Setting Camber

[Tom H]

Hmmm, Chuck's a lot smarter than me on chassis stuff, and I think he is correct that a very level floor is needed. But I still can't see any way for the toe in to be incorrect if the "total" toe in is correct and the wheel is straight when driving. I guess this also assumes nothing else is bent or out of position. So maybe not a good method after any major rework.

Tom

 

[MikeH]

All I know is that on the MGB, after rebuilding the front end (new bushings and swivels), I used the gauge and it steers straight and tire wear looked normal after some use. But on the "B", the toe-in is about the only adjustment you have. The lower arms I installed set the camber, and the caster, at least form what I understand is set with wedges between the crossmember and the subframe. Prior to setting the toe, I did turn the wheel lock to lock and split the turns to center the steering.

 

[Chuck Ingram]

Castor can be changed
Mike you are correct in assuming as per the manual castor is facrory set and cannot be changed.As to shims at the upper A arm there can be one or two single ones that set the castor from the factory.Important not to disturb these ones if you are adjusting camber.
HOWEVER
You can alter castor buy adding or deleting single shims at the rear mounting bolt.Saying that might mean you need a longer bolt.Once castor is set you will need to adjust camber.This is before you can adjusts toe in or toe out.
As to toe I always seem to have my steering wheel just a wee bit off center.
I guess if I was really fussy I would make adjustments that would center it.
Once your wheels are straight and castor and camber has been set toe can adjusted.On the Alpine its much easier than a Tiger.The Tiger has one turn of a tie rod per 1/8th inch of toe.This means toe can be a not so exact as per standards.

 

[PROCRAFT]

alignment

Chuck:

I set the car up on stands ( when we did the new front crossmember) I machined a delren spacer to center the rack, we used a SPI digital protractor
for the caster and a dunlop guage for the camber, we did everything on stands. we also removed the front shocks and made a dummy shock to keep the suspension at ride height. and you are correct you can change the caster on the Alpine and the Tiger just as you said, caster ,camber and lastly toe.

 

[Chuck Ingram]

Chuck:

I set the car up on stands ( when we did the new front crossmember) I machined a delren spacer to center the rack, we used a SPI digital protractor
for the caster and a dunlop guage for the camber, we did everything on stands. we also removed the front shocks and made a dummy shock to keep the suspension at ride height. and you are correct you can change the caster on the Alpine and the Tiger just as you said, caster ,camber and lastly toe.

Joel
Love the idea of being able to do this on stands.
Your dummy shock is shocking for sure.I just think I will be needing to make a couple of them.
As per my method I can jack up the front,Remove the wheel,add or subtract a shim.replace wheel and lower in about 15 minutes .Then check it to see if it is good.The problem is one may need to do it a couple of times as shim thickness or number of shims is educated guess work.

 

[Tom H]

By "dummy shock" I assume we mean essentially a threaded rod that goes where the shock would be. I have one that I used for assembling the suspension. But I never thought of using 2 of them instead of the 300 lbs of weight recommended in the manual to get the car down to its ride height for alignment checking. Neat!

Tom

 

[PROCRAFT]

camber

Chuck and Tom:

What I did was make a link out of 1"x .250 alloy bar at the ride height half the stroke or travel of the front shock,keep in mind this is a coil over front,
with the stock lower arms I reckon Toms idea is the deal a threaded rod with
a bushing welded on the bottom to replace the shock.

 

[Nickodell]

Don't forget to lube the front end after you've finished with castor oil.

Sorry, couldn't help it. I just won $10,000 on a sweepstakes and we've been celebrating with Moet & Chandon since 4pm.

 

[Chuck Ingram]

Don't forget to lube the front end after you've finished with castor oil.

Sorry, couldn't help it. I just won $10,000 on a sweepstakes and we've been celebrating with Moet & Chandon since 4pm.

Nick
I think you are well self lubricated by now.
Congrats on the win.

 

[Nickodell]

Yeah. $7,230 after tax. Still, it'll pay this year's property tax and leave a couple of hundred over. Ain't taxes wonderful?

 

[Chuck Ingram]

Yeah. $7,230 after tax. Still, it'll pay this year's property tax and leave a couple of hundred over. Ain't taxes wonderful?

Nick
Here in Canada all lottery winnings here are tax free.Even the person who won 41 million last week dosen't have to pay taxes on the win.
However we pay a lot of tax to pay for our medicare system.

 

[Nickodell]

You can deduct gambling losses from winnings here, but who the hell keeps losing racing, lottery and raffle tickets?

When we won the round-trip flight on the Concorde in 1998, the total value, including banquet, feeder flights PHL to JFK and 4-star hotels at each end (plus theater and subway etc. tickets, flight jackets and other stuff) would have come to over $25,000. Part of the Grand Prize was an additional check of $10,000 "walking around money," but we only spent $2,000 on that and kept the rest for the inevitable 1099 Gambling and Lottery Winnings at the end of the year added to our taxable income. Wise move. I'll bet most of the other 23 winners across the USA blew theirs in Harrods in London or on slap-up dinners.