Something that gets my attention is. Just how well are the aluminum sub sections attached to the boxed frame? Is that piece of angled aluminum under the front a attaching point. Second, I don't see a front sway bar. Next is the position of the rack, it looks out of place. Is it located as to not give any bump steer?  A rack is typically in sync with the lower control arms. Is there any anti squat built into the upper control arms? If so you may have a chassis that steers like crap. Then there's the cooling system, got fans? Steering shaft, no support at the U joint, bad!


Ralphy

Last edited by Ralphy (12/15/2013 4:49 am)

http://www.cybergate-corp.ch/mako_clip/

Hah! I think I found an old photo of your car at a show. Titled Owner Unknown. Rear view with doors open. On my pad so I'm having issues. Click MAKO-Gallery.

Ralphy

Last edited by Ralphy (12/15/2013 11:47 am)

There's no fuel cap also.



This got me thinking, my brother in-law used to be a big Corvette guy years ago. His best friend owned a body shop Jerry Roman. Anyhow his shop did a car, I remember seeing it at the Cleveland Autorama. The comments on Jalopnik are hilarious.




http://jalopnik.com/5611302/romans-chariot-68-corvette-makes-us-hungry-for-red-velvet-cake


Ralphy

Last edited by Ralphy (12/15/2013 3:33 pm)

How interesting that someone built a Mako Shark II from a C2 body.

Good louck on the rebuild!

My guess is if it was a show car it was not built to be driven. Many show cars of the 70's and 80' were not built to be driven and in many cases didnt have to prove that they even ran. Although most did. Most of these cars were slowly pushed on and off their inclosed trailers. Bump steer probably wasnt a concern unless it was so severe that pushing the car through the car show to the assigned spot became too difficult. A bigger concern might be anti ackerman. It is real easy to build a steering linkage that toes out or in drastically when the wheels are turned. Having the rack in the wrong position can cause that. That is much worse than bump steer.  Kind of like what he found with the wiring harness. If the Judges didnt see it or recognise it as a problem why fuss over it? Why add sway bars if the lack of them would not be counted against you?  From what I have read the car shows of yester year were aimed at the posers. Now days your vehicle must have form and function to win. No one wants to see pretty cars that are not drivable any more.   Take the upolstery for instance. Pretty to look at but day in day out use would ruin it in nothing flat. Now days people want to see leather interiors and the majority of the show cars have leather work that Rolls Royce would be proud to call their own.  I mean no insult, it is the style of the period the vette you have was built to compete in. In its time it was the hot thing. These days you couldnt give that kind of interior work away. If you plan on it being a fun driver somthing a little more user friendly and soil resistant than tuck and roll Velour should be in order. Just my Opinion.
  Let me guess, the cracks are popping up everywhere they bonded the parts from the Maco kit to the original Vette glass. If I am right,  These will be far worse to repair than simple stress cracks. There are many reasons for the  flairs and body panels to crack where they are bonded to the original glass.. Typically each different kind of mistake has a different solution to repair it. With any luck you will not have to tear their work apart to repair it right. The bonding agents available now are light years ahead of what they had when the kit was installed. I am sure thats a path you would like to avoid but Fiberglass doesnt like weather. It doesnt like extream cold and most of all it doesnt like to be forced to flex when its cold. You said it was out in the weather a while. What state? There is a big difference between a winter in Florida and a winter in Detroit.  All in good humor. I hope I am wrong just the same.  

Last edited by tyrellracing (12/16/2013 6:32 pm)

The suspension by my guess was not built by some rookie. I think he had a shop build it. If you can get the name, you could contact them and get some info/insight as to the function.

X maybe I can get some glass lessons from you?

Ralphy

Last edited by Ralphy (12/16/2013 7:43 pm)

I live in Atlanta. What part of PA are you in?

