Alignment Specs

[73pony]

Will be getting to the front end alignment soon and I am curious what people are using for specs. I found the original specs but I assume they are for Bias-Ply tires and stock ride height.

I am running radials, 17" rims. 1" lowering springs in the front and 1" lowering blocks in the rear. 351C with AC removed. Any help would be greatly appreciated. The car will be a cruiser with some rather spirited driving from time to time. The front suspension has been completely replaced. UCA, LCA, Spring Perches, Shock, Springs, Tie Rods, Steering gear rebuilt with Quick Ratio, etc.

Here are the numbers I was thinking based on some internet searches.....

1/4" toe in

1/2 to 3/4 neg camber

??? Caster I have seen everything from 0 to 5 degrees suggested.

 

[piper62j]

Trial and error due to all the modifications on the front geometry. IMHO

 

[Jeff73Mach1]

Caster as much as you can get with each side being equal and not having the strut rods and the front roll bar interfere with one another.

Camber Negative I suggest between 1/2 of a degree if you never drive aggressive in the turns, 3/4 of a degree if you do, and 1-1 1/2 if you are a hooligan like me.

Toe in . . .anywhere between 1/8 to 1/4 and you should be fine.

 

[Mister 4x4]

Mine's currently "eyeballed" with about 1/4" toe-in - using stock equipment and it's tracking just fine with no drag (my Jeep's the same way with 3/8" toe-in).  I'll be getting it properly aligned soon (probably after I swap on the coil-overs), but as little as I actually drive it, it works for now.

 

[Bentworker]

+1

You can always opentrackers website too.

Your caster options are limited by your UCA choice. What arms are you running?

Caster as much as you can get with each side being equal and not having the strut rods and the front roll bar interfere with one another.

Camber Negative I suggest between 1/2 of a degree if you never drive aggressive in the turns, 3/4 of a degree if you do, and 1-1 1/2 if you are a hooligan like me.

Toe in . . .anywhere between 1/8 to 1/4 and you should be fine.

 

[73pony]

All Stock style from Moog on the UCA and LCA. I did make and weld on custom stiffener plates on the LCA's.

 

[Bentworker]

You can probably get 2-3* positive caster with the stock upper control arms. Tring to get more caster would involve shimming out the front side of your UCA behind the front bolt to rock the UCA twards the rear of the car. You might be able to do that too, but you would sacrafice negitive camber to do so.

I'd run it to the allignmment shop with no shims under the UCA, the LCA in it's most outward setting, and shorten up your strut rods so they are equal and not causing interference like what Jeff73Mach1 said.

One thing about when you try to max out camber and caster with the stock UCA is that you have to drag the LCA so far out and foward that your swaybar end links get pretty misalligned. On my car I thought about making a plate or diffrent sway bar mounts that would bolt to the stock mounting point but put the bar further forward to help out. What would be really cool would be a sway bar that was a little bit wider and shorter to straighten the links back up but work with a peformance allignment. Some of the very square poly end link kits can be a bear to assemble with everything out of whack. Moog makes a blue poly set that is more cone shaped and is a little easier to wrestle into place if you have your Lower control arms out and forward.

 

[73pony]

Thanks for all of the advise here. I appreciate it. I spoke with a local shop/builder here today and he said he would do the alignment. He mentioned some of the same things mentioned here as he is familiar with these set ups and has been doing them for nearly 50 years and said he would do mine himself just like he does for all of the classics that come in.

His suggested settings were as follows....

1/8" toe in

Negative camber at 3/4 to 1

Caster at 3 1/2 on the drivers side and 3 3/4 on the passenger.

All subject to clearance and interference issues.

 

[Jeff73Mach1]

Sounds like he knows his business

 

[EdM]

I hope I am not interfering here but I just today completed the alignment on my '73 Mach 1 after installing the Street or Track full coil over system. I used a Tenhulzen alignment tool throughout (a dandy by the way). I installed the UCA's and LCA's as shipped and set by Shaun. I have run out of adjustment on my strut rods but landed as follows:

Camber: I landed on .55 driver side and .60 passenger side. This using SoT's camber kit. Right about where I wanted.

