My Mustang-question

[groucho]

Next up is an alignment. I let go of the wheel, it pulls a good amount to the right, then WAMMO, pulls hard as hell to the right. No pwr steering. It was in a minor fender bender. No frame damage, but they had to cut the lower control arm supports off the old core support and reweld to the new core support. I hope it's just alignment. It feels to me as the caster on the right is WAY off. Any thoughts?

[Loren]

Maybe they didn't adjust stuff after changing those strut brackets up front, and there's some negative caster on the right. Sometimes you can pull the wheel off, get it jacked up to height at the ball joint and hold a carpenter's square right at the hub center and sight from the side, and see if the upper ball joint is a little rearward of the lower like it should be. Not precise but let's ya know if you're in the ball park.

[Huskinhano]

Ditto on checking for accident related damage not repaired. Maybe the LCA got tweaked by the strut got shoved back in the accident. On the Mustang forum I hang out on, he took his 69 or 70 to a Ford dealer for an alignment. The best they could get on one side was 5* negative caster! The thought was that the car was in an accident.

I don't know what your plans are for the car, my guess is you're going to flip it. If you are going to keep it you can really make it handle very welll. I'm going to do a write up on my 66 with the parts I used. The car went from scary to awesome! It drives similar to a modern car, lots of fun now. If you don't have a caster camber gauge I'd suggest buying one. It was one of the best things I did. You're always working on cars, it would be a great tool for you.

[groucho]

Ditto on checking for accident related damage not repaired. Maybe the LCA got tweaked by the strut got shoved back in the accident. On the Mustang forum I hang out on, he took his 69 or 70 to a Ford dealer for an alignment. The best they could get on one side was 5* negative caster! The thought was that the car was in an accident.

I don't know what your plans are for the car, my guess is you're going to flip it. If you are going to keep it you can really make it handle very welll. I'm going to do a write up on my 66 with the parts I used. The car went from scary to awesome! It drives similar to a modern car, lots of fun now. If you don't have a caster camber gauge I'd suggest buying one. It was one of the best things I did. You're always working on cars, it would be a great tool for you.

It got hit in the right headlight area and pushed something thru the core support near the battery, requiring a new core support. Shouldn't affect geometry if I'm right as the LCA support is welded other areas besides the core support. As far as trick pieces, I'm not that guy. It drives pretty good except for the "pull". If I can fix just that I'm all good. Any thoughts on that are appreciated.

[NightShifter]

Assuming (big word) the repairs were done properly I'd say cross the front tires and see if it pulls the opposite way.

[Huskinhano]

It got hit in the right headlight area and pushed something thru the core support near the battery, requiring a new core support. Shouldn't affect geometry if I'm right as the LCA support is welded other areas besides the core support. As far as trick pieces, I'm not that guy. It drives pretty good except for the "pull". If I can fix just that I'm all good. Any thoughts on that are appreciated.

I hear ya. I'll assume you plan on selling it and not looking to dump a lot of money. Most likely a good alignment should fix things. On my 66 caster and camber are set by shims which limits things a bit. On yours, camber is set by the lower control arm eccentric bolt, like 65 to 70 Chevys with the same problems, they slip. There is a kit that has drilled blocks at 1* increments to increase negative caster. Caster is set by the strut rods. Worn bushings there will make the car dart to one side or another. If you have a 17/32" drill bit, you can lower the UCA 1" which will do wonders on how the car drives, big difference. If you look at the picture I posted of my lower control arms, they were Ford service parts with probably less then 10,000 miles. They were totally shot. These bushing take a beating. Usually you replace the whole arm on these, not the bushing and they're being made in China. That speaks volumes.

The reason I suggested aftermarket lower control arm and struts is because they do away with the bushings that get sloppy and will last a very long time along with adjustability.

[groucho]

I hear ya. I'll assume you plan on selling it and not looking to dump a lot of money. Most likely a good alignment should fix things. On my 66 caster and camber are set by shims which limits things a bit. On yours, camber is set by the lower control arm eccentric bolt, like 65 to 70 Chevys with the same problems, they slip. There is a kit that has drilled blocks at 1* increments to increase negative caster. Caster is set by the strut rods. Worn bushings there will make the car dart to one side or another. If you have a 17/32" drill bit, you can lower the UCA 1" which will do wonders on how the car drives, big difference. If you look at the picture I posted of my lower control arms, they were Ford service parts with probably less then 10,000 miles. They were totally shot. These bushing take a beating. Usually you replace the whole arm on these, not the bushing and they're being made in China. That speaks volumes.

