chevy a-body ridetech alignment - Lateral-g Forums

silvermonte · #1 06-26-2020, 08:27 AM

Hello fellas, I have a 72 chevy chevelle and till a full ridetech coil over suspension on the car. Im having issues getting the alignment right, either from the frame sagging, or the shop just plain not wanting to do the work. Not sure which so Im here to ask for advice.

I have the upper arms installed with the offset to the inside, so the .375" is the side touching the frame and the caster slugs facing the engine like the instructions state. I also have the centered slugs installed as that is what came with the kit, and I had to start somewhere. There are also zero shims installed on either side currently. I took the car in to get aligned and the shop told me it was as good as it can get since there are no shims to take out to adjust anything, the only adjustment they did was toe.

I gave them the ridetech street specs to aim for -.5 camber, +3 to +5 degree caster and 1/16" to 1/8" Toe

Camber is driver side -1 degree and passenger -1.9 degree
Caster is driver side .9 degree and passenger 0 degree
Toe is driver .27 degree and passenger is .18 degree
cross camber is .9
cross caster is .9
total toe is .44 degrees

Im not a suspension wizard but I would thing they could of got it alot closer with some shims, but what caster slugs should I use to get me closer to what is needed. I daily drive about 5000 miles a year and do about 13 or so auto-x events a year. What do you guys think? I have found another shop that seems like they would do a better job and put forth a bit more effort.

**Tinker** · #2 06-26-2020, 04:53 PM

The UCA shafts are offset. If you flip them so the slugs go to the outside of the car, you will decrease camber and create room for shims for alignment.
Check with Ridetech for offset slugs, they vary in offset, and are reversible, so you can use them to add or subtract caster.

silvermonte · #3 06-26-2020, 09:25 PM

Very interesting, I thought if I flipped them it would pull the top ball joint in towards the center of the car and I would gain more - camber. I have the .375" side on right now, if I flip it will then be the .532" side attached.

Does raising the car with the coilovers change anything? I have them set at zero preload like the instructions say. I like where the ride height is at, but if I had to raise the car a slight bit I wouldn't totally be against that.

**Tinker** · #4 06-27-2020, 04:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by silvermonte

Very interesting, I thought if I flipped them it would pull the top ball joint in towards the center of the car and I would gain more - camber. I have the .375" side on right now, if I flip it will then be the .532" side attached.

Does raising the car with the coilovers change anything? I have them set at zero preload like the instructions say. I like where the ride height is at, but if I had to raise the car a slight bit I wouldn't totally be against that.

The .375 side is the side the slugs are in, so the slugs would be facing the wheel, not the engine.
Raising (or lowering) the car will change camber settings, caster settings, and if any bumpsteer is in the system, the toe setting will also change.

SSLance · #5 06-27-2020, 10:15 AM

Try to think of the ballpoint position...to get more caster you want the upper BJ to move toward rear of the car. You can do this with offset slugs or stacking shims on rear upper bolt (this will increase camber also).

0 caster is strange, are you sure you have correct placement off upper arms and crossshafts?

silvermonte · #6 06-27-2020, 03:55 PM

As it sits right now

drivers side with the slugs facing the engine

passenger side with the slugs facing the engine

Im fairly certain I have the arms on the correct sides, the ball joints are more towards the front of the car then back like the instructions shown. Other then swapping left and right sides there is really no wrong way to put them on wrong with this type of set up. Two bolts with the slugs in and hook up the ball joints.