Progress Thread Therapy Car-- Freshening Up the Lower Intake

I'm getting close to having everything back together. Once I do I'm going to take it to the shop for front end alignment because I changed everything on the front end. I have not upgraded the caster camber plates. All I plan to do with car for the immediate future is street driving. It doesn't have coilovers or fancy performance spring. The only suspension upgrades are the poly bushings, quicker rate rack and pinion, and bump steer tie rod ends, it is lowered a little. Is it worth it based on that info for me to spend the extra money now? I would hate to not do it then find out I really should have.
 
  • Sponsors (?)


Interior is all back in.

20190316_231410.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
It's also worth it to add a little more Caster which these cars need. The downside is bumpsteer will increase slightly.

Sometimes it's difficult to find a shop that will align to non factory specs
 
Yeah, I've got it eyeballed but the plan was to let the shop take care of properly setting up. There is a speed shop down the road from me. I wouldn't trust them to tune it but they can handle this.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Ok. Ordered a set of MM plates from LMR. Used the discount code and the link from the forum. Does the forum get credit for it if you use the vendor provided link?
Brownie points. It lets them know that advertising here works, and that also means they will go the extra mile for members here, although I think they would go the extra mile for all their customers.
 
How do you correctly compensate for bump steer? I also have off set bushings installed on the rack. Nothing is right on the spindle so keep that in mind, but should this have spacers above, below, looks about right?

All the videos I watched said to get the tie rod parallel with the control arm. Do the tires need to be on with weight on the car?
 
All the videos I watched said to get the tie rod parallel with the control arm. Do the tires need to be on with weight on the car?


You can't go by the control arm. It's actually A arm pivot to balljoint. You adjust the spacer stack to try and get the tie rod end on the ssame plane, but it's never perfect.

There are a few write-ups on the net and some videos on youtube showing how to measure it. SOme creative ways include a magnetic mirror on the rotor, and a laser. You need to measure ride height and then remove the spring. Then you run the suspension through it's normal range of motion and measure how much the front toes in and out. Adjust the spacer stack to compensate. It's a HUGE PITA, but worth it when you get it all set.

I have the MM bump steer gauge, but have been thinking of grabbing a magnetic mirror and setting up a laser setup to do mine.

For example, here's how to do it using the MM gauge setup

https://www.maximummotorsports.com/Assets/install/pdf/steering/MMTR-2-4-7r2.pdf
 
Wow. That is a major PITA. Here I am just thinking its a simple tie rod end swap, some good old know how and BAM bump steer fixed!

Yesterday I stopped by the shop that I was going to have work on the car. Good guys, but they did not instill confidence in me that they knew how to perform the job. At that point I decided to try to tackle the job myself. My previous comments were based on what I saw after watching the CJ Pony parts video and LMR video. I guess you can do it the way they describe, but the end result will not be as good as what you get if you do it the MM way. I'll look into the MM bump steer installation kit. I have a feeling that it cost less than what a shop would charge to do it right.

I didn't think about it until this morning, but there is a shop here in town that does work on Fox Bodies a lot. I just don't know if they are setup to do the alignment and bump steer. In hindsight they should have been my first call. :doh: