cornerning

This may be somewhat related to the sway bar thread below; has anyone noticed that in a corner, you can just about let go of the v.s. wheel and it has very little desire to return to the neutral position? i notice this behavior for about a half turn of the wheel in either direction. is this an alignment issue, a (lack of) sway bar issue, or a sh*t luck crappy suspension geometry issue?

p.s. i replaced my 165's with the new potenza g-009 and i now have an easier time bending the tub chassis in half in a corner than breaking ground. just my 2 cents on the thread below, but then again, i am a newbie.

George,

Any tendency not to return to neutral center is usually in the caster adjustment. An example of caster is in those little wheels on the front of shopping carts, some center (good) some don't (a BIG pain).

If your car has drop spindles and no caster shims at the bottom of the beam, you'll have a bit of trouble with centering and more trouble with hunting at high speeds.

On the street it will seem like an autocross car, VERY responsive, but at highway speeds you're always making little corrections.

If this sounds familiar, and you have drop spindles, check your lower beam attachment point(s) for a thin blue anodized aluminum shim. I has to be there.

Other than that, it's a bad steering box, loose tie rod ends, out of alignment, too wide of a front tire(s), bad frame slice, loose beam bolts, or a LOT of little things all adding up.

Starting poking around.

I'm not a mechanic, but I play one on TV . . .

TC

Could also be that the steering adjustment is a little too tight. A small turn on the adjustment screw up top may relieve some of the tension.

where is this covetted set screw?

This only applys to flared cars, but if you have wheel spacers (used to move the wheels / tires out near the edge of the fender flares) then your "scrub radius" is probably several inches larger than it should be. And there ain't nothin' you can do about! Makes slow speed steering a weight training exercise. Hitting a sharp bump or pothole can probably sprain your wrist. The lever arm the spacers impart to the tires is not to be ignored. Many corners will require a manual return to center (which ain't all that bad once you get used to it). Just call it "driving" or "fahrvegnuttien(sp?)".

George,

The screw/adjuster for the steering box is right at the top of it. It's a slotted/threaded rod really with a nut to lock it in place. Get the front up on stands, put a large screwdriver in the slot and loosen the nut.

Maybe give a spray of PB blaster first for good measure.

You can now screw the rod in a little at a time. checking the tension as the "play" at the steering wheel becomes less with each half turn. When there is no slop left, tighten the bolt to lock everything down and take a test drive. If it's too stiff, back the rod out a half turn. If there still slop, screw in in. Just right is just right. Double check that all is tight and done.

I always put an inline white mark (paint stick works best) on the rod, nut, and box. That way, if you ever have to do it again, you can tell how much wear is taking place.

These boxes last a long time, like decades, you shouldn't have that much wear unless it was tired/out of adjustment at build time.

TC

tc,

i sent you an email with my phone number. i may be in your neck of the woods this weekend and would love to stop by to soak up some knowledge. from what i read on this site, you sound like the burning bush. unfortunately, i'm not moses.

There is a pretty decent chance that George may be coming by on Sunday, depending on his end and the weather I guess. We're going to go through his car and see if we can solve the exhaust and steering woes to start with, maybe get into anything else that's amiss.

Anyway, if anyone else is local and cares to hook up with George and swing by you're invited. Even if it's only to check out George's car . . .

Right now I'm up for it. The final outcome will remain with George and his schedule and whether he is still planning on stopping by come Sunday and, of course, the weather.

I would suggest that if you want to come over and poke around, shoot George a quick email to see if it's still "Thunderbirds GO!" if it's in stone, great!

TC