Well after about 2 years the 65 coupe is on the road. I will post some pics in a day or so. I had a problem with the alignment as the upper control arm was clicking at the top on the drivers side. I lubed it but it still makes noise. The owner of the shop who did the alignment said the only way to stop the noise is to dissassemble lube and reassemble prior to installing them again. Afterward another alignment. I decided to postpone and align with the noise. I wanted to drive before we get to the end of the summer.

I am going to pump the hell out of it tonight with grease and see if I can get rid of the noise. Anyway the most caster that I could get with my tires was around 2 degrees before they hit the front of the wheel wheels. The camber is under .5 degrees I went ahead and had it aligned anyway and will replace the upper control arms if necessary this winter.

Has anyone had this problem and have any ideas how to fix this problem.

In addition one of the custom hoses from Classic auto air leaked so I couldnt get my air charged. !@#@#$$$

The good news is that it is a really fun car to drive and I got a hell of alot of thumbs up driving around town. The wife drove over to the original owner (her grandmother) to give her a ride. This will be my wifes car and she is really excited about the ride. The drop, roller spring perches and 620 springs and 4.5 rears do not ride as harsh as i expected and after the break in period I am going to check with some more spirited driving.

 

What size wheels/tires do you have? I run ~4* caster on my car with P225/60R14's on the front.

Do you mean -0.5* camber? You don't want positive camber.

Not sure what you mean by a 'click', but UCA bushings are prone to squeaks. If you can't get it to go away, you can always rebuild or replace it later.

 

Opps my Bad

The camber is -.5 degrees and the wheels are 225 45 by 17 on eight in rims. Same height as stock but much wider.

 

Why would you need another alignment? The things only things that affect the alignment are the strut rods, tie rods, and LCA all of which should not be affected if you are rebuilding the UCA.

Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

 

You need to realign the car when any part of the suspension is removed or changed. Ball joints, control arms, springs, anything.

Alignment angles are very precise. Look at an analog clock. 1 second is equal to 6 degrees. With an alignment, you're talking about tenths of a degree. You can't expect the UCA to go back together in exactly the same place as it was before you took it apart.

 

What's the backspacing on the wheels? Also, are your fender lips rolled?

 

The backspacing is 4.5 and the fenders are not rolled. Went for a ride last night and it looks like with a large dip I have a rubbing issue. I think I will need to go back to the body shop and roll the fenders.

 

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but don't the '65 and '66 use shims at the chassis side pivots of the upper control arms? If so (or possibly even if they don't) you might be able to unequally shim the uppers to gain a little more +caster (whatever/wherever it takes to move the upper ball joint rearward will add +caster). Keep in mind that this method will affect the camber setting.


Norm

 

Norm you are correct. However the problem also exists in the rear as it is also close. I think that I will go ahead and roll the fender lips. The body shop guy said for me to do that first and if I hurt the paint then he will repaint that area. I ordered a roller from eastwood and I will put it on ebay when done.

The other option is to weld in a eccentric plate like the later models to remove the shims at the top and do the adjustment with the lower control arm.