"burglar can't heart click anything" (burglar)
10/29/2013 at 15:29 • Filed to: None
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"burglar can't heart click anything" (burglar)
10/29/2013 at 15:29 • Filed to: None | 2
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I just realized I can copy / paste to Kinja direct from !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . This is cool.
Per an earlier post !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! e I have been doing my own alignment work. This is a double edged sword. On one hand, I get to try whatever I want without having to drive to a specialist alignment shop (remember, the 911 is a bear to align,) pay big bucks, and leave the car for a few days. Plus, I can tweak (not twerk. Definitely not twerk.) whenever I want for only the cost of the beer I consume while changing something. On the other hand, well, it's me. My first shot at it I actually dialed in rear toe out , and it took a fair number of events to figure out why the car was so hard to drive at the limit. There's a good chance when measuring I got my positives and negatives confused (I blame the beer.) And then there's my equipment.
These are Smart Strings, a $400 string alignment system used by professional race teams. The general idea is you have two bars of identical length, and two strings of identical length. Geometry says you have a parallelogram, with the key part being those strings are perfectly parallel. A very nice system, that with a little setup time, can give you results just as good (or even better, depending on how in calibration they are) than some of the laser racks that the tire stores use. Great product. I don't have this.
Image blatantly stolen from Pegasus Racing.
These are Dumb Strings® aka two pieces of shoe molding with carefully placed nails duct taped to the car, and two pieces of non-stretchy nylon string. Total cost? 2 beers and what was laying around in the garage.
The hardest part is getting the parallelogram square to the car. I measure from the wheel center cap to the string. They have to be even, or you'll set up the car to crabwalk down the road. Lots of check, adjust retape, repeat.
The whole point is that I wanted to try to nail down the back end a little better by adding some more rear toe in. My last tweak I didn't set up the whole Dumb Strings® setup, and just used my trick !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Problem is, that only gives you total toe , which means your left and right can be different. Well, sure enough, it was. I've noticed that the car was looser on RH turns - in fact, a higher percentage of my spins have been going that way. I had almost zero toe-in on the LR, and about 1/16" on the RR. Aha! Again, only myself to blame.
Image blatantly stolen from PelicanParts.com
Adjusting the toe on the rear of the 911 involves loosening the two bolts hidden behind the brake caliper there, then loosening the two nuts on the eccentric cams marked Toe and Camber. Turning the toe cam pulls the banana arm fore and aft in relation to that plate. Turning the camber one does some witchcraft that I honestly cannot visualize - I
think
it twists the relationship between the two parts. All I know is it works. I left the RR at 1/16" toe in and adjusted the LR to match. That's measured rim edge to rim edge, so if my trig is any good (it's not) that's about 0.25° per side.
Now I'm sure sure the setup isn't perfect, and there is also a decent tolerance in the measurement accuracy. But on the other hand, we're not going to the moon. On the street, the way it was would never be noticed. But when pushed to the limit, the difference between turning direction was there. Now to test out if the tweak worked. Hold my beer, I'm gonna try something.
heeltoehero
> burglar can't heart click anything
10/20/2014 at 15:03 |
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I'm about to do my Mustang's front toe this way this weekend, but using jack stands holding up electrical conduit connected by fishing line. Hooray shadetrees.
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burglar can't heart click anything
> heeltoehero
10/21/2014 at 06:11 |
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That should work like a charm. Just be sure to remeasure and make sure the car is still centered in the setup if you have to lift it to adjust the tie rod.