hotgemini Posted October 13, 2005 Report Posted October 13, 2005 So, we've got our project rolla.. Now, some time between disassembly for painting and re-assembly something has gone awry in the front suspension. We appear to have gained a degree or two of *positive* camber and the steering feel on straight ahead is very vague. What are we likely to have messed up? Are the strut tops offset? Can we have put anything else in backwards? Would love to solve it to rego it tomorrow. Quote
demuire Posted October 13, 2005 Report Posted October 13, 2005 Interesting, considering there's really not much to the front suspension at all. Vague steering is probably alignment. Positive camber, no idea. I don't think the strut tops will fit in any other way apart from how they are meant to be. But I could be wrong. Maybe the car is sitting too high? Dunno. Quote
TRD ke70 Posted October 13, 2005 Report Posted October 13, 2005 a little more info would help, like what have you removed from the front suspension or replaced or adjusted, it doesn't change by it's self. removing almost any suspension part can upset the alignment, more than likely you're seeing toe in and not positive camber, put a tape measure across the front wheels and it'll tell you if it's toe'd in or not. Quote
Felix Posted October 13, 2005 Report Posted October 13, 2005 ke30's have positive camber standard. they were designed for crossply's if i remember correctly. Quote
hotgemini Posted October 13, 2005 Author Report Posted October 13, 2005 We ran the strings around the car to align toe, removed the 50mm of toe-in (48mm on the front right) which solved the steering feel so I think you guys were on the mark there. Still have more than the factory 0.5 degrees of positive camber, virtually every single piece of the front suspension was removed and dismantled so the answer to that question is everything. It drives well enough now to register so we'll do that tomorrow and perhaps go and buy our sigma lower arms and just whack them in to get a whole massive amount of negative camber. What is the lower arm bush problem with that swap and how do we resolve it? Quote
Dan Posted October 13, 2005 Report Posted October 13, 2005 Take it for a bit of a drive, preferably over some bumpy roads... This happened to both the XF Falcons that we pulled the engines out of, the car sat real high at the front. It settled after a while.... Sorry - I always bring up our Falcons.... Quote
demuire Posted October 13, 2005 Report Posted October 13, 2005 lower control arm bush, depends on which control arms you have. early arms (1 piece) have 2 bushes that push in on either side, all you need to do is shave the ends down, easy. I'm using these arms. However, you *could* run into problems with disc clearance, as the ball joint sits in a different position. On my car, using Corona struts and Pug discs, I had to shave the control arm and hub to get more clearance, I have 1mm at the moment. With the later model arms (2 piece) it's got a single bush, I don't know what you need to do to get it to fit. I've heard there is no problems with disc clearance, but I'm not sure. Quote
hotgemini Posted October 14, 2005 Author Report Posted October 14, 2005 So we finished screwing on the last few bits of trim and then took it down and registered the bugger. Swung through repco on the way home and picked up new leads, plugs and points and thats greatly improved the horrible misfiring POS which lives in the engine bay, it still hunts and surges a bit under load, reasonably convinced its a carby problem. Might give it the $10 rebuild (strip it down, spray everything with carby cleaner, reassemble) to see if that helps. Anyone got a manual to be able to tell me the stock tune procedure for the carb (eg. mixture screw all the way in then out 2.5 turns?). Didn't make it to the wrecker for the sigma arms yet but it'll happen, there are two RA65s there so if glenno and rorge succeed with that upgrade we might try it too. Quote
Super Jamie Posted October 14, 2005 Report Posted October 14, 2005 (eg. mixture screw all the way in then out 2.5 turns?) ironically enough, it really is mixture screw all the way in then 2.5 turns that being said, i've never got one of my engines to idle doing that, i usually go 5 turns Quote
st.nick Posted October 14, 2005 Report Posted October 14, 2005 What is the lower arm bush problem with that swap and how do we resolve it? Just fitted **late model** Sigma arms to the front of "project 36". These are the 2 piece units that have a 'bolt-on' balljoint. The early model Sigma lower arm looks identical to the Corolla unit, but about 1in longer. I had no worries fitting these to the KE30 2dr, but coz I used shit bushes, and the chassis isn't exactly straight, I couldn't get a conclusive measurement. I haven't had a chance to drive "Project:36: yet with the new arms, but what I found with this swap was the following: Sigma balljoint doesn't fit properly into the Corolla unit. The Nylock nut does tighten up, and there is plenty of thread, but its definately not the fit that the corolla balljoint has. I guess the shank on the Sigma balljoint could be machined down... The Sigma Lower arm bush is longer than the KE unit. It will fit, but I had to press the arms into the crossmember with a trolleyjack!! 'P:36' will be pretty stiff in the front suspension once its on the road!! I guess with new bushes, you could grind the ends on them down a bit to make them the KE length... Once the Sigma arms fitted, the 4 tie-rod ends are all wound almost to the ends of their threads... I will have to research longer TREs when I get a chance... The front track is HEAPS wider than std. The wheels hang out of the front guards, and look almost ridiculous!! P:36 wil probably get "levin-type bolt ons" (anyone got sources??) to hide the massive overhang. Front track looks SO out of place, it needs to be matched by either a wider diff or different offset wheels on the back!! Needs to be about 50mm wider atleast. The KE Caster Bars are fine, but need the longer bolts from the Sigma to bolt them in. I'll do some pics tomorrow, and I'm pumped as hell to give this thing a thrash!! With 'fully wound up' caster bars (Ive had the bend the front guards to get clearance for the 205/13 tyres at the front), its gonna turn-in like a muv'fuka!! =) Quote
demuire Posted October 14, 2005 Report Posted October 14, 2005 (edited) stnick: are the later model arms longer than the earlier model arms? not sure about later balljoints, but earlier ones have same taper as corolla arms, that's the most important bit. And yes, you'll need to grind down the bushes slightly, otherwise they'll be too long. I'm using standard tie rod ends, and have no problems. castor arms also I'm using standard, bolt on. extra front track looks tough =) Edited October 14, 2005 by demuire Quote
mumblezzz Posted October 14, 2005 Report Posted October 14, 2005 The later model with the bolt on ball joint are longer than the earlier press on style. I used the earlier ones in my AE86 and it gave me about 2.5 degrees. Quote
demuire Posted October 14, 2005 Report Posted October 14, 2005 Ooooh that means I can have MORE neg camber =) Or, I could have more castor! :( Quote
Toycrash Posted October 14, 2005 Report Posted October 14, 2005 Sidenote: In what position did you tighten the lower arms to x-member? You should done this at wehicle on 4 wheels at normal ride height... Just making sure =) Quote
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