The dalia lama guru of suspension / alignment needed.

[Rolls 912]

My car is off to the doc for setup tomorrow... I've read Saun's excellent post re. Setup. Mine is a little different. I have a:

swb 68
Running 3.2ltr at the rear (a lot of weight over the rear)
turbo torsions at the rear
Standard at the front
New everything including bushings and koni's
Pizza cutters (for that stock look)

So can anyone suggest what's best for

Front
Camber:
Caster:
Toe:

Rear
Camber:
Toe:

Ride height:
Front:
Rear:

any help would be appreciated...

[ttweed]

Without including your intended use of the car it is difficult to make recommendations. A competition alignment can differ substantially from a street setup, with attendant compromises. FWIW, I have a '68 much like yours, except that it has a 3.0/915 transplant and 21mm front T-bars with the 26mm turbo rears, with a fixed 21mm Carrera rear ARB and an adjustable 19mm front. It is set up as an autox car, so I run R-compound radials with all the camber I can get out of the stock adjustments (about 2 degrees negative), all the caster I can get (about 8.5 degrees), a little toe out in the front (about 1/8") and about the same amount of toe-in in the rear, the ride height is set as low as practical for occasional street use (I'm using 205/50 tires on the track and higher profile 205/60s on the street, to help clear swales and speedbumps on the street), and the car is corner-balanced to within 5 lbs. on the diagonals with my weight in the driver seat.

YMMV,
TT

[Rolls 912]

thanks Tom. The car will be used as a daily driver.

[ttweed]

thanks Tom. The car will be used as a daily driver.

Then I would not go as heavy on the negative camber as for competition (maybe -1 max), put 1/8" toe-in on the front (instead of toe-out) for stability, use 60 series tires for compliance comfort, and set the ride height higher to prevent scraping over obstacles (no lower than "Euro" height).

TT

[Rolls 912]

So I worked out that I need the following.pls advise if you think otherwise:

Castor: should be 6 1/2 degrees positive
Camber: Factory was neutral. I like the look of negative but i don't believe I need to dial it in by a lot. If it was for occasional track use I would natural neg it up. I'm going for 1 degree.
Toe: toe in by 3mm
Rear camber: about 1 degree

[Todsimpson]

I think those specs are fine. Here are my thoughts, overall, accuracy and quality work are more important than the actual spec.

Caster-6.5 is good. Most important thing is a very close match side to side. If not a good match the car will wander. More caster means more effort and more self centering-a personal preference.

Camber-There is a school of thought that rear should be .5 degrees more negative than the front. -1 front and -1.5 or .5 front and 1.0 rear would both be good.

Toe-You want toe in, both front and rear and 3mm is on the high side. Is that total toe, or per side? IMO you also want a little more toe in for the rear compared to the front just to keep the rear stable under braking.

[Rolls 912]

Okay.. All done. Adjusted per above although the mechanic couldnt fully decamber as there wasnt enough adjustment in the tower.

I still am finding the car extremely light and twitchy under acceleration. Much better but i thought it would have a more "solid" point and shoot feel. Any thoughts?

Remember there is a lot of weight in the back.

[chris_seven]

If you have the rear at a suitable ride height I would tend to lower the front so it is nose down about 1-1.5 degrees which should be quite straightforward.

With 3mm of front toe it may also have a tendancy to follow road camber and I would have tride maybe a 1/16 or even parallel.

[Rolls 912]

Okay so I've adjusted the heights per the spec book. It just doesnt look right. Looks like there is to much air in the guards. Any thoughts?
68 running a 3.2


R

[a911s]

Yeah, looks kinda high. I set my 911s for a ground to fender lip height of 24" in the front and 23" in the rear. Some feel this is too low, but I wouldn't go a whole lot higher (maybe 1/2 to 3/4"). One thing I do know - anything much lower and you will probably have issues with ground clearance.