Ray W.
12-27-2014, 10:09 PM
Yesterday I decided to see if, and how badly, my body was off center in the front. I've read on this forum that the passenger side tire often sticks out a little more than the other, and that this should be corrected early, before attaching parts to the front area of the frame. I'm not sure how others have gone about this, but I decided to use gravity. First I made sure the frame was level-side to side.
36880
Then I attached pieces of braided fishing line to nuts for weight (like a plumb-bob), and taped the line to the front fender flares, leaving the nut a couple inches from the floor. I positioned the lines in a direct line of sight with the front edges of the frame uprights on both sides of the X in the center. The line is hard to see in the pic, but it's there.
36881
36882
I hooked a tape measure in the closest lower control arm hole on both sides and compared the measurements to the lines. The body, still connected with the quick jack mounts, was more than a 1/4" further toward the driver's side. I removed the quick jack bolts and shifted the body until it was centered, then installed the lower control arms and measured from the ball joint shafts (adjusted straight vertical with the control arms level) to the lines to check that my measurements were correct, and that the body was centered. It was. As a side note, the hood opening alongside the hinge brackets was perfectly even on both sides when centered.
I then used the quick jack bolts to determine how much the front body mounts needed to be moved toward the passenger side. My guesstimate is that moving the mounts toward the passenger side 3/8" will center the oblong adjustment holes and give me room to adjust the body later. While the body was centered in the front, I checked the back. Both sides were within 1/16" of each other. My game plan, after removing the body, will be to measure the distance between the two mounts, tweak the passenger side until its moved 3/8", then bend the driver's side over until the distance between them is what it originally was.
Today I (finger tight) installed one front spindle, then the rotor, so I could see how my "Flintstone test wheel/tire" fit. The purpose was to see if the offset of the wheel I want to use will work with the pin drive lower control arm. This was a juggling act, since FFR has my upper control arms on back order. The 235/50/17 looks good in the wheel well to me, but I know a lot of guys want the tire out to the edge of the flare. This tells me that a 245/45/17 ('Thanks Jeff!) on the 8" wheel I want to use will look better on the car than a 235.
36884
36880
Then I attached pieces of braided fishing line to nuts for weight (like a plumb-bob), and taped the line to the front fender flares, leaving the nut a couple inches from the floor. I positioned the lines in a direct line of sight with the front edges of the frame uprights on both sides of the X in the center. The line is hard to see in the pic, but it's there.
36881
36882
I hooked a tape measure in the closest lower control arm hole on both sides and compared the measurements to the lines. The body, still connected with the quick jack mounts, was more than a 1/4" further toward the driver's side. I removed the quick jack bolts and shifted the body until it was centered, then installed the lower control arms and measured from the ball joint shafts (adjusted straight vertical with the control arms level) to the lines to check that my measurements were correct, and that the body was centered. It was. As a side note, the hood opening alongside the hinge brackets was perfectly even on both sides when centered.
I then used the quick jack bolts to determine how much the front body mounts needed to be moved toward the passenger side. My guesstimate is that moving the mounts toward the passenger side 3/8" will center the oblong adjustment holes and give me room to adjust the body later. While the body was centered in the front, I checked the back. Both sides were within 1/16" of each other. My game plan, after removing the body, will be to measure the distance between the two mounts, tweak the passenger side until its moved 3/8", then bend the driver's side over until the distance between them is what it originally was.
Today I (finger tight) installed one front spindle, then the rotor, so I could see how my "Flintstone test wheel/tire" fit. The purpose was to see if the offset of the wheel I want to use will work with the pin drive lower control arm. This was a juggling act, since FFR has my upper control arms on back order. The 235/50/17 looks good in the wheel well to me, but I know a lot of guys want the tire out to the edge of the flare. This tells me that a 245/45/17 ('Thanks Jeff!) on the 8" wheel I want to use will look better on the car than a 235.
36884