Kirk! We're under attack!! Suspension help.

[rbgray1]

Originally Posted by moore_rb

That really sucks. Steering is the most challenging system on a car to get absolutely right, and (I'm sorry to say it) but 90% of the shops out there are little more than "R&R" (remove and replace, or "drop and swap") style shops.

The second you start changing suspension components, you REALLY need to have the car in the hands of a qualified suspension specialist- Someone who understands all the inter-connected trigonometry, and the engineering involved. Someone who can can look the car over, and do the entire job in their head, before they ever take a wrench to your car.

Regarding the tie rods being maxed out- When you say "maxed out" does that mean that all the threads are exposed? or does it mean that the outer tie rod can't screw in anymore because it's bottomed out?

The Classic Roadsters assembly manual specifies that you are supposed to cut 7/8 inch of thread off of both inner tie rods. Is it possible that one of your inners is cut correctly, and the other one isn't? This would create a big difference in the exposed thread counts from side to side.

Also- I'm not sure if this would still even be necessary with your new control arms, because I don't know if the length, or the pivot point of the new control arms has changed, which would thereby change the entire sweep angle of the suspension, therefore requiring all new calculations for the corresponding tie rod lengths and sweep angles.

Lots of math to do when you start re-engineering the front end of a car.

Even if you get the basic alignment measurements into spec, you have to be sure that the tie rod sweep angles are correctly matched to the control arm sweep angles, or else bump steer will result...

Rob- Great writeup on the string alignment technique... Very old-school.

Most of the time I have to go over to the HAMB (and suffer through all of the associated verbal abuse, hahah) to get high quality feedback from the old-school hot rodders...

moore_rb,

Thanks for the note, I completely forgot about the original build directions of shortening the inboard tie rods by 7/8" since I originally did this 26 years ago. Just referred to my original CR1 build manual and it clearly states removing 7/8" from inner ends of 74-78 Mustang II, 73-79 Pinto, or 75-79 Mercury Bobcat on page 3-12 of the original build manual. Hard to remember everything I did last night little lone 26 years ago.

This might be part of Redhawks problem, I would just like to see him check A-arm bushing to ball joint dimensions, and overall ball joint widths (on the ground) versus our stock set-up to see if ball joint widths have changed by much more that 1/8 inch.

Regarding the string alignment process, thanks for the "old school" comment. I've used this rough set-up for years and it works, you can't argue with something that still works. As a matter of fact, old racers used this process at the track just to double check toe and make minor changes when alignment equipment wasn't available. You can even buy aluminum plates now with slots in them where you just measure side to side front and back of front tires with a tape measure to set initial toe in before a full professional alignment.

Funny side story...I bought a factory refurbished Club Car golf cart for my home in Florida last year and when it was delivered, it steered like crap, pulled hard to one side and generally awful to drive. I did the string process in my garage over the course of about 45 mins and several neighbors saw me and asked what I was doing. I explained the process and ...walah, golf cart drives like a new street car. I then had at least 4 neighbors request my assistance with their golf carts and did the same process and they were amazed how simple and how well their golf carts drive in our community. At one point that evening it looked like a street rod meet for golf carts in my driveway and garage. I think I got paid with a few cases of beer and at least one bottle of Jim Beam Black that is long gone by now. I laugh every time I think about it and my neighbors keep commenting how much better their carts are now for this simple 15 to 45 min process.

Since I have my entire front end suspension removed, would it be possible for you to measure your front end ball joint width (center of ball joint grease fitting from side to side) of your lower and upper front end? I can do this, I would just need to temporarily bolt my old A-Arms on quickly and take measurements. I think Redhawk would benefit greatly to know these "before" measurements to understand if his ball joint width has changed from original dimensions.