whats wrong with my el camino

[1983regal]

okay when i get free time to measure them i will but the only reason why i dont think that is because i measured form the tire to the rear quarter panels and it measured like 4 or 5 inches on the left side and it was 6 or 7 inches

You can not go by the body, it is unreliable for measurements. All you have to do is lean hard against the quarter and you can change the measurements. If you want to verify that the quarters are the same, take the wheels off and measure from the side of the frame to the lip of the wheel well. Alot of people have posted on here about having to space a rear wheel on one side, I think most G bodys are off from the factory. If the back spacing is off that would account for the difference you are seeing in your measurements, you should never measure off the tire either they change with air pressure and load.

 

[Crapple21]

okay when i get free time to measure them i will but the only reason why i dont think that is because i measured form the tire to the rear quarter panels and it measured like 4 or 5 inches on the left side and it was 6 or 7 inches

You can not go by the body, it is unreliable for measurements. All you have to do is lean hard against the quarter and you can change the measurements. If you want to verify that the quarters are the same, take the wheels off and measure from the side of the frame to the lip of the wheel well. Alot of people have posted on here about having to space a rear wheel on one side, I think most G bodys are off from the factory. If the back spacing is off that would account for the difference you are seeing in your measurements, you should never measure off the tire either they change with air pressure and load.

okay ill look when i get free time

 

[Da Reazon]

Yeah its pretty common for the body not to be straight on the frame you can move it around on the frame quite a bit you have to loosen the body mounts lift and push to fix it.

 

[Crapple21]

the backspaciing on the wheels are the same and ya it looks centered for the most part

The four control arms center the rear end, I seriously doubt that all four are bent. It has to be the wheels, you say they are the same back space, but have you measured all four of the wheels to make sure they are the same. It is not uncommon to buy wheels and have them ship a wrong size wheel. Take the wheels off and measure from the back lip to the mounting hub of the wheel, I bet you find one is a different back spacing.

the backspacing is the same on all 4 wheels

 

[Ray42]

Does it drive funny? How does it handle? You would def notice something like that.

 

[Crapple21]

Does it drive funny? How does it handle? You would def notice something like that.

it drives fine i have owned the car for 5 years now and drive it 50 miles a day. i noticed it after having it for 6 months and have asked discount tires when i got new tires if the they could look at it and see anything out of whack and they said nothing looks to be out of whack from what they could tell.

 

[t01blaze]

a friend of mine has an 87 elcamino and its the same. my malibu is off too. it might be the control arm bushings or body mounts. i havent looked into it much since both our cars are being rebuilt.

 

[Crapple21]

a friend of mine has an 87 elcamino and its the same. my malibu is off too. it might be the control arm bushings or body mounts. i havent looked into it much since both our cars are being rebuilt.

ya i think im going to look at the body mounts and everything this week and try to pinpoint the problem.

 

[Crapple21]

Finally climbed under my car today and this is what I found

Right side

Left side
The frame is way closer to my tire on the right side not sure what this mean just hope it doesn't mean anything to serious but I fear the worst. I also found that one of my body mounts is broken

 

[beermonkey9417]

are your rear control arms new or old? the bushings can be worn out and let the rear move side to side. check yer bushings, also if yer rear control arms are stock they can be flimsy if rusted alot.