Subject: [6pack] Alignment Sanity Check

From: "Tomislav Marincic" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2013 12:47:31 -0400

Hello,

I just got around to putting my TR6 on an alignment rack. It was a frame-off
restoration. I currently have 2 shims under each front wishbone attachment
and 3 shims behind each Goodparts adjustable trailing arm bracket. All
measurements are in degrees.

My camber is:     LF: -0.9

                              RF: -1.0

                              LR: -1.1

                              RR: -1.2

My rear toe is:    LR: 0.24

                              RR: -0.17

My ride heights in inches, measured at the center of the wheel arch, are:
LF: 26.5

RF: 26.5

LR: 27.5

RR: 28.0

Visually, the car is clearly leaning toward the drivers side in back even
when my fat body isnt behind the wheel. The springs are new Goodparts front
and rear, with spacers and packing pieces in front and spacers but no upper
packing in the rear.

My plan is to remove one shim from each front wishbone packing piece in the
front.

In the rear, I plan to rotate the left inner trailing arm adjustor
counter-clockwise three full turns. This should raise the fulcrum and add >
degrees of positive camber.

On the right rear, I want to lower the car as much as possible, so I plan to
turn both adjustors counter-clockwise (raising the pivots) an equal amount
until one adjustor is at its limit of travel. Then I will turn the outer
adjustor clockwise three full turns to lower the outer pivot and add >
degrees of positive camber.

After I tighten the adjustors, I will loosen the outer trailing arm bracket
mounts and remove one shim from the right and add one shim to the left.
(Positive rear toe is toe-in, Im told.)

My brain hurts from thinking about it! Do I have the adjustments right?

Thanks for your help, as always.

Tom

CC55483L

www.triumphowners.com/735

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From: "Robert M. Lang" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2013 13:45:40 -0400 (EDT)

Hi,

Your plan regarding the camber settings is sound. My advice is to make 
small changes and measure and make sure to "settle" the car between 
reading to make sure you don't over-shoot the target numbers.

The rear toe, on the other hand needs to be addressed. With those numbers, 
your "thrust angle" has to be wrong. Even though the total toe-in is 
small, the +.24 on the driver side seems excessive. So, you might want to 
address that. Keep in mind that the TR6 IRS toe in increases as the 
suspension compresses, so don't go crazy here. But a quarter-inch toe out 
on one side is going to translate to EVIL handling.

The other part of your plan concerns me. If you try to get the car flat 
and level with no driver, the handling is going to suck. That's because 
you're going to throw out cross weights for "curb appeal". The TR6 with 
LHD has a considerable weight bias to the left side of the car, so you 
want to accomodate that in your eventual ride-height and camber / toe 
settings.

But if you don't "drive" the car, ignore the weight bias thing even though 
you can make the car a dog to drive.

I'm just sayin.

Regards,
rml
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Lang              Triumph TR6!!            |  This space for rent
Former NER Solo Chair                          |
Voice:617-253-7438                             |  Cell: 339-927-4489
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From: "Tomislav Marincic" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2013 19:43:16 -0400

Thanks to all who replied.

I spent a busy day under my car

I removed all 8 shims from the lower wishbones in front, per Kevin Andrews
suggestion. This should give me = degree less negative camber in front,
which would put me in spec. (By the way, is the wishbone bracket to frame
attachment torque really just 20-25 ft-lbs? It seemed awfully low, compared
to the rear brackets.)

I took one shim out of the right outboard trailing arm bracket and put it in
front of the left outboard bracket. That should reduce or eliminate my right
toe-out and reduce my left toe-in.

I turned all the trailing arm bracket adjusters counterclockwise, working my
way from left to right, by 1,4,10,and 7 turns. In theory, this should add
3/4 of a degree of camber to the rear, and lower the right side of the car.

Unfortunately, I took the car out for a drive, and after the suspension
settled, the right rear was = HIGHER than before. Ill have to review the
instructions that come with the Goodparts brackets, because I seem to have
screwed it up.

Anyway, Im back to the alignment rack tomorrow, so well see what happened.

Cheers, Tom

All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way.
People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes,
and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome.
 <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/g/georgeorwe164069.html> George
Orwell

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