Re: Control Arm Shims
Posted by Gary On 2011/11/21 21:07:54
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It seems to drive just fine. I haven't gotten deep enough into the drivers side but noticed on the right side that the coil spring tower didn't appear to line up correctly with the front most rivet hole in the frame when it was installed. It appears that when the rivet was swaged, it wasn't seated all the way and it forced a small crack into the frame so I'm thinking that there was a little "mis-alignment" going on when the frame was assembled or maybe even a bad stamping job on the rail. That's a really tight curve in the rail at the shock tower so maybe the machining was getting worn in that location and it was beginning to throw some of the calibrations out of whack...who knows but it seems fine other than the fact that the bolts with the shims are longer and don't have holes for the cotter pins to be inserted into the castle nuts. That being the case, they were loose and had to be tightened at least a turn or more.
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Well at least mine's not the only one with shims...mine has a stack of 3 on one side and 2 on the other.
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Me neither Bob but I'm thinking that it would affect the front to back angle of the spindles. Being installed under the rear of the control arm seems like it would basically "kick" the wheels forward or tilt the spindles towards the front of the car and therefore change the caster. I thought camber was the inward and outward angle of the wheel and caster was front to back.
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Tim, that's bare metal with a self application of oil to keep it from rusting!
Ross wrote:
I have seen plenty 'o them over the years. They make up for cars having run into curbs, or even just a bad day at the frame factory. If there isn't a problem with the way your car drives, there is not a problem.
It seems to drive just fine. I haven't gotten deep enough into the drivers side but noticed on the right side that the coil spring tower didn't appear to line up correctly with the front most rivet hole in the frame when it was installed. It appears that when the rivet was swaged, it wasn't seated all the way and it forced a small crack into the frame so I'm thinking that there was a little "mis-alignment" going on when the frame was assembled or maybe even a bad stamping job on the rail. That's a really tight curve in the rail at the shock tower so maybe the machining was getting worn in that location and it was beginning to throw some of the calibrations out of whack...who knows but it seems fine other than the fact that the bolts with the shims are longer and don't have holes for the cotter pins to be inserted into the castle nuts. That being the case, they were loose and had to be tightened at least a turn or more.
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My 54 patrician has them on one side. Appears to be from the factory.
Well at least mine's not the only one with shims...mine has a stack of 3 on one side and 2 on the other.
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I'm not a front end man but it looks to me like those spacers you have would do almost nothing to the geometry of the front end. If anything they would affect the camber slightly.
Me neither Bob but I'm thinking that it would affect the front to back angle of the spindles. Being installed under the rear of the control arm seems like it would basically "kick" the wheels forward or tilt the spindles towards the front of the car and therefore change the caster. I thought camber was the inward and outward angle of the wheel and caster was front to back.
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I like the original paint on the oil pan too.
Tim, that's bare metal with a self application of oil to keep it from rusting!
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