Tyerman's

Alright, I made it to Tyerman's today, finally! I have to say, I am still not 100% comfortable driving this car, and the ride to Tyerman's didn't help. If I hit the brakes hard the right wheel kept screeching like it was going to lock up and the steering is just plain weird feeling to me. All that keeps going through my mind is that I made a terrible mistake doing these things to this car and I should never have started them. But Bob says I always act this way after I've made major changes and before they're all adjusted and I've gotten used to them. Fact is, the ride home with the steering nicely aligned was much better and the screechy right wheel was not really noticable anymore.

But, there really are a couple of issues to attend to. The guy at Tyerman's pointed out that the wheel bearing on the right (and he didn't mention the left but it might be the same) is loose so even with the nut pretty tight, the bearing doesn't snug down like it should. Recall that the outer bearings for this setup are for a 1971-76 Riviera and that to make them fit the Pontiac, the Scarebird kit includes a machined ring that fits into the bearing center.

It may just be that I need to tighten the spindle nut down really, really hard to fully seat that sleeve, then back it off to a comfortable snugness so the bearing doesn't heat. Maybe I didn't do that when I assembled the rotors. I can't remember and I do remember thinking myself that the bearings seemed loose. If that doesn't do the trick, I can contact Scarebird for advice.

The other issue the mechanic found... and I am really embarrased about this one... is that the rack is not mounted level! It is down about a half to three-quarter inch on the right side and while it is functional, it's not right. Recall that this is the side where I had to re-drill the mounting holes to fit the Pontiac idler arm bolt pattern. And I realise now that part of the problem is I measured but I measured from the floor to the rack bottom when the car was on jacks and the jacks were obviously not even. I remember thinking that the thing looked a bit off... but at the shop, being down in their pit, it's very freakin obvious how crooked it is. So... the simplest thing to do is to remove the rack bracket and redrill the holes lower on the right plate. Now, maybe one hole will be one of the ones I didn't think I could use originally... I will have to look once I have the bracket off. I think the rack can stay in the car, and only the lollipop bearing bracket will need to be disconnected.

There is no big hurry to do the rack adjustment, other than my pride and wanting it done right. But the bearing should get attention real soon as it could cause abnormal stress and wear on the spindle.

One step forward, two steps back.

False Start

I was going to go over to Tyerman's for an alignment today, but when I pulled the car out of the driveway and began driving, I heard some strange klunking noises from the front wheels, particularly when braking. OK, I know what that is... these calipers are just not fitting inside the wheels properly. I had tried grinding on the calipers a bit and they cleared when I was turning the wheels by hand, but now with the weight of the car and pressure applied to the caliper, it's banging into the four tabs of the wheel center where they attach to the rim.

The good news is I had already ordered a set of spacers from Summit Racing and they've been sitting here waiting for a need to arise. I originally planned them for the '49er. Made by BilletSpecialties they are part number WSG5L375. You guessed it: Wheel Spacer, 5 lug, .375 thick. Done. But now it's 3 PM and I don't feel like trying to get over to Tyerman's this late in the day. I roll up the sidewalk out front at 5 PM. ;-) Another day!

But now that I have it back up on jacks to do the spacers, I got to thinking I wanted to re-visit the steering wheel to rack linkage again. It's not as smooth as it should be which tells me at least one of the joints is being angled too hard. I want to see if I can remedy that. I tore it apart and reworked it. Much smoother now. [Rerouted the starter cable as well.]

Lube Job

I had ordered some shorter steering arms in an attempt to get some turning radius back, but the Chevy ones won't work and I just decided I don't care enough about it right now to keep the car up on the jacks any longer. So I hooked up my new pneumatic grease gun and greased all the joints on the front suspension and steering, including the new tie rod ends, did some grinding on the calipers for a bit of extra wheel clearance, and bolted on the front wheels with the new tires on them. Then I pulled the car out of the garage and put the glove box door back on and attached the little panel for the shift indicator. I vacuumed the carpet and found there is a worsening tear in the seat on the passenger side. :-(

Need to take a day off to go over to Tyerman's for an alignment now.