Between the actual TREs joints it's pretty parallel it seems in this picture.
CK5
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Yeah but that's not mine 
This is mine...
This is mine...
I don't think 1 degree of caster is enough, it will cause some of your symptoms.
You're saying you can't get 3 or 4?
Also what condition are your tires in?
So these cars never came with much caster. If I'm to believe the first alignment shop this went to, they said it was running negative caster. On stock suspension, most shoot for 1-1.5* positive. For the setup it has now I'm told 2* is good for manual steering. Power assist can get away with 3-4*. It can be a bitch to turn even at lower degrees, especially with the wider tires, but manageable.
Tires have about 4-5k miles on them. In good shape though these alignment screw-ups have scuffed them up a lot.
Today I switched out the center link as the '67 seems to have been updated from whatever year I had. It is tucked up higher and looks to move on a better plane. '67 is on the right. Pictures...
Tires have about 4-5k miles on them. In good shape though these alignment screw-ups have scuffed them up a lot.
Today I switched out the center link as the '67 seems to have been updated from whatever year I had. It is tucked up higher and looks to move on a better plane. '67 is on the right. Pictures...
Results...
Old center link
'67
Idler arm is the same dimensionally
Idler mount is very different. 4 bolt closer together VS 3 bolts spaced farther apart. I like the current 3 bolt better.
Old center link
'67
Idler arm is the same dimensionally
Idler mount is very different. 4 bolt closer together VS 3 bolts spaced farther apart. I like the current 3 bolt better.
This was all in the name of getting the tierods up higher and closer to parallel with the LCA. It will always be shitty since the pivots aren't in line and they aren't parallel.
Also grabbed some alignment shims. I have 3/8" behind the front arm bolts in an effort to add a bunch of caster, quickly, to test the theory everything is wrong because it needs more positive caster. BookFace isn't much help and Nova people kinda suck, but I'm willing to try.
Driver side will be Tuesday. The camber will probably be wrong now but good enough for a test once I shim the driver side.
Also grabbed some alignment shims. I have 3/8" behind the front arm bolts in an effort to add a bunch of caster, quickly, to test the theory everything is wrong because it needs more positive caster. BookFace isn't much help and Nova people kinda suck, but I'm willing to try.
Driver side will be Tuesday. The camber will probably be wrong now but good enough for a test once I shim the driver side.
The caster angles of those old cars was pretty bad but it had to be with manual steering still being pretty common. When I first got my 71 Monte Carlo it was pretty sketchy to drive on the freeway with the factory spec settings. I had the alignment shop set the caster as far as they could get it which got me maybe1.5 degrees total. It helped some. I've since replaced all the stock suspension with aftermarket and now have about 4.5-5 degrees and it's now really stable at speed.
Drove good today, as far as the alignment goes. Theres some other stuff that needs sorted but that's to be expected.
The tierods look great. I noticed A LOT less toe in when picking up the car and drooping the suspension. That center link helped get them closer to parallel with the LCA.
The camber and toe are wrong. That's because the UCA was pushed out. Also, because the shims push to UCA outward, the spring looks to be rubbing on the cover. I pulled everything back apart today. I had planned to slot the mounting holes of the UCA, to move it rearward...increasing caster without shims. Moving them rearward 1/4" would help a lot to gain caster without making the wheel get closer to the fender fang. But...
The arms are held to the cross shafts with machine thread bolts. Those bolts only have about 3/8-7/16" of threaded connection. Slotting would take away some of those threads. (One mounting hole per arm) So I'm back to square one except the whole damn thing is apart now 
Picture. Assembled is in the foreground...on the ground.
And I got pokey with a screwdriver
The tierods look great. I noticed A LOT less toe in when picking up the car and drooping the suspension. That center link helped get them closer to parallel with the LCA.
The camber and toe are wrong. That's because the UCA was pushed out. Also, because the shims push to UCA outward, the spring looks to be rubbing on the cover. I pulled everything back apart today. I had planned to slot the mounting holes of the UCA, to move it rearward...increasing caster without shims. Moving them rearward 1/4" would help a lot to gain caster without making the wheel get closer to the fender fang. But...
The arms are held to the cross shafts with machine thread bolts. Those bolts only have about 3/8-7/16" of threaded connection. Slotting would take away some of those threads. (One mounting hole per arm) So I'm back to square one except the whole damn thing is apart now
Picture. Assembled is in the foreground...on the ground.
And I got pokey with a screwdriver
Church Boys Racing
Drop the pivot so gain caster in the turn.
Moved balljoint back 1/2"
$800
But that's the way to go if keeping factory frame & aprons.
Drop the pivot so gain caster in the turn.
Moved balljoint back 1/2"
$800
But that's the way to go if keeping factory frame & aprons.
Would doing away with the drop spindles and going with lowering springs help? That would cycle the UCAs towards the rear of the car and add castor in theory?
Finally sold the drop spindles. I used some of my "Bender" money for Plank parts.
Disc brake conversion with stock height spindles
4 doors of weather strip
Tailgate weather strip (zero window stuff right now)
Passenger side floor patch panel
Full carpet kit
Disc Brake stuff
And I knew these Trans Am wheels were made in Japan but found out that Enkei made the OE wheels for GM. They had a 1 and 2 piece design. 1 piece was to fix some if the balancing issues. That's dope, I dig old JDM stuff.
Disc brake conversion with stock height spindles
4 doors of weather strip
Tailgate weather strip (zero window stuff right now)
Passenger side floor patch panel
Full carpet kit
Disc Brake stuff
And I knew these Trans Am wheels were made in Japan but found out that Enkei made the OE wheels for GM. They had a 1 and 2 piece design. 1 piece was to fix some if the balancing issues. That's dope, I dig old JDM stuff.
I really like the previous spindles and brake kit. This "Classic Industries" (aka Chinese kit everyone sells) does not make me feel all warm and fuzzy but I'm sure they'll work fine. (After I bent the backing plate and aligned the caliper parallel to the rotor)
Working to get this back on the road. Once I feel good about it locally, I need to drive it back to the transmission shop to address some shift feel and an absent lock up. To be fair, it was a disaster to drive when they had it so testing was brief.
Drive it and get some feel back.
Replace floor pan
Clean floor real good and put rust converter on
Paint floor
Weather strip 5 doors
Add brake light wire to separate from blinkers
Add sound deadener
Carpet install
Finish kick panel speaker pods
Install head unit
Etc etc
Working to get this back on the road. Once I feel good about it locally, I need to drive it back to the transmission shop to address some shift feel and an absent lock up. To be fair, it was a disaster to drive when they had it so testing was brief.
Drive it and get some feel back.
Replace floor pan
Clean floor real good and put rust converter on
Paint floor
Weather strip 5 doors
Add brake light wire to separate from blinkers
Add sound deadener
Carpet install
Finish kick panel speaker pods
Install head unit
Etc etc
