'71 4 Door - Mikuni'd KA24DE

[Byron510]

My car is pretty stiff - 275# wheel rates all around - so I run less than a degree of negative camber on a 205 cross section tire.
If you can get 5 degrees of caster without hitting the front edge of the fender - that’s pretty good.
You have toe right. You can’t be zero or it hunts on you. Autocross guys go a tad toe out for better turn in. For high speed stability, a tad toe in (1/16” total) is a good number that has worked for me with sold mounted suspension. Everyone has an idea on this.

Byron

[icehouse]

I tried front tow out, zero tow, and tow-in. Honestly, on the autox course I couldn't even tell the difference. It feels so much better on the highway with tow in that's what I run since I like to drive it every day. I'm just saying set it up for street driving, if you end up on the track your skill will be the limiting factor not the cars alignment. Make it enjoyable on the street.

[bertvorgon]

I agree with Jeff.....set the car up for safe street use and, lots of seat time will make you a better driver!

As my car was "streetable" the whole time for 37 years of racing...I KNEW MY CAR...whereas the trailered guys only got to drive their cars every couple of weekends for 3 minutes.

Toe-in is good, makes the car stable at higher speeds, and, I have always been a big believer in some rear TOE-IN, as that keeps the rear planted on lift throttle and other rear scenarios that make the car want to spin.

Not having a car that wants to tail out makes it both safer and faster to drive IMHO.

[demo243]

Definitely setting it up with some toe in up front for street use. It’s built as an AutoX/track car... but let’s be real, 99% of its miles are street miles.

Rear is another ball game... the crossmember is slotted so there is some adjustment, but I need to find a shop willing to mess with it... eventually plan is to swap in my spare rear crossmember with solid mounts- but need to enlarge the exhaust hole and get proper adjustment brackets mounted up first.

Just checked my last alignment report-

I was running:
Front
5.4L - 5.6R caster
~ -1 camber both sides
5/32 toe total
Rear
~ -1 camber both sides
3/16 toe in total

Now that the rear is dropped, there is definitely more camber. Front is all whacked out now since I replaced the steering linkage and adjusted the camber plates to even out their mounting which should even out the next alignment

[demo243]

Found a place locally that specializes in performance alignments and got an apt Friday morning to get the front end done.

Gonna shoot for
-1.5 camber
+5 caster
1/16 toe in.

[Three B's Racing]

Found a place locally that specializes in performance alignments and got an apt Friday morning to get the front end done.

Gonna shoot for
-1.5 camber
+5 caster
1/16 toe in.

I was up at Weirs Beach last weekend and saw a Red 510 cruising up by past SS Mt. Washington dock my wife shouted out the window of the van "Nice 510" It had Mass plated so I figured it was you, was it?

[bertvorgon]

ALSO....Make sure either YOU or equivalent weight is in the drivers seat and maybe half tank of fuel You want the car to mirror how it lives in real life when you do the alignment.

Make sure your tire pressure is set too.

You also want whatever shop to make sure the steering wheel is dead center...seen to many alignments where the steering wheel is off center...hate that!

If you do an AutoX you can chalk the front tires to see how the camber is doing at the front.

[demo243]

I was up at Weirs Beach last weekend and saw a Red 510 cruising up by past SS Mt. Washington dock my wife shouted out the window of the van "Nice 510" It had Mass plated so I figured it was you, was it?

Wasn't me... Ive got antique CT plates on mine. But now I am curious--- another red 510 in Mass?!?! I have not seen another 510 besides B^2s since moving here.

ALSO....Make sure either YOU or equivalent weight is in the drivers seat and maybe half tank of fuel You want the car to mirror how it lives in real life when you do the alignment.

Make sure your tire pressure is set too.

You also want whatever shop to make sure the steering wheel is dead center...seen to many alignments where the steering wheel is off center...hate that!

If you do an AutoX you can chalk the front tires to see how the camber is doing at the front.

Had the alignment done this morning, and the results weren't what I was hoping for... but kinda what I expected since I am running my camber plates for both camber and caster. Weighted down with 180lbs for me in the driver seat I ended up with
-1.97L and -1.56R Camber
3.41L and 3.82R Caster
.08L and .05R degree toe in

Car felt pretty good on the drive home. I need to put some more back road time in on it, but I might actually like having less caster - I felt like the car was really lifting a corner on tight turn ins and it never felt right to me...

