Norwood

[Roberts68]

Originally Posted by Sieg

The railroad tracks in Oregon aren't a problem.......it's the wagon tracks that'll kill you.

Your comment of the "wagon tracks" reminds me of the wheel ruts in the blacktop roads up north. Hwy 38 North of Grand Rapids MN on the way to Big Fork is a beautiful windy piece with lots of elevation change... but sees lots of heavy trucks particularly logging rigs.

In about '95 I smacked my finned cast aluminum "deep" TCI th350 pan and header collectors on the center of my lane because the wheel ruts were so deep going through a low area between two hills. It blew my vacuum modulator hose off and the thing would not shift below about 6500 rpm without it. It isn't easy to bribe a kid at a gas station to let you use a lift, but it can be done.

[Sieg]

Bar links installed w/ 7/8" spacers. LCA bump stops narrowed due to spring interference. Shocks installed. Chased camber/caster settings most of the day and finally got it in the zone. Thankfully I installed the offset UCA cross shafts because I had to flip the right side to obtain balanced settings.

Preliminary settings:
Left Cam/Cas -.6 / 5.6
Right Cam/Cas -.7 / 5.4

I plan on setting the toe at 1/16" total for a starting point.

Once it's on the ground and driven a bit so it settles in I'd like to get Cam/Cas Left -.5 / 5.0 and Right at .6 / 5.5.

My previous setup wouldn't allow caster above 4.0 without at least -1.0+ camber, so assuming my work is correct I'm somewhat satisfied...........but how it drives is the critical factor.

[SSLance]

It should be a noticeable improvement!!

Isn't it crazy how just a small shim on a control arm mount can change both the camber and caster so much? Sure makes one appreciate the $$$ hunter alignment machines that tells the operator exactly how much of a shim to put where to get to the desired setting on the first try huh?

[GregWeld]

Remember that caster is really only helping you for "straight line" driving / tracking. The factory setting on a manual steer '55 Chevy was 0 caster... in an effort to help low speed steering (that and the huge steering wheel). Once you go to power steering then the caster can start rising. I think most newer cars are running 5*

The one thing I hate the most in a car is bump steer.... When watching track videos -- I see a lot of it in a lot of cars. I fail to understand someone that would try to dial in their "track car" and yet tolerate a bunch of bump steer. Now that I've mentioned it -- watch for it when you're watching someones track video.

[Sieg]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

Remember that caster is really only helping you for "straight line" driving / tracking. The factory setting on a manual steer '55 Chevy was 0 caster... in an effort to help low speed steering (that and the huge steering wheel). Once you go to power steering then the caster can start rising. I think most newer cars are running 5*

The one thing I hate the most in a car is bump steer.... When watching track videos -- I see a lot of it in a lot of cars. I fail to understand someone that would try to dial in their "track car" and yet tolerate a bunch of bump steer. Now that I've mentioned it -- watch for it when you're watching someones track video.

Thus the extra .5* on the right to compensate for road crown.

I had the left side at 6.6* but the right wasn't coming in........once it's settled I'll get serious with the settings.

I installed +.5" tie rod ends to hopefully help with bump steer, I don't have a bump steer gauge and didn't have enough room in front of the car on the stands to do the laser plotting trick.

At ride height the steering arms 'appear' to be on a good plain.




After this mornings BBall games I'll get the toe set.