The reason I suggested aftermarket lower control arm and struts is because they do away with the bushings that get sloppy and will last a very long time along with adjustability.

Thanks man

[Cyclone03]

I would check that the strut rod bushings are in place ,tight,etc. If they are loose they will allow the lower control arm to move back and forth radicly changing castor.

IF the castor is PULLED more than about +3deg using the strut rod adjustment the lower control arm bushing gets to a near bind,you can go over 3 but it will eat lower control arm bushings.

I like to lower all upper control arms 1" (Shelby Mod) but I cheat by offsetting the holes back 1/8"-1/4" (if the upper bushing clears) then I still add 1/4" of shim under the front upper control arm bolts. This gets me a built in 3-4deg positive Castor with near zero offset in the lower control arm bushing. I then set the camber to 0 +0/-1/4deg for a pure streeter. My car has -1deg camber for more bite. No more than 1/8" in with 15-16" wheels,1/16" for 17's and bigger,(I run 1/16" total with 18's).

If your not setting the ailianment yourself dont buy into the offset/total/split crap that the big shops with the wiz bang machines try to push. They will try to sell you that 1/2deg pos camber,left and 1/2deg neg camber right eqaul 0 camber. tell them no 0 left and 0 right = 0. same on castor.

Heres some good street specs:
Camber 0* both sides, neg to 1/4* but NO pos camber.
Castor 3-4*pos,same both sides NO MORE than 1/4* split. Go to 5 if you have power steering,or big arms(LOL)
Toe 1/8" in total with 16" wheels or smaller,1/16" in with 17's and bigger. (the reason for the different settings is because the short sidewall have less flex and sont need the scrubing)


Try this link:http://www.bangshift.com/forum/showt...ang-Suspension

[groucho]

OK guys, back to the OG......what would cause a pretty good right pull, then w/hands off the wheel a violent pull? Short answers if possible. Thanks

[Cyclone03]

Bad tire (swap side to side)
Low air pressure.
Castor way off,side to side not the same.
Bad strut rod bushings.
Brake drag.
Power Steering? Bad spool valve,on drag link.
You said no power steering,does it have manual drag link or did the pump just get removed? If they just pulled the lines and pump and left the spool valve in place the front will be all over the place.
Something bent

[Huskinhano]

Groucho, that's why I was saying you should buy a caster/camber gauge. You're doing a lot of cars, it's a very handy, useful and cheap tool. When I did my suspension I planned on sending my car to a shop for alignment. Do to the nature of my parts I realized trying to explain to a shop what I wanted, that they would understand and there was a very real possibility that they would screw it up and charge a lot of money for doing so. I bought the gauge, about $125 shipped to the door. One of the wisest moves I did!

I set my car to 3.5* + caster, 1 3/8*- camber (both sides with in 1/8*) and 1/16" toe. Drives very nice. Cyclone03 gave excellent advice. Now that I have the gauge, I just may try 5* caster since I have the gauge and the parts that allow me to do so with no worries about bushings. Not having the gauge is like rebuilding and installing an engine then sending the car out for a tune up at Pep Boys.

[groucho]

Groucho, that's why I was saying you should buy a caster/camber gauge. You're doing a lot of cars, it's a very handy, useful and cheap tool. When I did my suspension I planned on sending my car to a shop for alignment. Do to the nature of my parts I realized trying to explain to a shop what I wanted, that they would understand and there was a very real possibility that they would screw it up and charge a lot of money for doing so. I bought the gauge, about $125 shipped to the door. One of the wisest moves I did!

I set my car to 3.5* + caster, 1 3/8*- camber (both sides with in 1/8*) and 1/16" toe. Drives very nice. Cyclone03 gave excellent advice.

I got a digital one yrs ago from a roundy round catolog and never go the hang of it. Had lots of probs figuring out a grease plate turntable. I figure, for needing it once every 10 yrs, it wasn't worth making myself CRAZY over it. The car I used it on actually went very straight @ 125 in the 1/4.....but the time was just a waste

[Huskinhano]

http://www.bangshift.com/forum/showthread.php/43235-DYI-home-alignment

[SpiderGearsMan]

NOVA subframe would help

[mrocketscience]

NOVA subframe would help

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