suspension settings?

[james]

1973 2.4S - Suspension settings

I am about to get the front & rear suspension bushes replaced with elephant racing polybronzes and will be getting the alignemt etc redone.

For a 1973 2.4S, running 195/65's on 15" rims, does this sound about right for fast road settings:


Height
front - 25.0 inches
rear- 25.5 inches
Taken from the pavement to the wheel arch lip.

**forward slope of 1 to 1.5 degrees.

Front
Camber
0 degrees +/- 10 minutes (front camber at the lo0wered height should be 1/4 to 1/2 negative to gain the most adhesion

Difference right to left 10 minutes

Caster
6 degrees 5 minutes +/- 15 minutes
difference right to left 30 minutes (?) my notes are not the best

Toe in
+15 minutes +/- 5 minutes with wheels

Rear
Camber
1 degree negative +/- 10 minutes
difference right to left 20 minutes

Toe in
+10 minutes +/- 10 minutes
difference left to right 20 minutes

Does this sound correct?

Any opinions / advice?

[Steve@Rennsport]

Hi James:

That looks a lot like a stock, factory alignment,...

IMHO, final alignment settings become somewhat personal due to everyone's handling expectations as well as tire wear and road manners. Altering camber settings for additional grip requires some sacrifice in ultimate tire wear so thats an individual decision.

Personally speaking, I'd lower your ride height settings by 12mm and run .5 degree negative front and 1.25 negative degree rear camber. I also run 15 minutes of rear toe-in, too.

The rest looks just fine.

[james]

thanks Steve . The settings were just from onfo I picked up. Didn't realise they were so close to stock

Tyre wear is not a concern so I'll run the extra camber.

[james]

Ammended spec ****edited for new suspension heights****

Height
front - 25.0 inches
rear- 24.5 inches
Taken from the pavement to the wheel arch lip.

**forward slope of 1 to 1.5 degrees.

Front
Camber
0.5 degrees negative +/- 10 minutes

Difference right to left 10 minutes

Caster
6 degrees 5 minutes +/- 15 minutes
difference right to left 30 minutes (?) my notes are not the best

Toe in
+15 minutes +/- 5 minutes with wheels

Rear
Camber
1.25 degree negative +/- 10 minutes
difference right to left 20 minutes

Toe in
+15 minutes
difference left to right 20 minutes

Have I ammended that correctly?

my car before set up

[Steve@Rennsport]

Hi James:

That looks just dandy,....

Nice car, BTW.

[james]

Only one query. Are my suspension height settings OK? Just checking I have not got too much forward rake?

Thanks

[Steve@Rennsport]

Hi James:

As I wrote in my original response, I like to set the cars a bit lower than Europeans tend to do, hence my suggestion to lower the car a bit from your 25.5" & 25" settings. Ultimately, it depends on the condition of your local streets & roads as this becomes one of those compromises between better handling and road hazard avoidance.

Set these cars up with a 1 deg nose-down rake for a combination of best lift reduction, reduced drag, and closer match of front & rear roll centers.

[james]

OK.

I was just checking as most people state the front slighty higher than the rear , eg 25.5 fr 25 rear to get the desired rake.

My poss set up has the front @ 24.5 and the rear @ 25 .... which seems to go against most peoples opinions?


Thanks

[Chuck Miller]

James,

The front wheel opening is higher up on the body line then the rear... so... even with a 1 degree+ rake to the front the measurement to the top of the front opening will still be slightly higher.

Unless I'm reading you wrong, with what you stated I would suspect that your car has much more then a 1 + degree front rake ... am I wrong ?


BTW- My car sits quite low, with an agressive street/time trial set-up and is aprox. 24" front 23 1/4" rear with 205 x 55 x 15 - front and 225 x 50 x 15 rears, BTW those two size tires have the same diameter...

Hope this helps

[james]

these settings are my 'planned' ones.

so if I 'reverse' the settings I'm thinking of to : 25" front & 24.5" rear , I should be nearer a good fast road set up ?

Chuck, at 23 1/4 rear, don't the shocks bottom out?