Ralphy

I am not saying any part of it was built by a rookie. When laying out suspensions for a vehicle that all ready exists you will often have to make comprimises to get everything to fit. Sunbeam Tigers came stock with a severe problem of the tires gaining toe out beyond the ackerman angle. This also created bump steer. This wasnt done by accident. The engine was in the way to put the rack in the ideal location. It was a comprimise. Many vehicles use to come stock with similar ailments to their suspension geometrys. Feiro? Some times the engineering was just sloppy. C2-C3 rear geometry? These were not over looked by the engineers. Some times the bean counters play a larger role than they should on the final design because they are trying to build a vehicle that will sell. If its too expensive they wont sell very many. On the 66 vette I would not be the least bit suprised that the rack may not be in the ideal location. If it was built by someone that knew what he was doing you will probably find some reason for the compremise. If nothing is in the way there is a good possibility it is layed out correct. However I adhear to my statment that most show cars from that era were not accually built to be driven. I wouldnt be the least bit surprised if the toe does strange things when the wheels are turned lock to lock. Tigers gain over ten degrees of toe out at lock when they are aligned pointing forward. You dont usually have the steering wheel turned that sharp when moving fast so no one gave a damn. Pull into a park garage and it sounds like you are scrubbing the tires off at every turn. The missalignment has a negative side effect on Tigers. It reduces the cars ability to maintain front grip in corners. The little cars are notorious for overpowering their rear tires into over steer so a little understeer was welcome. That was until radial tires came out. Then the comprimised design became more pronounced.   With bias plys on my Tiger I always steered with the throttle when driving hard in corners. It was a natural way to get the little car to feel right. If you tried to coast through a corner fast it would understeer bad. The greater the steering wheel had to be turned to compensate for understeer the more the tires went out of alignment and the worse the problem became.  All because of a compremise that they knew about when they went from the Alpine recirculating ball box mounted  where the Tigers motor mounts were attached to a rack and pinion mounted in front of the engine for the V8 to fit in the Tiger

Last edited by tyrellracing (12/18/2013 3:30 am)

The front end will settle about 3 to 4 inches once the motor is in so that will correct the angle. On the Corvette they have a long nose so the rack is way up front of the motor so it can be positioned anyplace.
I guess the only way to tell is to drive it.
The alignment is done with heim joints.

I'm sorry but that's funny. A person can be pretty open and willing when they're selling something. But once the door closes, things change. He may not want to part with his collectibles either. You may ask if he can copy what he has at your cost.

Good Luck!
Ralphy

I spoke to the builder today. Once he found out I actually owned the car he was more then willing to talk about it. He gave me some info I needed some stuff he couldn't remember.
He did tell me the suspension was designed and built by a NASCAR engineer. He said the suspension should be great on the highway. He drove the car many times. He said he's actually the one who took the car to all the shows. He said he spent three years building it then showed it. The car was purple when he did it. Somebody else painted it like it is now.
So apparently the story I got from the guy I got it from wasn't true.
So now I'm looking forward to getting this going.

I plan too. After the holidays I'll get into it. I told all the kids to get me gift cards to Summit Racing this year.
I listed a bunch of Trans Am parts for sale.
Every little bit helps.

This might be surprising to some..... but I'm not into NASCAR lol.
There's not really much activity over on the Mako site. A few positive comments that's about it.
This site has been the most active.

Honestly I don't know everything there is to know about front suspension setup.
I know many cars in the early years have rear steer and it seems like all the aftermarket companies make kits to correct them by moving the steering to the front. Not sure why that is if its not an improvement.
Any how the suspension I have now is gonna have to stay because it would cost to much to replace it. I looked at aftermarket kits for the vettes too and there the same front steering.
Which is surprising because on a vette there's plenty of room to do rear steering because the nose is so long.
I would be interested in learning more if you'd care to share.

Ha funny guy. Lol
I think I'll keep it the way it it.
I do need to find out they had a 700r4 in it and I'm going with a th400. I think I need to get a new yoke and change driveshaft length.
I used to remember all these things but my brain don't remember things like it used too.