Hurricane HM-2005 Build Thread

[elmariachi]

Originally Posted by double-rr

Sorry guys, I've had way too many distractions that have held up progress. Just got done doing a front/rear alignment. Took alot of up front thought on how to get it done. Had to dig deep in my past engineering experience to make the trig calculations for what happens to the camber and/or toe in when you adjust the heim joints front and rear. Caster was pretty easy. -- Russ

Russ, do you have the body on and all the sprung weight in place? If not, then your alignment will change. You also need to look into setting the corner weights on your car and getting your ride height established using the coil-overs. You really won't be able to get it properly aligned until you have all that done.

Keep us posted.

Jim

[jwd]

Originally Posted by elmariachi

Russ, do you have the body on and all the sprung weight in place? If not, then your alignment will change. You also need to look into setting the corner weights on your car and getting your ride height established using the coil-overs. You really won't be able to get it properly aligned until you have all that done.

Keep us posted.

Jim

As well as the above, I highly recommend that you put a few hundred miles on the car before the final alignment as your suspension will "settle in".

[double-rr]

Jim -- I agree. No the body is not on. I did make an attempt to set the ride heigth of the frame to be level. I wanted to get it somewhat aligned for the day when the first go-cart ride comes. Actually, I did put my 220 lbs on the very front and then the back to see what changes occurred to the camber and the caster. The front camber changed about 0.1* and the caster didn't change. The rear camber didn't change. Not bad. Once the body and other unsprung weight is on, I'll go thru the procedure again. What a PITA even with the body off. Major PITA when you have to do most from the bottom to get the heim joint bolts and spacers off.

JWD -- Also, I agree with putting a couple of hundred miles on it before setting the final alignment. This alignment should be close enough to get it on the road for the first time.

One thing I didn't do was check the 90* alignment of the front and rear axles to the frame for tracking. For example on the rear axle, there is a small amount of ajustment as you can adjust both heim joints either in or out when setting the toe in. I chose to move the rear heim out to increase toe in which moves the axle out a bit. You can move the front heim in to get the same effect which moves the axel in a bit. Or move one in and the other out. Once toe in was set then you do it again for camber only this time both hieims move the same amount. I haven't calculated what the amount of ajustment this makes to the center position of the axle when projected straight down but my suspition is it's pretty small (maybe 1/8" diameter).

-- Russ