Wheel Alignment Settings

[Arkwright]

Hi Guys

My little beast is off for a full wheel alignment tomorrow but rather than have the man at the Ford garage (:freak3: ) set her up I'd like to tell him what to set her too.

She is a MK1 SC with fensport lowered springs to be used for touring (NOT track day).

So does anyone have full geometry list to hand that would be suitable?

Thanks chaps,

[Murf]

Heres the TRD settings (lifted from IMOC):

Geometry Settings

TRD setup:

toe-in:
ft=1.6mm (stock=1mm)
rr=3.2mm (stock=4-5mm)

castor = 6 deg (don't worry about this too much though )

camber
ft= 1mm neg (stock zero)
rr= 1.5 neg (stock 1 deg)

[Arkwright]

I thank you - and Tiger thanks you (or she would if she wasn't such a bitch - but that's a whole other story - little does she know Owen will be chopping bits out if her tomorrow!)

[jimi]

This is from a TRD tuning brochure

Phase One: STREET PERFORMANCE

Results: Slight decrease in ride quality, improved handling,


Camber Front: -1 degree
Camber Rear : -1 "

Caster : +6 "

Toe in Front: 1/16 in.
Toe in rear : 1/8 in.


Phase Two: AUTO CROSS, STREET PERFORMANCE AND ROAD RACE
(Dependent upon class restrictions)

RESULTS: Decrease in ride quality (lowers ride height 1.5-2 in.),
dramatically improved handling, improved braking.

Instead of phase one equipment:

TRD High pressure gas struts
TRD Springs

Reset Alignment:

Camber Front: -2 degrees
Camber Rear : -1 1/2 degrees

Caster : +6 degrees

Toe in front: 1/16 in. ( 1/8 in. out for auto cross)
Toe in rear : 1/8 in. ( 1/16 in. out for auto cross)
HTH

[adamh]

alan and i just put them trd settings onto my car , it didnt seem to make things better, only worse than before.. i'm not knocking them as i'd guess most cars are set up different, and also every single piece like tiger etc has been pulled apart and rebuilt, so there is probably more wrong than meets the eye, or we need a lesson in aligning lol . im also putting it over to a geometry place on monday its not on the road at mo, i'll be asking them to check these settings.. and also to check the castor which hasnt been set.

[adamh]

righto.. rather than start a new thread i'll piggy back lyns :mrgreen: . here are the results of my geometry check. first i must say the place i went to had laser equipment and also camera based equipment, the operator said to me.. the laser gear is for general work.. the camera gear which is what they use for better results, far more accurate apparently. it had four cameras, one directed at each wheel from a tower about 2metres away 2.5 meters high, scanning large multi reflectors mounted on the wheel, all connected to a pc etc, updated many times a second. in engineering terms the divisions they were using was accurate for something like this.. it didnt go into seconds but they were using upto 1 minute of arc.. therefore 1/60th of a degree, not bad. i was pretty impressed with the whole set up the operator ease of use, the accuracy attained and generally the whole package, i.e; a dedicated scissor hydraulic lift for the the system, its a complete install not a home made camber gauge :D . how-ever, bill hulmes camber gauge has now proved to be most accurate, and alans method of 'string' toe alignment.. was also top notch. something that couldnt be done easily at home was tracking both wheels together at the same time, which when moving string from one side to the other is going to show a marginal error. as al said.. if it were something i was going to usae every week, i would have built dedicated string points into the chasis.
you can see the 'before' column, and 'after' column for both sides / front and rear of the car, the operator made a few adjustments after discussion. also noted is the specified range (standard toyota tolerance band) which was held in his database.
we decided to bring the toe-in of the rear back out from -3.4mm to -1.6mm per /side based on the fact it may work for a trd race car on standard A/R tyres but for stiff side-walled low profile and a few extra inches width this had a terrible effect on the handling, so better back at standard as we didnt need the extra help etc. and the front needed tweaking equally to 0.8mm toe in and both sides adjusted tracked in unison. the camber was pretty good, i'll need to tweak the front left, and rear right when ive found some level ground (still searching!).. its showed up the garage pit we were using last week which was eant for articulated lorries has a 1/4 degree camber degree camber.but what can i say, i took it out for a test and it handles superb, like a dream :mrgreen::jump: .. no pulling, no drifitng, no bump steer, no tramlining, no nothing, just pure grip and well planted/pointed acceleration. putting large wheels on the rear would spoil the handling? poppycock! .. it handles better than before at ridiculous speeds (the twisties on devils dyke just told me so). i have retained the origonal RR and increased the track a tad ;). i was also quite pleased at the wheelbase and trackwidth measurements, the difference in front to rear was calculated a long while back with spacers & offsets.. its all good. i'd like to get the car on the track now, only down side i can see is at the elevated speeds the difference in trackwidth and tyre width will give me a tad understeer, good thing is i'll never get fast enough on a road to push it :rozzer: .. its very at home , and all smiles here :mrgreen:

http://www.adamhutchison.co.uk/graphics/track1.jpg

http://www.adamhutchison.co.uk/graphics/track2.jpg

http://www.adamhutchison.co.uk/graphics/track3.jpg

[lodgeman]

well done mate! as long as it handles how you want it to now!:thumbsup: looks a nice piece of kit! would it be rude to ask how much it cost?

[adamh]

the kit?.. 30K. yes i did ask lol. ah those few pages are just small printouts, there was much more going in the test and it was a bit over my head to be honest, i just nodded and said terracota. the check & adjustment of just the front & rear toe's and front track was 70.38 inc v.a.t, basically 2 hours labour. i would recommend them, efficient service. its astounding how a small difference can be multiplied through power.

[Marksman]

Good work Adam :praise2:

Following on from Lyn's saga it sounds like you have found a good set of professionals. We went to Ford (13K of laser alignment kit) but it was a 5 out of 10 experience. Initially they said only the front camber could be adjusted and not the back... and even when convinced they refused to take the wheels off, just loosened the hub to shock nuts and pulled from the outside of used a big fuck off pry bar on Lyn's powdercoated suspension from the inside :slap: On the plus side they were persistent and spent two and a half hours on a £55 alignment and provided a print out at the end.

Maybe when TB rules the world we can have our own set-up crew?

So glad your beastie is in fine form and has been done properly. I'd imagine for every one set up properly there are half a dozen where the owners have spent £500 on shocks and springs but don't bother with the alignment :slap:

All the best,

Owen.

[Arkwright]

As Owen said - the outfit that sorted Tiger out did seem to be a bit Mickey Mouse and I was just a little worried when they started with the pry bar!

However, the following day I took her for a 300 mile test drive and after the first few miles where she had a touch of the wobblies at around 80mph she sorted herself out and purred like a kitten all the way (a very big kitten anyway as her exhaust seems to have developed a blowing problem - note to self - must get my man on to fixing that!)

Definitely worth the money and time - I'm beginning to remember why I like driving her now!!!