C1 59: Taking her out for a drive...

[Rob M.]

Hi all,

Today was the fist beautiful day in the Netherlands (app. 18 degrees Celsius) and therefore this was the first opportunity to take our Vette out for a drive after the months of restoration work!

A few things I noticed:
* The temperature gauge didn't work allthough I have inserted a new temperature sending unit, I guess the gauge itself didn't work.
* The voltage gauge did vary from 0 to -minus 3/4 of the scale but never got into the garging area (I guess this isn't normal behavious and I have to check if the generator and voltage regulator do their jobs).
* The car was driving like hell, very powerfull and very goodlooking as well but at app. 55 miles/hours (100 km/hour) the car was drifting a bit on the road (is this normal) as if the steering wheel could be rotated 30 degrees without much happening. When the car stands still this is not the case, no play or margin at all. I have driven a bit faster on the highway as well and then I didn't notice the effect. Maybe it was the wind playing with the car, or the fact that I wasn't driving on radials (as on the Alfa), I don't know. Does this sound familiar to any of you ?

Furthermore the car was driving and looking great !!!

I just wanted to share this with you,
Rob.




The C1 1959 Corvette restauration project

[Dave Suesz]

This would involve snow for me...

We got 4" of snow yesterday, so I will have to wait at least until that melts off!

[Dennis A.]

Nice ride ... Away to go *NM*

[Nicholas L.]

Re: This would involve snow for me...

We got 8 inches overnight north of Boston. It will be awhile before the Vette sees dry pavement.

[Doug Flaten]

Re: C1 59: Taking her out for a drive...

Assuming you have checked the suspension for loose ball joints etc, I would be inclined to write off the wandering on the road to bias ply tires. It is amazing how much better the radial tires track, even with a worn out suspension.

[Christopher R.]

Re: C1 59: Taking her out for a drive...

1. wandering at speed: Are you still driving on bias ply tires? They're awful. They do tend to wander. Get radials and a good alignment and try again. How are your front wheel bearings?

2. generator charging: The generator needs to be "polarized." The ST-12 tells you how to do this. Does it seem to read backwards? That is, does it show more discharge the faster the engine revs? If so, the generator needs to be polarized.

3. temp gauge: Is it not working at all? Or, is it reading inaccurately? To test the gauge or sender:

1. disconnect the sending wire from the gauge.
2. turn the ignition switch "on".
3. check the gauge, it should read no scale (dead cold)
4. reconnect the sending wire and ground the sender terminal to a known good ground.
5. check the gauge, it should read full scale (Hot)

If this procedure checks out the gauge is good and the problem is either the sender or the wiring in between. Your gauge is reading a variable ground from the sender. If the circuit is open somewhere, you will get no reading. If shorted somewhere, it will read full scale. If the sender is bad or not grounded to the engine properly (teflon tape, pipe dope etc.) you will get a false reading.

[Dave Suesz]

Wandering- Four things to check...

1) Front wheel bearings for proper adjustment. Doing this on mine a few years ago was VERY noticable.

2) Steering gearbox adjustments. Very critical with wandering.

3) Steering link adjustment. Roy had a very interesting post on this a few weeks ago, I didn't even know the darn thing was adjustable for preload. A little play there would cause a lot of wandering.

4) Tire pressure. seems pretty basic, but still often overlooked.

Anything worn in the front end, such as tie rods or kingpins will cause wander.

Don't expect bias tires to track like radials. They're supposed to drift.

[Rob M.]

Re: C1 59: Taking her out for a drive...

Chris,

Thanks for you excellent reply. I just want to react to each bullit so here they come:

1. I have genuing bias ply tires so this might be the cause. I was already afraid of it but I like the genuing look of them. Do you have radials looking exactly the same?

2. The needle is going in the right way to left and right (left discharging, to the right less discharging), but it never crosses the 0 line in the middle although when the key is in the off position (and the lights are out) it is positioned in the middle (no usage of current). So either the generator/voltage regulator are never charging or something else is wrong.

3. I will perform this test later this week. I have taped the temp. sender heavely (see picture) to avoid leakage so this might be the cause. I might not connect electicly to the engine... Thanks for the tip, I'll keep you posted!

greetings,
Rob.




The C1 1959 Corvette restauration project

[Rob M.]

Re: Wandering- Four things to check...

Dave,

Thanks for your reply (as usual on this site they are all excellent)!

