Suspension Set up

[deezee]

This is a bit of a call out to all those guys that have a car on the road. Do people have some advice on how to set up the camber and toe of the front wheels? Even just some rough dimensions on how far the drag links and track rods are screwed in? I know these dimensions aren't going to be the same for everyone, buts its going to be a bloody good start for me.

[pocket rocket]

Originally Posted by deezee

This is a bit of a call out to all those guys that have a car on the road. Do people have some advice on how to set up the camber and toe of the front wheels? Even just some rough dimensions on how far the drag links and track rods are screwed in? I know these dimensions aren't going to be the same for everyone, buts its going to be a bloody good start for me.

-ve 1deg camber
+ve 5deg caster
0 toe (wheels straight ahead)

would be a good place to start

Final alignment will be determined by suspension geometry (camber curve, bump steer etc), tires, car weight distribution and a bunch of other factors.

[deezee]

Unfortunately that doesn't help me as I don't know how to set up the car. I appreciate that suspension varies between different cars, but these cars have the same suspension (wishbones, steering rack, uprights, chassis) so there must be come common suspension values between cars. Also the Haynes Roadster doesn't have adjustable castor, so I'm not sure where those figures have come from.

[snapper]

DES Hammill's book on Sports car suspension is great, easy to understand.

For a simple ball park setup, a spirit level with 2x15mm nuts to contact the bottom wheel rim not the tyre and 3x15mm nut to contact the top rim then set spirit level to level bubble by using the top wishbone ball joint adjustment will set camber between 1 & 2 degrees.
2x long wood strapped to the front wheels, measure distance at the front between the 2 bits of wood, measure the back distance, set to similar distance front to back by the steering arms.
These are all ball park but will get you rolling until you can get to a place with professional gauges.

[davedew]

Have a look at this post on locost builders. It should help you with how to go about setting up the suspension.

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/view...php?tid=113661

Dave

[deezee]

The guide is pretty straight forward, although it requires a fair bit space in the garage. I think a digital measuring thing might be better than spirit levels, which aren't mega accurate.

[shh120m]

hi, i set up the steering alinment on my road car after fitting new track rods following this guys method. Being a tight arse i didnt want to pay a garage £60 for doing it so i just followed his instructions and easily got the car running straight as a dye. Once the steering alignments right then camber adjustments a doddle with a plum line and angle guage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZoL1gaWedA

[shh120m]

oops sorry, i didnt read the previous link my bad

[pocket rocket]

Originally Posted by deezee

Unfortunately that doesn't help me as I don't know how to set up the car. I appreciate that suspension varies between different cars, but these cars have the same suspension (wishbones, steering rack, uprights, chassis) so there must be come common suspension values between cars. Also the Haynes Roadster doesn't have adjustable castor, so I'm not sure where those figures have come from.

try string, plumb bobs, tape measures, straight edges, levels, protractor, chalk, time, patience and some thought. You will probably be able to get it better than any wheel aligning workshop, with all the fancy equipment, anyway because most of the guys (at least all the ones I've ever dealt with) that operate that equipment have no idea what they're doing or what they're trying to achieve.

As for castor, your building the car, you can either make it what you want or make it adjustable. If your car doesn't have any caster it will wander all over the road.

[flyerncle]

For self center to pass IVA set the mushroom hole in the middle to the front.
After IVA set the left with the hole at 11o'clock and the right one with hole at 1o'clock and this gives good feel to steering.