<VV> LM alignment

Sat Feb 4 20:48:27 EST 2017

Thanks Chuck,

 I have the original  front end out of this car and control arms are correct. I did not get a sense from the technician that he was very clear on what caster is and does. Although old enough to be familiar with our vintage vehicles, he was not questioning what he was seeing on the computer and the more questions I asked, the more nervous he got. I suspect the machine was not set up correctly. Shortening the strut should have shown decreasing caster, this is not what I observed. Unless someone can show me otherwise.

After driving car today in between rain showers the car shows little tendency to return to neutral after a turn.  Not reassuring.

Thank you.

Anyone else care to take a stab?

Jim C. 65 corsa

________________________________
From: BBRT <chsadek at comcast.net>
Sent: Saturday, February 4, 2017 1:40 PM
To: 'James Cuneo'
Subject: RE: <VV> LM alignment

OK, I tried to take some pictures. Hard to do any good ones. (You may not know this. I broke my femur NYs’ Day..so really having issues.) I am thinking you switched upper control arms while rebuilding. Did you remove them? If not, then I have no idea.

If so, read on. Looking forward with the driver side wheel turned to the passenger/curb side, the forward or front part of the upper control arm looks higher to me. This is near the pivot shaft behind the shock tower. It looks, while bending over with a stiff leg, that the front  part is closer to the shock tower portion o f the cross member (where the spring goes up into), that the rear portion..Pictures show a bigger gap..  Again on the old unrestored POS dune buggy I have outside with no history.

From: James Cuneo [mailto:jamescuneo at hotmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, February 4, 2017 1:36 PM
To: BBRT
Subject: Re: <VV> LM alignment

The restrictions were due to the strut rod nuts bottoming on threads, same problem for tie rod ends, ran out of thread.

The effective shortening of the strut rod causing increasing caster does not make sense, and yes, I saw it with my own two eyes.

Jim C.

________________________________

From: BBRT <chsadek at comcast.net<mailto:chsadek at comcast.net>>
Sent: Friday, February 3, 2017 7:30 PM
To: virtualvairs at corvair.org<mailto:virtualvairs at corvair.org>
Subject: Re: <VV> LM alignment

Did you loosen stabilizer bar? In case it was restricting the adjustment.

Do you have the upper control arms possibly switched side to side?
Normally the strut rods-if you mean the brake reaction rods/castor control
arms, the bushing is centered more or less, therefore nuts are roughly
centered in the threads, front to rear.

Find someone with an old fashioned camber/castor gage that fits on end of
wheel bearing hub over or instead of grease cap, or make a big washer
extension and check the turning front to rear, etc. That would give you a
feeling that the guy is right (although I can't imagine why he wouldn't be
right). But, it gives me a good feeling with a coarser measurement for
confirmation. :>)

Let us know what the real answer is.

Chuck S

-----Original Message-----
From: VirtualVairs [mailto:virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org] On Behalf Of
James Cuneo via VirtualVairs
Sent: Friday, February 3, 2017 9:44 PM
To: virtualvairs at corvair.org<mailto:virtualvairs at corvair.org>
Subject: <VV> LM alignment

For you Alignment pros,

After rebuilding front suspension with all new parts  including their hd
springs from Clarks, I took it to be aligned today. The technician called me
out to show me that the strut rod nuts were bottomed on the threads before
the desired caster angle had been achieved. Effectively he had shortened
them as far as they would go. I had requested +4 deg. The most he could get
was + 1.9 deg. I thought that he was adjusting the rod in the wrong
direction but the computer definitely showed increasing caster angle with
shortening of the rod. This is contrary to what I understand about caster
and the chassis manual as well. Also, at this caster angle he could not get
the toe close to correct, the sleeves bottomed on the tie rod ends. So, he
backed off the caster until he could get  the toe in close. The final
numbers are camber .8 deg. caster .3 deg and toe in .32 total.

Alignment rig is a Hunter brand laser digital.

Car drives straight and does not track on grooves like it did before

Steering effort is lighter than before indicating less caster.

Not sure but, I think somethings not right?

Jim C. 1965 Corsa

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