2B Chassie Alignment

[Guest JammyJim]

Thought I would treat my 2b to a wheel alignment check, after fitting rear camber wedges. I have previously used a drive over tracking plate which seems to work well.

 

First tyre centre I went to said there gauges wont fit under front cycle wings, but on looking around car he noticed that the N/S rear wheel seems to stick out less than the O/S. When I got home I confirmed this with a straight edge, about 30mm difference. this seems to suggest that rear sub frame is out of alignment. Don't know how I hadn't noticed before.

 

Should I be concerned. Or is that just how things are.

 

The readings on track plate are;

O/S Rear 1.25 toe in

N/S Rear 1.50 toe in

N/S front .25 toe in

O/S Front .25 toe in

 

I know the rear aren't adjustable, and as the total front is about half degree does this seem right.

 

JJ

[Guest chris brown]

I don't think there was a 2B chassis produced that was square so I for one are not supprised. As for the rear tow in the only way I found to get it better was to use camber wedges that had taper in both directions. As for the front it should be from straight ahead to 15 minutes tow in total

[speedtripledan]

id say 30mm is about normal for 2b

[Guest coops222]

i had that problem..... i turned the camber wedges round to suit.

[Guest Ian & Carole]

At the end of the day, unless you intend to try a sub 10 min lap of "Nurberging Ring" in your highly modified race spec car then, I really don't think it matters too much.

Just keep an eye out for exessive tyre wear but again unless you us it as your daily driver the tyres will degrade before they wear out.

I would suggest that most 2b's have more ability than most have owners tallent, I know mine has.

 

Take cover and wait for all the purists to arrive.

[Grim]

a bog standard 2b with crap road tyres can do a 10 minute lap of the ring...... just.

 

 

But back on topic, where are you measuring from? the bodywork or the chassis?

Is it me, or does that rear toe look excessive?

[Longboarder]

If you could accurately locate a centre line in the chassis you could measure from that (but I can't find one). The wings will not be quite identical widths, nor will the bodywork they mount on so the outer edge of the wing is not a usable reference. The vast majority of kit cars, not just Hoods, will be like that and seem to suffer very little for it, having far better handling than anything most of us have driven before.

I agree that 1.5 deg toe in is too much. I spent a couple of days last year trying to set 0.5 deg (ballpark guess) for the rear toe in. It's done with shims like the camber wedges. The correct shim on the front two bolts of the hub carrier each side would do it. Camber wedges have a vertical slope. Toe wedges a horizontal slope. (A calculator and some maths/trig and I was baffled. ) It did change the straight line running to feel more stable but not sure about the cornering. I'm not good enough to tell the difference and my engine broke before I got to Barkston. I ended up just trying different thin shims and went with what felt nice to drive.

 

Nigel

[ibrooks]

A centreline should be relatively easy on a 2B. Drop a plumbline from each of the centre bolts at the ends of the rear torque tube and draw a line between them. Now halfway along that draw a line at 90 degrees - that's your centreline. Set everything to that because that bit it not adjustable without major work.

 

Drawing lines under the car is easy enough if you have turn plates or similar and substantial blocks to sit them on. Offcuts of 12" floor joists do the job nicely and have no scrap value so builders will often let them go for free. Just getting the bottom of the tire 4" off the floor is enough to give reasonble access underneath (ok maybe at arms length to the middle but good enough). The only complex bit is having the weight on the suspension and arranging that the tires can scrub and turn as you change things so you know you are not just loading up bushes and not getting proper real-life measurements.

 

Iain

[Guest Ian Maycock]

Before chopping off the sliding pillar of my 2B i measured the wheel base only to find that the front nearside was 15mm further forward than the offside!!!!!

[Bob Tucker]

Hoods are generally set to run a fair bit lower than the Sierra, & the rear geometry means that there is more toe in, the lower the car sits.

So toe in can vary widely on the same car.

My advice....don't worry....

HTH Bob

[Guest JammyJim]

Well after all comments have decided to run it as is for now, and keep an eye on tyre ware,

 

However did try to adjust front camber as only had half a degree both sides, undone top ball joint tried to screw it into wishbone but won't go seems at end of travel. Didn't want to force it and knacker thread. I did raise the front slightly on coileovers which also slightly increased camber to 3/4 degree each side, and increased ground clearance.

 

I have been recommended to use Tyre Pro at Exeter to have alignment check apparently they really know their stuff.

 

JJ

[Longboarder]

The correct thing to do is obtain a suitable tap and clear the hole in the top wishbone to allow more turns. A cruder method and only if you have a good length of trackrod end into the top wishbone would be to grind about two threads worth off the end of the ball joint still leaving a substantial length to engage in the wishbone for strength. That would allow you to increase negative camber up to about three degrees which is more than enough.

 

Nigel

[Guest JammyJim]

Hi Nigel

 

Thanks for suggestion looks like a job for when the rain comes back, along with the Decorating that I've been promising Tina I would do as soon as car is on road, but there's always bits not to my liking which need changing, " if I new then what I know now ".

 

JJ

[Grizzly]

A thinner locknut on the top wishbone will allow you to screw the top links in further and thus give you more camber.

 

On 2Bs (and I know they all vary a bit) the NS Rear wheel does indeed tend to sit in a bit too far. You can confirm this by running a string alongside the whole car and comparing what you have each side. On mine, I fitted a spacer on the NS wheel with longer studs too.

On Sierras IIRC, I don't think the Diff was central and the half shafts are not the same length. On a 2B, the Diff sits central and this is why the wheel needs tweaking out on the NS. As usual, I'm prepared to be corrected on all of this

 

As has been said before, shim washers will help to give you both the toe in and camber you need. All a bit Heath Robinson I know, but I paid a guy early days for a four wheel alignment check and he was miles out.

 

There's some nattering about all this on my website...

 

HTH?

 

PS: I've hustled mine around the Nurburgring on really crappy tyres, in circa 10 mins.