Found it from Chris's site. Go Google. Still want to find all the available options in an off-set trunion though. I found the ones from Dennis Welch Racing but they look like an all or nothing set-up. My fear is that I may have one side slightly different than the other (remember I replaced the shock towers with out a chassis jig) and am after correction to near stock or 1% or less negative with an option to back out from stock to negative with little hassle.
The car handles well but does "jump" into the corner all of the sudden like which I believe is an indication of too much toe in.
So what I am looking at is wear on the outside of my tyres up front after about 15K miles. Perhaps this is normal (see below)? Perhaps I just pushed too hard when chasing Udo's lap times at Tahoe last year.
This is a street / touring car that gets periodic abuse at rallys and on empty back roads. What I did not expect was uneven wear up front. Here is the info "notes" I originally sought. I believe this came from Chris Dimmock's Black and White Healey site.
Comments?
Front Suspension, camber and tyres
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What do you use your car for? If you just drive it around on the street - then I can't help you too much past this point. Most big Healeys have 1 degree positive camber as standard, and about 1mm toe in - so the outer edge must be the edge that wears first in straight line driving (i.e. - lets ignore the dynamics of cornering for a minute). Negative camber and toe out will wear the inner edge in straight line driving.
If you want front negative camber - to make the front of the car 'bite' better, and grip harder - this article may help - but it will move tyre wear from the outside edge to the inside edge of your tyres if you drive around on the street.
As a tyre corners hard, the outside tyre rolls over into a positive camber situation. As you turn the wheel - the caster applies some negative camber. When you start playing with camber - your final goal is to have the loaded tyre as 'vertical' as you can get it - to get more rubber on the road under hard cornering. On a Healey, with Yokohama A008 tyres - you actually need about 8 degrees total negative camber at 20 degrees turn in to achieve a vertical, fully loaded tyre. This total required negative camber is effectively caster plus static camber. Most standard Healeys have 1 degree positive camber, and somewhere between 0 degrees and 3 degrees of negative caster..... so getting this much neg camber is a bit of a task - and most never achieve anywhere near it...
If you want to change your camber to negative - there are four methods I am aware of:
1. You can bend the front shock arms, effectively shortening them - but I wouldn't ever recommend this - no one seems to know what the arms are actually made of - or how they are made (cast? forged?) - and the metalurgy could be a bit risky. I know many guys who have done this - I won't.
2. The better way is to fit the shorter front shock arms off other british cars - Wolesley sedans are the 'best' donors I've found. If you measure the length of your shock arms, centre to centre, with the shock arms installed on the shock, and you'll find that healey ones are 'about' 216 - 218mm long - try to measure them, and you'll see why I say 'about'.... You can get shock arms off other British sedans which are around 208mm, down to about 200mm long, trunion bolt center to shock arm pivot center. About 4.5mm = 1 degree of camber - so if you have a standard Healey setup (1 degree positive camber) - and you go to 200mm Wolseley arms - you get nearly 3 degrees NEGATIVE camber. But this modification (and most modifications which change camber by 2 degrees or more) require a few other changes - like making your fixed length steering arms adjustable, so you can shorten them to match the reduced shock arm length. You can't adjust the huge amount of toe out these shorter shock arms give by just shortening the centre fixed steeering rod - you will run out of adjustment - and the steering arm and idler arm - which must always piont forwards - will splay out at up to a 45degree angle. You'll need to align the idler arm and steering arm so they are pointing straight ahead - then shorten (and make adjustable) the fixed length side steering arms. If you aren't capable of doing this yourself - do some more research - and get a qualified suspension expert to look at what you are trying to achieve.
3. Use 'camber bushes' - offset bushes on the top trunion link of the king pin. Typically - these give around 1 degree of adjustment.
4. Another option if you are starting with a bare chassis is to move your front shock locating plates 'inwards' - same scale of distances as in 2. above. If you do this - then also move them "back" - and get some more caster while you are at it..... Healeys don't have enough caster to start with - and more caster = less negative static camber is required. But do your maths before you try this - and seek the serrvices of a professional welder or body aligner!! - and often your wishbone locating mounts on the chassis rail will also need to be altered - so that everything lines up when you are finished
Remember - more caster = heavier steering - but better cornering grip.
As always - measure accurately - know what you are trying to achieve, and what you want your car for. Everything is a compromise...