Suspension settings needed . . .

Hey,

I need some base line measurements made on a well set-up swing axle car.

Running through the center line of the spring plate, what's the exact distance from the rear edge of the torsion cap to the forward edge of the bearing housing?

From the forward edges of the lower bolts on the cap and housing?

I hoping to help a friend get his car roughly dialed in and the problem sounds like a simple camber adjustment out back, hopefully just move the housings forward a smidge to get rid of the tow-out and save another set of tires from the shredder.

Any help? Measurements?

Thanks,

TC

Oh Gordon . . . he also needs help with his Webers. I know nothing 'bout them, can you help here if I ask the right question(s)?

First, I assume you're just misusing the term, but a swing axle doesn't have any camber adjustment. The camber angle at rest depends only on the ride height and if you've possibly changed the mounting height of the transmission.

Unfortunately, I don't have any measurements for you, but I wouldn't recommend setting toe that way. It's not guaranteed that the torsion tube is perfectly perpendicular to the chassis or not bent. You need to measure toe with respect to the centerline of the car. But if you just need to get close before immediately taking it to some alignment shop, a piece of string along the length of the car and a tape measure is all you need. And if you take your time, the string method is good enough to set the toe at home. 1/8" toe-out for rubber bushings, 1/16" to 0" toe-out for urethane. Usually, if you pull the axle all the way backwards in the slot, it will be close to correct (1/8").

Tom:

I'm not a weber guru, but I'm sure someone on here will be able to help.

Thanks, I meant tow out, of course. I was looking for the measurement thinking that I might come up with a mean average.

Even though things differ during assembly on the larger things, it's always a surprise when I check stuff like this and find five out of five cars with the exact same settings (then I'll look at another three and they're all over the place.)

Anyway, there isn't a shop withing two hundred mile of here that will touch a swing axle car with a long stick. If I can gather up a few measurements from a few different cars and set it to those (or an average) that's gonna be it. Done. Set. Better than it was.

Were the chassis stock, I MIGHT be able to convince the guy who does my painting to go out on a limb and recommend me to an alignment shop, but with a shortened/home made pan. he won't put himself out on that limb. It could take three hours to set and STILL not be right, then he's gotta charge for a job not done, cover any arguments/excuses as to why he can't do it, and try to be diplomatic about the piece of shit mis-made pan that I dragged in.

So . . . no pro shop for a shortened pan. The measurements that I can gather from here will be it.

TC

TC, if you consider my car to be set up well, I'll measure it tomorrow when I get home.

Here's a good site describing the string method. Obviously the how you adjust will be different, but the setup is the same. Only tricky bit is actually reaching the bolts.

http://www.elantragtclub.com/id554.html

Thanks !

"Usually, if you pull the axle all the way backwards in the slot, it will be close to correct (1/8")."

I'm so totally hope that this isn't the case. The car, right now, has SEVERE tow out, if I pulled the axle all the way rearward in the slot, it would only make it worse.

"if you consider my car to be set up well"

Judging by your tire wear pattern (or lack of it) I'd say that you're running straight and true. Perfect.

Roger that. Measurements to follow tonight.

From the top, center of the torsion caps on both sides to the casting marks on the bearing housings (top, center; the casting marks were very faint) was 16.5" exactly.

I measured through the triangular rubber stopper mounts with my tape measure, so the tape was pretty flat across that distance.

There's only two things that affect toe-out. Trailing arm length and trans fore/aft position. Only things I can think of that would cause severe toe-out (assuming 0.5-1.0") are having dropped spring plates installed but running stock ride height or I suppose if you had the rear trans mount cradle backwards it would move the transmission forward. But unless the front trans mount has been altered or removed I don't think it's actually possible to install the transmission that way.

Again, thanks for the info. I haven't seen the Speedster yet, don't even know when it'll come in, but I promised to sort through it and correct whatever faults that I could.

The biggest being the toe out. The rear tires are being worn at an astonishing rate, always on the inside. The owner said that the car sits right, no severe squat, so I don't think that the rear suspension is the issue. Hasn't been lowered in the rear and is running stock components as well, just something off with the toe out/axle placement.

On paper it seems like a simple adjustment, but the logic of it all is weird I admit. It would seem to HAVE to be the trans placement, but that would involve a lot of fabrication to the mounts and to no good end.

All I can do is look and measure and see if something stands out as WRONG, you know?

TC