Mustang II Front End Alignment

[petek]

Ok I give up.

Although I've just about decided it'd be a much better idea to have a shop do the front end alignment rather than attempt to do it myself, I'm still tossing the idea around. Of course, there are a couple of things keeping me from doing the alignment...

... I haven't the foggiest idea what I'm doing (I've made up for some of my ignorance by a fair amount of research on how to measure camber, caster, toe, etc.)

... and more importantly -- I can't see how the heck to get the bolts that hold the upper A arm adjusted. These are "T" bolts that pass through a weldment on the frame, up through the A arm, and are held in place with nuts with serrations on their base.

From what I can tell by looking at the suspension, I need to loosen the upper mounting bolts and slide the upper A arm into position. Tighten, remeasure, loosen, adjust, tighten, etc. There are slots in the frame mounting for the bolts to slide -- but how the heck do you know if you've got the bolts loose enough (and what happens if the nuts come off)!

And ... how the heck do you slide the A arm around! My only guess is some sort of long crow bar or something.

Help me before I do something real stupid!

thanks,
petek

[Jim Werth]

Line it up by eye and drive it to the closest alignment shop and get it done right. Jim

[John Wais]

Petek
I have watched your build for at least 1-1/2 years and have modified items on my CR after watching what you did.
Looking good!!
I had my CR aligned at a good shop to the factory specs. It tracks well at speed and exhibits no bump steer (at least any of the bumps I usually manage to find locally). I did have bump steer before alignment along with being very loose at speeds over 90. It is now stable.
Just try to find a good shop which has the equipment to check all four wheels.
I had to make special retainers to prevent the upper A-frame from moving around after alignment because we could not get the nuts tight enough.
John W.

[petek]

Jim,

Right now that's what I plan on doing ... but how the heck do you move the upper A arm after the bolts are loose? I've a feeling that it takes a funny tool ... something like a long crow bar with a couple of funky bends.

petek

[Leroy]

If you are running a stock mustang II front end just check out your local library for a book on mustang II , you could also go to a local auto chain store for a manual on mustang II. If your front crossmember is a stock ford unit , there is two aligment tools that hook into holes in the crossmember and hook over the cross bar of the upper a-arm that you adjust the caster and camber. Those to tools are dealer and aligment shop only,at least I've never see them availble to the public. your only recourse is to buy a caster and camber tool that is made by Longacre,availble thur most race car speed shops. And check frame height and lower a-arm height with tire on, the make two spacers out of wood or metal to those two heights, jack car up ,remve tire and then install spacers, take your new gauge (caster & camber) and put on spindle. loosen up your two nuts on the upper a-arms till you can just move the a-arm, follow the directions that came with the gauge. Its really pretty simple. Just try it.
Good luck,
Lee

[petek]

Thanks Leroy, that is exactly the sort of information I was looking for ... special tools! Figures!

If I have time I just might give it a try ... nothing ventured, nothing gained!

thanks again,
petek

[spencer]

Petek...
If you really want to be able to adjust the front end maybe you should invest in a product from Pole Position Racing Products. They make a unit "Fastrax" that will allow you to adjust the camber / caster and toe in/out. I use it to play with the adjustments of my car at the track. It's really simple to use and you will learn quite alot about your chassis set up for street vs track. They also make adjustable upper control arms, these units make it a snap to make changes without dealing with the two bolts that secure to arm to the upper chassis. Their web site address is "www.polepositionrp.com". I deal with a guy named Ted. Give him a call and see what your options are.
Take Care....
Spencer

[petek]

Spencer,

Wow! Those adjustable upper A-arms certainly look like they'd fit the bill perfectly! And substantially easier to adjust.

Now I've got to decide if I want to retrofit the A-arms now ... or wait until I've got the car on the road. I'll probably have the front end aligned and then measure the results in my garage. If I end up with measurments identical to the alignment shop then I'll know I'm measuring the alignment correctly ... then I'll order up the adjustable A-arms.

thanks again for the heads-up,

petek