I just finished rebuilding the front end. Now I got the car on the ground and want to take it in for a front end alignment. As I drove it out of the garage I noticed the driver's side wheel makes a grinding or scraping sound.

At first I thought it was the cotter pin scraping inside the dust cap. Nope. It grinds without the cap at all. I backed off the spindle castle nut (thought maybe it was too tight). No help.

It doesn't make this noise when I have the wheels off the ground. It still makes the noise with the brakes applied. It makes the noise with the wheels turned. It speeds up as I go faster. I'm working on a '73 Type LT here.

Right now, I'm scared to drive it the five miles to the alignment shop. I don't want to cause expensive damage if I have dirt or something in the bearings (which I do not think I do).

That reminds me, does anyone know the alignment specs on, say, a '79 Z28? Firestone will only adjust my suspension to factory specs, and I was hoping to coax them into something more like -1/4° Camber, 1/8 Toe in, 3° Caster (Gulstrands recomendations).

Any help is appreciated.
-Gregg

Check your splash shields for rubbing, they often get bent doing rebuilds, and make sure your brake pads are installed correctly.
Make sure the wheel isn't hitting something like the caliper.
With new pads the caliper sits outboard more than usual.
David

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Check my web page for First Gen Camaro suspension info:
David's Motorsports page (http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/David_Pozzi/)
First Gen Suspension Page (http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/David_Pozzi/first_gen_suspension.htm)
67 RS 327
69 Camaro Vintage Racer
65 Lola T-70 Can Am Vintage Racer

Are you sure you greased the wheel bearings and pre-greased the spindle before you installed the wheel bearings.
That will cause the problem you describe and it won't be appearent with the wheel off the ground.

Does it pull to one side?

Alignment specs for '79-'81 Camaro........

Caster: range, 0-2pos; pref. setting, 1pos.

Camber: range, 1/5neg.-1 4/5pos; pref. 1pos.

Toe-in: 1/16-1/4

Steering axis inc. 10.35deg. at 1deg. camber.

This is out of chilton's manual. I have the GM shop manual but it's at home w/my '79 Z (im at college). Chilton's is usually the same. If it's different it's always really slight.

Greg,

What was the resolution of your problem? I am having the exact same symptoms following my front end rebuild. I removed the drums and spindles as a unit and did not do anything to them. Now that I have it together, the rubbing noise started. It is barely noticible when driving straight, but it gets much louder when I turn the wheel to the left. It comes from the passenger side front wheel.

I rebuilt my brakes about a year ago, and they where working well before I took everything apart. I plan to tear it apart this evening and check it out.

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Dave Richard
68RS/SS Convertible (http://home.attbi.com/~daverichard/)
L48 (350/295 Powerglide)

Problem solved.....

Believe it or not, the wheel was loose. I have some old Cragar wheels on the car right now, and the lug nuts are a bit too long. The previous owner addressed the problem by putting washers under the lug nuts. Over time the washers have bent inward and are no longer doing their job. The wheel could move just a bit. I replaced the washers, tightened the lug nuts, and the noise has gone away.

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Dave Richard
68RS/SS Convertible (http://home.attbi.com/~daverichard/)
L48 (350/295 Powerglide)

If you align the car to 79 specs youll hate the way it handles. Only go with 3 degrees positive caster if you have power steering. If you have manual steering go with 2 degrees positive caster. I would go with a .5 degrees caster more on the right side to help compensate for road crown. Go with -.5 to 0 degrees camber with -.25 degrees as the target setting. 1/8 toe is the middle of the factory specs which is also the target setting.

This is what you should give the alignment tech:
3.5 degrees caster right side
3.0 degrees caster left side
-.5 to 0 degrees camber both sides
1/16 to 1/4 inch toe in.

These readings are what I aligned my 70 camaro to at work and it handles very well even with the ageing factory bushings.

Also you should align the car with the tires and rims that you are going to be driving with. Different size tires or rims affect ride hieght which will affect alignment setings.

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70 camaro 307 (350soon) /350th