1. The bearings, balls and kingpins have all been checked by a professional and were ok, but one ball. I have a new one ready to install so maybe this solves the problem...

2. and 3. The steering wheel has no play when the car is standing still, does this means that it is properly adjusted and/or aligned ?

4. Something I haven't checked yet (as you noticed!!!) Will check soon!

greetings and thanks for your help,
Rob.




The C1 1959 Corvette Restoration Project

[Dave Suesz]

That narrows it down...

Loose/worn suspension components- Arm pivots, Kingpins, etc. could be deceptively tight due to the weight of the car in the driveway, but the gearbox and link rods should be OK. When checking the front end, a thorough check of wheel alignment is also in order. This will be hard to verify until all components are brought up to par.

I have OE style tires on mine, gives that "original" feel. Great cruising, predictable if not "state of the art" handling. When I want to trash a car through some curves, I use my first-generation Mustang GT with oversize steel radials.

[Christopher R.]

Re: C1 59: Taking her out for a drive...

1. I've got a '62. '62s came with narrow whitewalls. It's easy to find 205/75-15 in a narrow whitewall. Yours came came with wide whitewalls. You won't find wide whitewalls anywhere except tire companies selling to the antique market. Coker in the US is one. You may have to sacrifice looks for function. Radials are so much better than bias plies.

2. You'll need to put a known good meter in circuit to measure the generator output. Maybe your gauge is skewed to the left. But you won't know until you measure it.

3. I can see from the picture that you've got too much tape there. There shouldn't be any tape there. You want the best electrical connection possible. It's a pipe plug. It was designed as an interference fit. No tape should be necessary to get a seal. Now after some years, this may not be true. All the pipe sealants of which I am aware are electrical insulators. I don't know how you can use a sealant in there without degrading the required electrical connection.

[Rob M.]

Re: C1 59: Taking her out for a drive...

Richie,

Thanks for taking the time to answer my question. About the white walls I wonder what the difference is between the narrow and wide white walls. My tires are \_/ shaped not |_|. Does this mean I have a narrow white wall or is the size of the _ bit different but both haev a \_/ shape ?

thanks,
Rob.

[Rob M.]

Re: C1 59: Taking her out for a drive...

Chris,

I checked the temp guage yesterday using your method and ****a it still works ! It must be the tape insulating the sending unit from the needed ground. I guess I have to drain the coolant a bit and get the tape removed to solve this little problem. I'll keep you posted on the generator/charging problem.

Thanks for your help,
Rob.

[Christopher R.]

Re: C1 59: Taking her out for a drive...

Don't have the Judging Guide in front of me, but the width of the whitewall is specified therein. On a '62 it's a little under 1 inch. On other C1s, it's around 2 inches. Not sure of the exact widths, but they are substantial. You won't mistake them. If you look around the Internet for pictures of C1s, you'll see what I mean.

Don't understand what you're saying about tire shape - \_/ vs. |_|.

What kind and size of tires are on the car now?

Most people who have their cars judged have 2 sets of tires and rims. One set with radials for driving. Another set with bias ply for judging. That's too much work and expense for me. I got the closest in appearance radials I could find locally. If I have the car judged, I'll take the point hit.

I'll bet that anybody that bought a Corvette in 1959 to drive in Europe would have thrown away the factory tires and mounted blackwall Pirelli Cinturatos or Michelin Xs. I agree with you, though. Wide whitewall do look cool on a '59.

How much would it cost to have Coker ship you 4 (or 5) wide whitewall radials? You'll still take a point hit. Can you find any size whitewalls in Europe?

All this judging point stuff is just a question of how much do you want to spend. I try to balance cost, originality, and functionality.

[Rob M.]

Re: C1 59: Taking her out for a drive...

Chris,

I thought you were refering to the width of the area touching the road (I still have some minor translation problems ones in a while). The white area on my tires is indeed the wide version (app. 2 inch) which I think is looking really cool. There are companies over here (one or two in the Netherlands) which are still selling white wall tires for oldtimers lovers.

Unluckely I don't have an extra set of rims because I have an extra set of radials (with a small white wall) available (in my garden since my garage is filled with the car). My spare tire is a real ugly one and I'm looking for a single (used) white wall tire to make it look alike the ones fitted.

Shipping the tires will probably cost app. an additional $200 for slow, surface mail so still quite expensive but if radials look alike (with the same shape of tires would exist I would start thinking of getting a set).

thanks for your advice,
Rob.




The C1 59 Restoration Project