Suspension help

[SLEEPERstang21]

My '67 has the driver's side wheel is butterflying a great deal. I brought it to a frame shop and he told me that the shock towers are seperating from a steel part in the engine compartment. THen I called another frame shop and he told me that the suspension on these old things are very mobile and can move a lot. He also said that I can buy some sort of a bar (monte carlo? strut?) that will pull the wheel/tower back into place. Is this true? Has anyone else had this problem?

 

[NorCal66]

Yep, a monte carlo bar and an export brace should keep the shock towers from moving. A monte carlo bar is basically a metal bar the bolts right in front of your shock towers, above the engine, to stiffen your chassis. Problem is, if yours are already pretty far apart, it might be tough to get to get the MC bar on, you'll have to move the shock towers closer together to where they should be, and the MC will hold them in place.

 

[SLEEPERstang21]

Will that help fix the butterflying of my wheel??

 

[70XR7ConvertCat]

Will that help fix the butterflying of my wheel??

Nope. Depending on where the separation is, you probably need to pull the motor to fix it. And then you'll need a welder. There are shops around who reinforce shock towers on a regular basis. Do not try to fix this by bolting on a Monte Carlo bar, or new shock tower brace. Good luck.

Steve C.

 

[pabear89]

Will that help fix the butterflying of my wheel??

Define Butterflying,
Are you talking about the wheel shimmying while driving?
it could be worn suspension parts.

PB

 

[SLEEPERstang21]

butterflying as in my driver's side wheel looks almost diagonal with the bottom out and the top in. When I brought to a frame shop, the guy told me that the metal plates are seperating from the shock tower.

 

[Hack]

butterflying as in my driver's side wheel looks almost diagonal with the bottom out and the top in. When I brought to a frame shop, the guy told me that the metal plates are seperating from the shock tower.

I don't know what's wrong, but I don't think you should drive it any where. Get it towed to a shop you trust. Perhaps a local restoration shop. Sounds like the chassis is in extremely poor shape. You may want to have the entire car checked carefully to decide whether fixing is a good idea, or whether you should sell and buy a different project car. Have the shop go through the entire car and write you a list of problems/parts to replace.

If it's the towers, they must be deflecting a great deal for the tire to have moved that far.

Be careful. Don't endanger yourself or others by driving this car!

..And I hope it's something cheap and simple.