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Castor/Camber Corrections

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Brakin80

Senior Member
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I noticed in AUSMHLY's 'bent frame' post a few people commented on putting the car on a rack and making sure all geometry was still good. If it wasn't, is it possible to do minor 'tweaking' to get the geometry back while the car is still assembled?

Here's why I ask. I am looking for solutions to fix a Castor/Camber problem on our 1960 BN7. Measurements as follows:
Castor is 0.94? LH and 5.4? RH
Camber is +0.53? and -0.53? RH

I know that Castor should be 2? and Camber should be 1?. We're not expecting to get it perfect, but it would be nice to get it going down the road straight without wanting to pull to the left. We've been told that the Castor is what is sending the car to the left. True? I know both Cape International and Denis Welch offer Camber solutions, but not Castor. Suggestions?
 
The castor is not so easy to change. To quote Jim Hockert:
------------------
"The castor on the front suspension is built into the chassis by having the
horizontal centerline of the rear suspension bracket one-half inch closer
to the top of the chassis than the horizontal centerline of the front
suspension bracket. This provides two degrees of positive castor for the
suspension."
------------------
This causes the bottom of the kingpin to be slightly forward of the top, which gives the castor.

In reality, the production variations could result in anything from one to two degrees of castor. The camber is reasonably in spec as you suggest. I would be suspicious of bent suspension arms, shock arms, or frame mounts. having the top shock mount back too far could give the same result. The quoted castor is certainly way out of spec. You may be able to get an idea of what is wrong by carefully measuring & comparing all parts of the two sides.
D
 
BRKN80,The Castor,Camber And King Pin inclination angles of the front suspension are determined by the machining and assembly of these components during manufacture.Serious deviations in these angles suggests that your car has suffered front end damage.Generally only minor corrections can be done to a fully assembled car. However, I would give some consideration to moving the Shock plate if you can find a knowledgeable person to do it.I Think the RH shock tower is bent--Fwiw---Keoke
 
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