Hi Guys,
I was wondering if anyone can let me know how many shims to preset my wheel alignment? I'm looking for some pretty mean negative camber. Right now it is sitting with the engine in it and it looks like it actually has slightly positive camber. I reassembed it with NO shims at all.
The specs are:
- UC front end with redrilled upper control arm mount points (A9X).
- HQ stub axles (will be going A9X arms when I have the $$)
- Flares with 8" rims and 245s
- Lowered springs
Cheers
Marty
Preset Wheel Alignment
Started by
_UDLOSE_
, Oct 01 2007 09:07 AM
6 replies to this topic
#2
_JBM_
_JBM_
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Posted 01 October 2007 - 08:45 PM
This is the LX shim chart, it may help?
James
James
#3
_The Baron_
_The Baron_
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Posted 02 October 2007 - 06:06 PM
Hi Guys,
I have taken a guess and will trialer it to an alignment specialist before driving it.
The changes you have made will make any reference material a bit useless as you have moved outside the realm of factory tolerance.
Where's Chopper?
I have taken a guess and will trialer it to an alignment specialist before driving it.
The changes you have made will make any reference material a bit useless as you have moved outside the realm of factory tolerance.
Where's Chopper?
#4
rodomo
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Posted 02 October 2007 - 07:34 PM
IMHO no one could guess a start point with those mods.
Putting the original shims back where they came from would possibly be a start in the right direction.
Those mods would have had an effect on caster, camber, KPI, toe-in/out, possibly toe out on turns as well if the steering arms aren't original?
Putting the original shims back where they came from would possibly be a start in the right direction.
Those mods would have had an effect on caster, camber, KPI, toe-in/out, possibly toe out on turns as well if the steering arms aren't original?
#5
Toranamat69
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Posted 02 October 2007 - 11:56 PM
These front ends are not made that accurately so it is not uncommon to see a few mm difference between each side and each front end - especially now they are 30 years old.
Your lucky I have just been looking at this sort of thing a couple of weekends ago.
On my test bed UC front it needed 9mm of shims in the front and back stacks to achieve -0.4 degrees camber and + 2.9 castor.
Moving the upper control arm mount down 1" gives another 0.75 degrees positive camber (equivalent to 3.2mm of shims removed from both stacks)
Swapping to HQ stubs gave an extra 1.5 degrees negative camber (equivalent to adding 6.5mm of shims to both stacks)
Lowering the front will bring on more negative camber so I can't really guess here unless you know how much lower you have gone - bearing in mind you have lowered it about 22mm just by swapping the stubs over. If you work out how much lower your springs are, I have the camber curve to tell how much it has changed the camber.
Just think yourself lucky you have positive camber with no shims, many of these front ends end up in permanant negative camber territory with no shims with the HQ stubs - lowering your top arms has helped you a bit here.
Using this info and the chart JBM posted you should be able to have a stab but I would bet you will only get it within about 1 degree of where you want it without a proper alignment.
Matt
Your lucky I have just been looking at this sort of thing a couple of weekends ago.
On my test bed UC front it needed 9mm of shims in the front and back stacks to achieve -0.4 degrees camber and + 2.9 castor.
Moving the upper control arm mount down 1" gives another 0.75 degrees positive camber (equivalent to 3.2mm of shims removed from both stacks)
Swapping to HQ stubs gave an extra 1.5 degrees negative camber (equivalent to adding 6.5mm of shims to both stacks)
Lowering the front will bring on more negative camber so I can't really guess here unless you know how much lower you have gone - bearing in mind you have lowered it about 22mm just by swapping the stubs over. If you work out how much lower your springs are, I have the camber curve to tell how much it has changed the camber.
Just think yourself lucky you have positive camber with no shims, many of these front ends end up in permanant negative camber territory with no shims with the HQ stubs - lowering your top arms has helped you a bit here.
Using this info and the chart JBM posted you should be able to have a stab but I would bet you will only get it within about 1 degree of where you want it without a proper alignment.
Matt
Edited by Toranamat69, 02 October 2007 - 11:58 PM.
#6
_UDLOSE_
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Posted 03 October 2007 - 02:11 PM
Thanks for all the info guys. Looks like it's a bit of a case of trail and error.
So Matt, you are running the same amount of shims at the front and the rear? So if I understand correctly adding more shims to the rear adds + castor?
Oh yeh, I forgot to mention, as it sits now (with the positive camber) it is running the torana stubs. I am yet to aquire the HQ stubs. So when i swap them out I will instantly have some negative camber? I plan on going back to torana stubs with the hopper's kit down the track, but I'm going HQ for sheer cost cutting to get it running and registered.
Cheers
Marty
So Matt, you are running the same amount of shims at the front and the rear? So if I understand correctly adding more shims to the rear adds + castor?
Oh yeh, I forgot to mention, as it sits now (with the positive camber) it is running the torana stubs. I am yet to aquire the HQ stubs. So when i swap them out I will instantly have some negative camber? I plan on going back to torana stubs with the hopper's kit down the track, but I'm going HQ for sheer cost cutting to get it running and registered.
Cheers
Marty
#7
Toranamat69
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Posted 03 October 2007 - 11:57 PM
Yes using same shims front and rear to achieve those specs using UC upper control arms.
If you have LX upper arms, you will need to run more shims in the rear stack.
Yes adding shims to the rear stack increases positive castor but it also increases negative camber slightly at the same time.
Most people don't seem to think Toranas need as much castor as I do. I plan to up mine to about 5.5 to 6 degrees when I get the power steering front end in.
You will gain 1.5 degrees more negative camber with HQ stubs. It doesn't suprise me at all if you have posiitve camber with no shims using Torana stubs as this is what normally happens.
The LX RTS front ends actually used some tube spacers as well as shims from the factory because they needed so many shims to align them with the Top arms down lower. The tube spacers were used so they can't fall out but they are a bugger to remove if the front end is in the car.
If you are lucky like me you will just have enough adjustment in your front end to be able to run HQ or Torana stubs and align it how you want.
M@
If you have LX upper arms, you will need to run more shims in the rear stack.
Yes adding shims to the rear stack increases positive castor but it also increases negative camber slightly at the same time.
Most people don't seem to think Toranas need as much castor as I do. I plan to up mine to about 5.5 to 6 degrees when I get the power steering front end in.
You will gain 1.5 degrees more negative camber with HQ stubs. It doesn't suprise me at all if you have posiitve camber with no shims using Torana stubs as this is what normally happens.
The LX RTS front ends actually used some tube spacers as well as shims from the factory because they needed so many shims to align them with the Top arms down lower. The tube spacers were used so they can't fall out but they are a bugger to remove if the front end is in the car.
If you are lucky like me you will just have enough adjustment in your front end to be able to run HQ or Torana stubs and align it how you want.
M@
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