dickeydo” adapter gets in the way of the air cleaner. I found a thread on the corvette blog where guys were using late 60’s B body mopar MC and re working the mounting pad to fit the corvette firewall to fit. I’m going to look into it.


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Atlas I admitted defeat or excepted the fact that I was not able to beat the king pin out!
Sooo I asked the gentleman down the road who is an 80 something year old “retired” oil field machinist and hotrodder if he could set it up in his press.
He said it wasn’t going to come out by pounding on it with a big hammer. Said this one took lots of pressure! Of course! Because it’s mine and nothing is ever easy! Lol


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Well I made my first corvette mistake. I bought the wrong hub caps on eBay. His add said corvette and I hadn’t learned exactly what a small cap looked like. Oops. Probably going to have to eat the cost because the guy still insist they are for early corvette.
Oh well. I learned. Plus ordered the less than perfect correct small caps for the days when I want to look more big brake factory hotrod stock.


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Much better! [emoji1303]


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FWIW and I doubt it will or on your car. The wheels that the dog dish caps came on did not have the nubs that retain the full wheel discs.

 

The light blue wheels that are actually on the car are 56 passenger car 210/150 wheel - factory no nubs which doesn’t look bad other than not wide enough. Stockton wheel will make a 15x6 steel wheel I believe without nubs.

Side note, I’ll be looking for a set of 15x6 5 spoke Ansens eventually if anyone has a set they want to part with. [emoji1303]


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31hotrodguy; go over to ChevyTalk.Org, in the 49-54, you will find a sticky at the top of the forum about rebuilding a 49-54 full size Chevrolet car front end (same front end except for some of the steering shafts). Done by DZAUTO, and he knows his stuff. I am Butch/56asedandelivery.

 

Thanks Butch!


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Tom Parsons (DZAUTO) is also the man to ask about the fast steering adapter. He uses one and likes it.

 

You bribed him with food, didn’t you. [emoji6]


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These guys eat all the time!!!! Lol


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Well I can dream. Apparently 29 x 9 inch slicks don’t fit with the 7 inch cragars I got from F.I.Nut! Oh well. Lol


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Get out your sawzall and do the Mazmanian cut!

 

DZAUTO also has one on the steering box itself; same as 49-54 and Corvettes more or less, in the same sticky forum.. He will also "do the work" if you send him your parts; I've sent a few people to him from the HAMB. Tom Parsons and Tom Ordway; this is my brother Tom, and this is my other brother Tom (spin-off from this is my brother Darrel and this is my other brother Darrel). I think Tom Ordway probably has more Tri-Five parts in his collection by far. I've bought a few things from him. If I had their combined knowledge in my brain, my head would literally explode because it could't hold it all. Never had a Corvette, had a Chevette, but I guess that does't count. Keep posting your projects please. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

No doubt about it Tom Parsons knows his stuff. The tutorial I referred to is his. He is really helpful to all in the hobby.

As to the wheel/tire combination, the tires like to rub on the springs when they are too wide. You can go 8" but I believe 9" is going to be up against the spring. I have some ET Streets that are that wide but I went with a different wheel that kind of resembles a Cragar that has a better offset than Cragar offers. I only use the ET Streets when I run either car at the track ( I like the pie crust tall tire look better on the street).

The only other major consideration is the height of the tire is about 29" maximum without hitting the dogleg. You could always raise the body but the dogleg is more the problem. If I can ever finish another one I will change the dogleg to accept a taller tire.

Glad to see you are making progress.

 

We reluctantly took the windshield out and that was no easy task but better now than later! There are two main reasons I talked myself in to such torture!
1. The rubber leaked like crazy which even when I washed the car it soaked all the wiring.
2. From what I understand the dash pad goes in correctly when the windshield is out.



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