Caster: I landed on 2.5 driver side and 2.6 passenger side. I wanted 3.0 minimum. I can either shim or pull the CA's and re-adjust. Neither of which I am particularly fond of. Particularly the latter as it requires removal of the CA's. Am I really going to notice a difference given active street driving? 

Toe: I landed on 1/16 a side. 

Comments appreciated.

 

[Bentworker]

More caster = more return to center. I would be tempted to adjust the rear heim joint on your UCAs shorter.

Is it together enough to drive?

 

[EdM]

I am a few days away from driving it. Doing such an adjustment requires full removal of the UCA, a bit of a hassle. I may just shim the front UCA to tower mounting bolt.

 

[Don C]

2.5 should be fine for your caster. I would drive it before messing with shimming the UCA, which will affect the camber. If you don't like the way it handles then try it.

 

[EdM]

Yep. Thanks.

 

[73pony]

Dropped the car off the for alignment this morning. The owner had his old 51 Ford Shoebox 2 dr there and took me for a ride in it. Very cool car running a flathead V8. I was surprised at the power it puts out. Then we took mine out. He was impressed with the power of it. Said he could dial in the alignment so it will handle as close to a new car as it is able to. It also needed new front tires and he suggested a slightly different tire size on the front. I will post the results once I have it back and test it out. I wanted to stay and watch but I had some things come up at the office I had to get back for Damn work getting in the way of fun.

 

[73pony]

Got the car back. Here is where it ended up and after some spirited driving on my way back to the office I am ecstatic to say the least!!!

Toe in .22

Neg Camber 1.1 on both sides

Caster of 2.5 on drivers and 2.85 on passenger (not quite as much as I wanted but couldn't get there without shims and he did not want to go that route as it would have caused interference with the stabilizer bar)

Like driving a giant go cart in the corners.

THANKS TO ALL FOR THE ADVICE!!

 

[Stanglover]

Just to add to this topic, I just got my alignment re-done. I had installed my rebuilt Saginaw 800 PS box back in February when it was actually warm enough to work in the garage. Problem was I really needed to replace the rag joint, but didn't buy one till a couple of weeks ago. Bought the Lares 201 from Rock Auto, which was just installed today. Fit on the input shaft was a bit too tight just to push on, but no problem with a gentle tap. Fit to the steering shaft was good, Job done.

When the car was last aligned, the tech followed the high-tech computer which is best on modern cars, but with a little persuasion did what I asked.

 Here are the numbers on my 71 Mach 1 with BFG tires @32psi, stock replacement front suspension.

 Caster: Left              2.2

             Right            2.7

 Camber:                  - 0.1

 Toe:                        1/32"

 Thrust angle;            -0.1

There was some secondary angles that mean little, just what the computer spits out. Problem with these High-Tech alignment benches is they can be too sensitive to vibrations, drafts and the like. Bottom line is the car handled much better and the steering returned to center way faster. I do need to get the car out and really drive it, but that's for another day now.

 

[73pony]

I can update my experience and it has been fantastic. On my 3rd day of hot rod Power Tour. Car handles great. Windy back roads are a blast and 80-90 on the interstate is like a dream.

 

[EdM]

Just to add to this topic, I just got my alignment re-done. I had installed my rebuilt Saginaw 800 PS box back in February when it was actually warm enough to work in the garage. Problem was I really needed to replace the rag joint, but didn't buy one till a couple of weeks ago. Bought the Lares 201 from Rock Auto, which was just installed today. Fit on the input shaft was a bit too tight just to push on, but no problem with a gentle tap. Fit to the steering shaft was good, Job done.

When the car was last aligned, the tech followed the high-tech computer which is best on modern cars, but with a little persuasion did what I asked.

 Here are the numbers on my 71 Mach 1 with BFG tires @32psi, stock replacement front suspension.

 Caster: Left              2.2

             Right            2.7

 Camber:                  - 0.1

 Toe:                        1/32"

 Thrust angle;            -0.1

There was some secondary angles that mean little, just what the computer spits out. Problem with these High-Tech alignment benches is they can be too sensitive to vibrations, drafts and the like. Bottom line is the car handled much better and the steering returned to center way faster. I do need to get the car out and really drive it, but that's for another day now.

Those look like marginal numbers given what I have been advised to work towards. Glad to read you are happy.