Startup

I was doing my weekly cleanup of the Voltie and decided I wanted to do it and Bob's ActiveE in the garage. Gave me a good reason to start The Chief up. It's been awhile. I just pulled it out and onto the back grass. I can't see that the work I did on the steering had much effect on the turning radius, but since I need an alignment to be sure, I guess I better withhold judgement.

Second New Wheel

Got the other front wheel and tire mounted at Pep Boys today and with that installed on the car, The Chief came down off the jacks. I then took the two wheels and tires what had been on the front with spacers, and put them on the back. No spacers needed there, but won't be able to "rotate" the tires. As far as I'm concerned, that's not really a problem. And I can keep a spare with a spacer in the trunk for use on either front or rear.

Putting the rear tires on was a problem, just like it was on the '58 Cad. The tires don't want to go up in the wheel wells past the drums, but once the sidewall clears the drum, everything fits. Even the skirts fit with the new tires but I found that I may actually prefer the skirts off instead.

Here are some pictures...

Hoses Clamped

I never had tied off the power steering hoses to prevent them from contacting the exhaust manifold so today I took care of that.

I also needed to straighten the slightly crooked front license plate mount and today seemed like a good day to tackle that too. I had added an addition to the factory mount awhile back, so that the plate was more in the middle of the bumper. Took the whole thing apart, ground the mounting bolts for the addition down so they don't hit the bumper anymore, and loctited the factory screws and square nuts that hold the factory mount to the bumper.

First New Wheel

It's Sunday and my favorite tire shop is closed, but I wanted to get at least one new wheel and tire mounted up. So I decided to try my luck at Pep Boys on Lankershim. Honestly, I think it was a very decent experience. While I've always felt that the boys at my usual shop are the only ones I'd trust with odd wheels like a '70s Eldorado, I figured these are very standard truck wheels, so there should be no problem. They were friendly, had no problem doing a mount and balance as a walk-in, and did a nice job of washing up the blue protectant... unlike my old regular shop. They charged me around $20 which is a bit higher than my usual place but not by much. And the wait seemed a bit longish, but was still reasonable since it was fairly busy. I was home in about an hour. Overall no complaints. They asked if I wanted the clip-on or stick-on weights before doing the balance, which was nice. I like the clip-on ones. I noticed there were weights on both the inner and outer wheel lip, so it would appear they did a thorough balance.

I got the wheel mounted on the car and the cover on without issue. The new Cragar lug nuts seem *much* better than the ones I had gotten earlier (at Pep Boys). Wheel cover fits nice and snug and with it in place it doesn't look like I have truck wheels on a car. Except for the fact that these wheels are black where the factory wheels were argent, I think it looks very stock.

No spacers needed! Looks like plenty of clearance. 

A bit ugly without a cover, but nice powdercoat black protection.

The cover fits perfectly.

Interesting difference in stance.
The passenger side wheel has a spacer, but
still doesn't come out as far to the fender. 

Steering Tweak Continues

Second new wheel came Thursday and today I put one wheel and one tire into the back end of the Volt to take somewhere for mounting tomorrow. Sunday my regular place is closed, but may be Pep Boys can handle it.

Meanwhile I have the steering rack and cradle all bolted back in. The driver's side has a lot of shims... I think I may consider making a set of spacers that would be more... what? Reliable? Stable? Permanent? Maybe. For now, I haven't decided for sure that this arrangement is staying. So, maybe after it is aligned again and I see if it performs the way I want it to, I'll consider improvements.

I also need to clamp the power steering hoses to keep them clear of the exhaust manifold on the driver's side. I ordered some 1/2" Rubber Cushioned Loop Clamps from Amazon and those will come early next week. Since I'll have to get both new tires mounted to both new wheels before I can do any driving anyway, I guess there's no hurry.

No Lien!

Got my California title back from DMV today. No more lien holder listed on it. It's all mine and the state knows it. Should get Bob added as an "or" owner sometime but he wasn't available when I went over to AAA to get this done.

Wheel Find!

Hey! I found a wheel that works! This is a Cragar 3975750 - Cragar Black Soft 8 397 Series Wheel. Scarebird says their kit requires 1972-85 GM 1/2 ton truck or equivalent rims, usually 15 x 7". I've been trying to reconstruct how I found this wheel and I think I found it at Discount Tire by searching on a "1985 CHEVROLET K-BLAZER 235/75R15 2WD". Once I had a part with specs, I went over to Jegs and looked it up.

They will accept the stock deluxe wheel covers but NOT the poverty hubcaps that I don't have. It's OK, I think if I didn't have the deluxe covers I'd get something in chrome and call it good.

I've ordered a second wheel so I'll have two for the front. I'll try using the other two previously mounted tires on the back. Maybe eventually I'll get 4 + spare as a full set.

Meanwhile I've started putting the steering rack cradle back together. I need a big wrought washer for one bolt on the left side. I had to use spacers to take up the slop of shifting the cradle to the right. Just by eye, the cradle looks much closer to level now. I think I'll be happier.

Wheel Spacers

Awhile back I had to put spacers on the front wheels to clear the calipers after I found that they were banging on the inside edges of the wheel once I got the car's weight on them. I'm using BilletSpecialties WSG5L375. But while I've never liked the idea of spacers, I can't seem to find an alternative. If I buy a wheel with an offset that loads the bearing to one side, it has the same negative effect as the spacer. It does reduce the possibility of putting strain on the lugs and potential loosening, but Locktite would pretty much fix that too.

I'm also frustrated with wheel sales web site that have crappy fitment guides. The rotors for this car come from a 1995-99 Chevy WT1500 (same as C1500?) and when you can find either a C1500 or a WT1500 listed, they seem to insist there is nothing smaller than a 16" rim available. Not going to work with my new 15" tires. I found a used stock steel wheel on eBay... for $65 plus $30 for shipping. Not! I'm not even sure the wheel will work since the rotor is for that vehicle but the caliper is for a 1969-78 Eldorado. Not going to bother even thinking about Eldo wheels. (Even though I have a pair.)

I suppose if there were any serious interest, I could find a shop that sells wheels and ask them to come up with something that would work. But that would pretty much mean I'd have to use custom mag-type wheels. A classic Cragar would be OK with me, but I really just like the stock deluxe hubcaps.

260-3975750

Soft 8 397 Series Wheel Size: 15'' x 7'' Bolt Circle: 5 x 5'' Rear Spacing: 4'' Offset: 0mm View this item

$51.99  Ships 01/09/12

Steering Revisited

Got motivated to continue... at least for today... the rework of the steering cradle. I've been thinking about if I even want to keep the rack setup and I pulled the Saginaw box out to do a little eyeballing. I think I will continue with the rack for now. I noticed that I can't use the right-angle exhaust elbow for the left side of the dual exhaust because it points right to where the lines come into the rack. I can only use it if I switch to using the Saginaw box. I got the cradle pulled loose to where I could get to the end that needs re-drilled. Kinda nutty how many holes I've put in that thing. But might do some reinforcing when I get the angles sorted out. Drilling done, ready to put it back together.