I guess it will be time to bite the bullet and bump to adjustable LCAs and TC rods. Probably a spring project so I can enjoy the fall driving season. Also might ditch my T3 camber plates - it has always annoyed me that they use SAE fasteners... and there is alot a play in the mount holes that opens up the potential for mis alignment.

[bertvorgon]

That amount of castor would of course make the steering very, very light. If I remember, stock was 4.5.

See what you think at high speed.

Again, the more castor you have, it induces more negative camber on turns, which really helps with front end bite.

Not to be critical of the alignment shop...but...it does take time and patience to get things EQUAL...as long as the adjustment is there.

And to be fair, each persons driving style and capability make any suggestion just that, which makes seat time the important factor, as you really get used to the car.

[demo243]

That amount of castor would of course make the steering very, very light. If I remember, stock was 4.5.

See what you think at high speed.

Again, the more castor you have, it induces more negative camber on turns, which really helps with front end bite.

Not to be critical of the alignment shop...but...it does take time and patience to get things EQUAL...as long as the adjustment is there.

And to be fair, each persons driving style and capability make any suggestion just that, which makes seat time the important factor, as you really get used to the car.

Felt OK at 80mph on the drive home.

The shop definitely knew what they were doing- they have a few successful racecars they run - but I did get a bit of a feeling that they didn't want to mess with my work... (ie I built it, not them) I told them caster was my priority so they did their best to get those even without blowing out the camber.

My only adjustment right now is diagonal camber plates so impossible to adjust camber and caster separately... so I didn't give them much to work with. I just wanted to get it back on the road as close to what I was looking for as I could.

Definitely not the final settings for sure. More parts and work to be done to truly dial it in.

The back is pretty off as well, but I didnt have them mess with that --- -3.65L and -2.3R Camber with .26L and .19R degrees toe in. The crossmember is slotted, but I want to upgraded to either Futofab/Byrons or Datsports rear brackets before I mess with that.

[demo243]

Side note - Anyone know what the thread pitch is for the nuts that hold the grill badge on? Found out mine was just glued on... nearly lost it!

[bertvorgon]

I hear yah!

[Byron510]

Side note - Anyone know what the thread pitch is for the nuts that hold the grill badge on? Found out mine was just glued on... nearly lost it!

This ones easy - the four bolts into the rad support are M6x1.

The factory ones were Phillips head screws, I’m not sure where you could find a source. Since the lower screws are buried in the grill bars, maybe a socket head (Allen) screw would work best - these are readily available anywhere.

I read through your adjustment issues, I have seen those angled camber plates - it doesn’t make engineering sense to me, I’d like to know the manufacturers reason for it - maybe it looks cool! Not sure.

Dave’s adjustable LCs and TC are pretty nice, I’ve seen a number of them lately. He did a good job on them. They are sturdy, and look quite nice.
It’d be great to see my rear brackets on another car Tha is for the endorsement.

Most importantly your driving the car again - that must feel good.

Thanks for the updates.

Byron

[demo243]

Not much to update...

Got some time to mess around with it this afternoon and swapped the B&M short shifter to a stock KA shifter -- my god the throws are long! -- anyway it unfortunately did not fix my deceleration grind... so that rules out the shifter... need to get under the car again to see if the trans is potentially contacting the tunnel... but I dont think it is. That leads to either u-joints from the driveshaft or a bad transmission or the fidenza flywheel is too light and doesnt dampen the vibrations enough...

Anyway... I think I am going to pick up another ebay cheapo short shifter, I like the feel of that one in the 620 better then the super notchey B&M one. The B&M one really doesnt like reverse, which is quite annoying...

[demo243]

Still cold, snowy, and the roads are full of salt.... so not much to update...

I am unofficially-officially searching for a 2 door to add to the fleet. Willing to ship it, but that eats into the budget quite a bit... so preferably something on the east coast. I don't mind driving to pick it up. Doesn't need to be a runner, roller is ok, as I'll probably KA swap it as well. Plan would be to build a dedicated "race car" for AutoX and tracks days, which would allow me to make this car a bit more street oriented. I am open to a full blown race car, but realistically I think just a roll bar makes more sense since I will probably never race it competitively... and Im sure Ill want to street drive it too. Got a cold lead on two cars, but both are unlikely to change hands... need to start "knocking" on doors and doing some digging...