Topic: a bit of work on my 77 TA

[Elz]

Are you sure your floor is level? I'd be sure before I started tweaking anything. If you were going to do any "tweaking" I would blot it up to the body and take it to a frame shop and have it checked. This thing was altogether when you bought it, correct? If it was really that far off your front sheet metal would have never lined up correctly.

[Schroeder]

Are you sure your floor is level? I'd be sure before I started tweaking anything. If you were going to do any "tweaking" I would blot it up to the body and take it to a frame shop and have it checked. This thing was altogether when you bought it, correct? If it was really that far off your front sheet metal would have never lined up correctly.

You mean my fenders and such?  I am going to take some other measurements first.  These will be anything I can think of that might cause a slight tilt such as one tire being flatter than the other.  I do not think such an issue could cause this though as it appears there is a bend, not a certain amount of "unlevelness."  A simple check with a level could reveal if this is a bend or not.  I'm also searching this forum and looking at other people's subframes to compare to.

[Elz]

Yes your fenders. Were they on the car and did they fit and profile the door correctly? If your frame is that bent, your front sheet metal would not fit for crap.

[eroc022]

If its only out 9/16" you are fine, when you bolt it to your car it'll straighten back out

[Schroeder]

Yes your fenders. Were they on the car and did they fit and profile the door correctly? If your frame is that bent, your front sheet metal would not fit for crap.

Yes.  They were on and fit correctly.  I assumed if something was seriously wrong with the chasis from torquing it out or something I would have known before seeing this bend.  I thought 9/16" seemed close to the realm of being too much though.  Thanks for the input guys.  I hope to get some more.  I haven't been able to find awesome pictures of subframes laying on the ground, but of the ones i did find on here and on ebay it appeared that most were perfectly level from side to side.  However, I did spot one or two that had one fork of the sub frame slightly higher than the other.  In one case it was the driver side of the subframe while the other example was the passenger side of the car like mine.

[Schroeder]

also, I'm looking to make my steering very tight.  After research it appears that the close ratio ws6 box is merely a 2.5-3 turns to lock.  Instead of looking around for a ws6 steering box can't I just buy one of these reman'ed ones from o'reily's?   Also, from my understanding, if I remove the upper cover on my steering box and the gears are the same, then I already have a close ratio steering box.  Is this correct?

I'm looking to get super tight steering like the new cars today have.  I'm thinking replacing the rag joint and steering box will help me obtain this.

But before I go blow $120 I should ask, can a lot of play be adjusted out of the steering box?  Is there a section of this in the owners' manuals?  Gosh I wish I had my disk with me right now so I could look it up!

[joe d]

jordan, yes you can adjust play out of a box, but if you are looking for the steering of todays standard you will have to go to a rack and pinion, if you got the tolerance down to .0001 in your gear box you will still have 4 tie rod ends to contend with and take away from that tolerance

[Schroeder]

jordan, yes you can adjust play out of a box, but if you are looking for the steering of todays standard you will have to go to a rack and pinion, if you got the tolerance down to .0001 in your gear box you will still have 4 tie rod ends to contend with and take away from that tolerance

ah...right you are.  The 2.5-3 turns to lock is probably the best I'm gonna get then isn't it?  I'm gonna check if that's what I have when I get home.  How can you check if the steering box is shot?  Should the box begin to turn everything AS SOON as you turn the input shaft?  Mine has 1/8 turn or so of play before it starts to turn the steering components.

I've been doing a lot of research here and on the internet, but it seems like everyone has different thoughts on what to do with and how to analyze the mysterious steering boxes!  Of course, I'll get a better idea when I'm home this weekend and can actually look at the box.

[joe d]

you can feel the play in the input and output shaft with 2 large screwdrivers on either side of shaft and pry gently, hard to explain without showing, also be careful adjusting a worn box as thy will bind

[Schroeder]

you can feel the play in the input and output shaft with 2 large screwdrivers on either side of shaft and pry gently, hard to explain without showing, also be careful adjusting a worn box as thy will bind

So I stick a screw driver at the base of both the input and output shafts.  I wiggle each screwdriver.  If the box is worn either the input or output shaft will wiggle where they go into the box? 

Please correct me if I'm wrong in understanding your post.  As always, thanks a lot joe!

[joe d]

NO. You use a screwdriver or small pry bar at 12 o clock and 6 o clock or 3 and 9 and see if you have side to side movement at output

[Schroeder]

thanks for clearing that up joe!  I have a couple more questions and pics of the motor coming together.

First off, I have a holley carb which requires a carb spacer adapter because the mounting holes on the intake do not line up with the holes on the intake.  This makes the shaker too close to the hood.  The hood rubs the shaker and I don't even have a seal on the shaker at the moment.  Should I mill the carb spacer down to 1/4"?  It's currently 1" thick.  I guess another option is to have the qudrajet rebuilt, but I don't wanna spend that money. 

Are the base pieces of my corse support supposed to be curved up like this?




 Can this floor pan rot be replaced now with the subframe off?  I've read in some places that you shouldn't do that with the subframe off cause the body may warp.  I'll only be putting in a patch if I do this.





Painted subframe.  SHINY





Engine coming together.  Painted pulleys and other such hardware today and yesterday.





I also noticed some small holes in my firewall near the heater box.  I can't believe how thin it is!  The firewall can't be more than .025"  can it?  Seems chintsy to me and I wish they were made thicker.  Looks like I'll have to patch the little holes.  Maybe if the firewall wasn't so thin it wouldn't rot so easy!  Is that that hard to figure out GM?!    haha

[JoshRiess]

please cover those intake holes , Something could fall in there and that would be trouble . I recommend some tape strips !
                   JOSH

[Schroeder]

please cover those intake holes , Something could fall in there and that would be trouble . I recommend some tape strips !
                   JOSH

yup, intake is covered with an old shirt.  I just took it off for the purpose of the pictures!  Thanks for the suggestion!

[joe d]

as for the carb i suggest the q-jet as the shaker is always an issue, i am not sure on the core but looks normal to me and as for repairing the floorpan without subframe, i never heard such a thing but maybe someone like 4speed would know better, josh has a good point, always tape tight the intake as to no allow any debris including dust/dirt