Nomad final assembly

[chevynut]

I got the front inner fender lower flaps modified and had to take a slice out of the passenger one to make it fit. Also replaced the 6 sheetmetal screw "nuts" with 1/4-20 weld nuts and they're ready for spraying the bedliner when we get a decent day without rain.

I installed the j-weatherstrip seals on the doors but haven't worked on the door weatherstrips yet. Messed around with the interior door beltline molding but can't really do much with it until the door panels are done.

Finally got the rear coilover shocks adjusted down to ride height. The adjuster nut is a little off the bottom with the halfshafts level. I still have some weight to put in it....interior, windshield seats, etc. I estimate there is another 200 pounds or so on the rear when finished and full of gas. The front is already just about where it belongs, maybe a little high, but I still have the fenders and hood to install as well as the windshield. I'll make final tweaks when it's all together and interior is in.

Also worked on the front and rear wheel alignment and have it really close with a tape measure and digital level. I think I'm going to build some tools to make it more accurate and easier for the final alignment.

This is from Corvette Central tech blog.

Front 84-96 Corvette	Daily Driver	Advanced Street	Autocross Baseline	Track Baseline
Toe	1/32″	0″	3/16″ out	0-1/16″ out
Camber	0° neg	.25° neg	1.5-3° neg	1-3° neg
Caster	5-7° pos	5-7° pos	4-5° pos	4-7° pos
Rear 84-96 Corvette	Daily Driver	Advanced Street	Autocross Baseline	Track Baseline
Toe	1/8″ in	1/8″ in	1/16″ – 1/4″ in	1/16″ – 1/4″ in
Camber	0° neg	.50° neg	.75-2.5° neg	.75-2.5° neg

I'm going with the daily driver settings for now. Can you really measure 1/32" of toe in? Not with a tape!! I really like how my rear strut rods and toe rods make adjusting them easy. I did have to lift the rear tires off the ground to adjust camber, then set it back down and bounce on it to check again. I need to make some slider plates so I don't have to do that. Both sides in the rear are now at 0 degrees camber and the toe is zero but I'm not going to change it until later.

In the front the passenger side is at zero camber and the driver's side is at 1.0 degree. I need to add another pair of shims to move it to zero. The toe is right on now, but it will probably change with the camber change so I'll re-do it too.

Going to set it on the floor before long.

IMG_5544.jpeg

IMG_5542.jpeg

[Belair-o]

H Chevynut,
Very sharp, great look. Looks like the stance is very good - looking forward to seeing four on the floor. You are making great progress on these later stages where time normally seems to drag as there is so much tweaking to do.
Regards, Doug

[55 Rescue Dog]

How do you set the rear toe accurately since the tie rods are independent? The fronts are not difficult using a trammel bar. You didn't mention how you did your caster setting. When I got my half-finished car was ready to drive, I just pretty much eyeballed it and in the short 2-mile maiden run it wasn't too bad. You will find out the hard way on how yours actually drives eventually.
Parked it and made an appointment with one of the best alignment shops anywhere and the next 5 miles I drove it was to there. They had it on the rack for over 3 hours and several short test drives to dial it in perfect. They only charged me the standard 4-wheel alignment rate of $120 and would not take a tip. I like to mess around with stuff like that, but time is money wasted in that case, not having big dollar equipment to do it right. I have a caster/camber gauge too, but that won't do what modern equipment can do in the right hands in much less time than crawling around under the car chasing your tail.
IMG_2967.jpg

[BamaNomad]

Chevy Nut wrote: (in part)
... I did have to lift the rear tires off the ground to adjust camber, then set it back down and bounce on it to check again. I need to make some slider plates so I don't have to do that...."

------------------------
My neighbor assisted me in setting my initial alignment (He's a long time racer who always did his own), and he suggested using Wax Paper under the tires which helps them find where they need to be (with a minimum of bouncing).. He also had me cut some plywood pieces to sit against the tires (with a little perpendicular piece to hold them upright). Stringing a cord/string between the front / rear tires on each side your can 'see' if the toe is good...

[55 Rescue Dog]

The way I simply free up my suspension instead of sliders is with my 4 car dollies, and room to reach under the car.

IMG_8687.JPG

[Bitchin'57]

Also finally got my interior guy to do something. He's building a big shop and is the GC, so he says he doesn't have time to work on my car. I built two frames for him, one was 8 years ago and the other 3 years ago. He owes me unlimited labor for my interior and I've already paid for all the materials, which we have. He also took one of the seats and I gave him a seat design I want to do. Last week he brought my steering wheel back that he took 6 weeks ago. The next step is to install the padded leather dash, which he says he'll work on. He's really good at what he does, but it was probably a mistake to exchange labor.

That scenario right there would be extremely concerning to me, because your interior guy has no financial incentive to finish your interior, at least not in a somewhat reasonable time frame. I sincerely hope the guy does the right thing and comes through for you with a finished interior........in a reasonable time frame.

[chevynut]

That scenario right there would be extremely concerning to me, because your interior guy has no financial incentive to finish your interior, at least not in a somewhat reasonable time frame. I sincerely hope the guy does the right thing and comes through for you with a finished interior........in a reasonable time frame.

I completely agree. I do think the guy is honest but timely is another thing. My painter knows him and he told me he doesn't think he'll ever finish it. I was shocked to hear that, because my interior guy is who recommended my painter. I'm more optimistic, but I'm really concerned at the pace of the work. He was supposed to come over a month ago to install the headliner but now he says sometime in the next two weeks. Part of it's my fault since I'm gone a lot...I just got back from a week in Branson, MO.

This whole situation evolved over the years. I expected my car to be finished long ago and he could get to the interior soon after I did the first frame. Originally it was a labor hour swap so I tracked my time on his first frame, and I built a lot of the interior myself because he wasn't sure if the hours exchanged would cover it and I wanted to get something done on it. So I built the rear seat, console, door panels, and cargo area structure myself....probably close to half the work required for my interior. When he asked me to do the second frame, he said he would do whatever I wanted on my car to finish it, with no labor time limit. I agreed, but I really should have written up some kind of legal contract. I did keep track of all my time and materials on the second frame too.

We've become friends over the years and it just kind of feels weird asking a friend to sign a contract. When I was pushing him to get started on it, he said I could chose to just settle with him and take it elsewhere. I proposed that I take it to another shop and he pays the bill.....he said no way. I added up my time and at my shop rate, plus a reasonable amount of interest for what he owes me in labor and what I paid in cash for materials, and he would owe me enough to get it done elsewhere if we settled now but I haven't presented that number to him since he agreed to get going on it. I actually calculated it a different way (using today's reasonable shop rate for chassis work) and came up with about the same numbers. There is a time value here too. I've already paid over $8000 for materials alone. My painter said he's a fool not to just let me take it elsewhere because he thinks the remaining work isn't that much since I've built everything.

The money isn't that big of an issue with me, I just want it done. I have even offered to help and be the "gopher" for him. I don't care how many hours he puts into it, I just want high end work and he's very good at what he does from what I've seen. But he's slow.

[chevynut]

My neighbor assisted me in setting my initial alignment (He's a long time racer who always did his own), and he suggested using Wax Paper under the tires which helps them find where they need to be (with a minimum of bouncing).. He also had me cut some plywood pieces to sit against the tires (with a little perpendicular piece to hold them upright). Stringing a cord/string between the front / rear tires on each side your can 'see' if the toe is good...

I've watched several Youtube videos on DIY alignments and there's a lot of ways to make the tires slide. Some guys simply use a trash bag folded over. Some use greased pizza pans. Wax paper sounds like another good idea. Part of my problem is getting the car high enough to work on it at the same time since it sits so low. And I don't want it to slide off of the stands either.

The way I plan to do the final alignment is to put rods or dowels on jackstands in front of and behind the car, with parallel strings stretched between them on both sides of the car. Then you measure from the string to the tires or wheel with calipers to get an accurate measurement and ensure the wheels are lined up with the centerline of the car. What I'm unsure of is when they say 1/16" of toe, is that measured at the tire treads? I assume it is. I see guys measuring at the side of the wheel. It's easy enough to calculate for either place. Some cars use degrees of toe as a spec.

Almost nobody does DIY caster measurements for some reason. Most guys say it's not that important but it can be measured with a camber gauge so I'll probably do it. It's more important that they're close to one another than what the absolute angle is and the spec is fairly wide. I found a fairly inexpensive digital camber gauge that I may buy because it looks a lot easier to use than a level. The hardest part is measuring the turn angle accurately.

The reason I want to do my own is not about cost or anything like that. I had my old Porsche aligned at Goodyear once. After I picked it up I noticed the wheels were all scratched up and the tech used some silver paint and a brush to try to cover the scratches. He apparently had trouble with the alignment jig staying inside the wheel. I refuse to risk having some gorilla put a pipe wrench on my suspension and tear it up or trash my wheels. And if it's not done right even a laser alignment can be garbage.

Doing it myself I can get it close enough for my needs, since the car isn't going to be driven 15,000 miles a year. I won't be taking it to an alignment shop unless they want to agree in writing to replacing my wheels if they screw them up. Plus I get the satisfaction of knowing I did it and can tweak it if I ever need to.

[55 Rescue Dog]

Maybe you haven't been to an alignment shop for a long time, but on my car, they used self-aligning targets that just clamp to the outside of the tire and not the wheel. Good luck trying to get all 4 wheels set exactly where they need to be your way if you have lots of spare time.

YouTube

[chevynut]

Good luck trying to get all 4 wheels set exactly where they need to be your way if you have lots of spare time.

Lots of guys do their own home alignment. Only those who can't figure out how to do it, don't understand it, or don't have the patience or time take it to a shop.....just like bodywork or anything else. I think I can do it myself and get it where it needs to be, and have confidence in it being close enough.

Notice how the guy in the video used channel-locks to make the toe adjustments? Nobody is doing that on my Nomad and I'm not taking the risk. Maybe you don't care about yours that much. I don't know why you have such an issue with me doing it myself on MY car. It's really none of your business.