At 08:01 AM 10/26/97 -0700, you wrote:
>How many people on the list have had their front crossmember reinforced?
>
>I've noticed that my front wheels have a lot of negative camber or is it
>caster, anyway the lean in at the top. The car handles fine so I'm
>wondering if this was a set up done by the PO, or is it a problem starting
>to happen? Are there any shops in the SF bay area that can do the
>reinforcing to the crossmember?
>I will be removing it to take out the engine and trans soon, so I figure it
>would be a good time to get it fixed. Any comments would be appreciated.
> Thanks in advance
> Armand Ritchie
> B9470219
>
>ritchie@mcn.org
>Armand & Lorie Ritchie
I would assume that the negative camber was set up by the previous owner.
However; some people recommend re-welding the brackets attached to the top
of the cross member. These are the ones that the shock attaches too and the
upper A-arm shaft bolts too. Is possible to weld this with out removing
the cross member. Some also suggest welding the cross member to the frame.
You
might check your brackets yourself. Just remove the front wheels and stick
your head in there to examine the welds on the trianglular part of the brackets
where they attached to the top of the cross member. You will probably need to
clean the welds with a wire brush to get a good look at them. If they are
broken
then do not wait to have them rewelded.
You can check your camber ( assuming you don't have alignment tools) by
cutting a flat board to fit against/across the wheel just under the lip of
the rim.
Get a gravity protractor at the local building supply store. With the tires
streight ahead, just place the protractor up against the board that is held
vertical up against the wheel. If there is negative camber, the top of the
wheel is in more than the bottom. If you have enough negative camber to
see it without these minimal tools then the inside of your tires are probably
well worn as a result of the incorrect camber. I recommend no more than
1/2 degree negative camber with skinny tires. I would go close to zero
for wide tires.
You can change your camber if you have a 5/8" socket. Just loosen
the two bolts that hold the upper A arm shaft and remove an equal amount of shim
from both the front and rear bolt. Suggest removing about 1/16" shim if you are
only a degree or so negative. Bolt everything up, drive a short way to settle
the front end then remeasure. When you get the camber you want ( on both sides)
then re adjust the toe in. Recommend 1/16 " toe in. Using a carpenter's
square (and gravity protractor to be sure the square is streight up and down)
set up at the front and at the rear of each tire, mark the ground to project
the location of a specific point on the tire tread to the ground. Measure
the distance between the points across the car. Should have 1/16" less distance
in front measurment than in the back. I remove the steering arms to allow
the tie rod ends to be adjusted without removing the tie rod taper from the
steering arm. Note that the two bolts holding the steering arm are NOT the
same length. If you swap the bolts, then the end of long bolt may damage
the rotor.
Jim Barrett Tiger II 351C and others.
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