Mikey's new four-door

[torquelover]

Say, being a SBFTecher and all, I don't suppose you know much about setting alignments at home? Supposedly John Deere Green can get it pretty close just by eye, and I suppose I might be able to harangue that one guy in south Lansing into coughing up some tips. If I do end up getting different springs entirely (and keeping in mind that I still haven't attempted to measure the camber change with respect to changes in ride height), it might be nice to delay a professional alignment until the "final" ride height is more certain.

Dial in as much caster as you can on each side, make sure it's the same side to side, and then go for 1* or less negative camber and 1* or less toe-in. If I were you, I would not do this until you get new tires on the car, which might not be for a while as long as you haven't burned them off. Your tires are pretty comfy with the current alignment settings, and if you change them, you might get a pull or vibration that will make you think the new alignment is off and drive you crazy when it's actually the old tires jacking you around.

BTW, I was certifiably OCD when it came to greasing the 17 grease fittings on that car. Looks like it helped

[1987cp]

Greasing = good I was particularly pleased to discover that my big grease gun still had plenty of blue high-temp grease in it, though I did have a cylinder of red Lucas crazy-conditions grease handy should I have needed it.

I guess I shall have to learn how to measure and adjust caster. The bit of attempting to shove the UCA in and out and fore and aft seems comparatively straightforward (other than the issue of how and where to pry, since I know the suspension will be loaded during adjustment), but I've also heard about people using shims with A-arm suspension ... or is that only for applications where the UCA shaft mounts against a vertical surface instead of horizontal?

[torquelover]

Jack up the car a smidge right under the lower ball joint just enough to almost see daylight under the tire. Removes most any side forces from the UCA. Way easier to adjust.

[1987cp]

Hm. Then you just use a prybar between the control arm and bolt heads?

[torquelover]

Hm. Then you just use a prybar between the control arm and bolt heads?

Just loosen up the bolts enough for the UCA mounts to move when tapped lightly with a brass or composite headed hammer. You'll drive yourself crazy trying to dial it in with it sliding around all over the place. Ask me how I know...

[1987cp]

I have a 1-pound and a 4-pound rubber shot-filled deadblow .... though clearance to swing any sort of hammer will likely be a big issue .....

Still, I guess I'll try it!

[packman]

lol

Too bad the driving feel now sucks.

Is it that much of a difference? There was a little difference when I swapped over to the Speedway Motors springs, but not that much. At the time, the Monroe Sensa-Trac shocks were kinda fresh-ish, so that may have had something to do with it. On the other hand, the roads around here have gotten into much more disrepair, I can definitely feel that. I'm considering running the winter tires (turbines) a little longer this time around until things improve a little. At some point I'm considering body mounts and I have a feeling that they (Energy Suspension) might make the ride a bit more harsh.



Packman

[1987cp]

Ooohyeah, 700 lb/in to 450ish lb/in is a huge difference. For one illustration, consider the fact that the nose now sits considerably lower than it did immediately before the spring swap, despite the fact that the "new" springs (even cut) are considerably taller than the "old" ones.

For another illustration, consider the spring rate directly and imagine putting each spring in a fixture where you add weight directly on top of it in an attempt to compress it one inch. The 450# spring needs roughly a complete 5.0L smallblock to compress it one inch. The 700# spring needs that same smallblock, plus me sitting on top of it wearing heavy clothes and holding my kid, to compress it the same inch.

Yep, the 450# spring boings a lot more.

BTW, in my opinion my cheapo Gabriel Ultra front shocks have a bit better damping than a SensaTrac (having gone directly from SensaTracs to Ultras on the wagon). I'm interested in trying out some heavier-valved shocks just to see how it affects response ....

[packman]

Yeah, I'm considering another brand of shock when the time comes. I might hit Blaze up on the PM and see what he thinks of the QA1s that he had on his CV.

With the springs, I had thought that the 900lb Speeways would be way too harsh over the stock 450lb springs, but they were not. It was actually quite a different feel (for lack of a better word). With the new springs I would feel the contour of the road (dips and sudden rises, especially bridges); it felt like that pit of the stomach feeling in an elevator. Though you seem to be a bit more discerning with changing conditions in an automobile. I wonder what difference the Energy Suspension control arm bushings will make?



Packman

[1987cp]

I'm not sure "discerning" is the word you're looking for. More like wussy! :banana:

[1987cp]

Still working on time to mess with the suspension some more. Might not happen till late tomorrow afternoon at the earliest (). ES kit is here, old rubber bushings are out of one of the "new" control arms I got from Scott and Gabe, and I'm planning to get out the knotted wire wheel for some fairly serious cleanup and maybe some painting before attempting to install the new bushings.

[1987cp]

Suspension progress

Ran into an aggravating snafu that had me in knots for two days. I'd completely misunderstood a reference to ES kit 4.3153, and had evidently done an inadequate job of asking clarifying questions, because I failed to determine (despite Mike's helpful info in the stickies ) that what I actually needed was 4.3150.



However, rather than hassle with a return, I took a not-widely-recommended approach and modified the two bushings that were wrong. This saved a LOT of time, headache, and also money.



Now I have one upper control arm nearly ready to install, pending a little extra head-scratching involving the shaft jam nuts.

[torquelover]

New droop stops? The arms look good. Any binding at all with those bushings?

[1987cp]

Thanks! I reinstalled the old droop stops since they still look fine, and how often will the suspension really see full droop in normal driving? Reminds me, though, that I should have another look at the lower bumpstops, since they're actually part of the spring system.

No binding I've noticed yet. The shafts don't turn super-easily, but they do turn smoothly.

[mrltd]

Those washers need some cleaning up and polishing/painting!













Seriously, they do have to be completely rust free and smooth. The lack of the teeth on the inner collar of the bushing allow for the washer and nut to move- which means lots of loose nuts. Even if you use locktite and new locknuts!