MII Directional Stability

El, how much is 1/8" toe in in degrees? We put .2 degrees per side and that was a little less than I calculated as being 1/16". I thin.25 was right at 1/8" total. Did I goof? I watched the tech align it and I know what the end result was. This was an experienced tech, too.

 

This would depend on your tire diameter. What do you have?

 

If you have a 26" tire, .2 degrees should be .045" and I am going to ***ume this is per side. So both sides would be .090" and that is close to 3/32" toe.

At this stage of the game ask your guy to set it at 0 degrees of toe and see if that makes a difference.

I referenced in my first response that there is some creative "you can get away with that" engineering (ahem) in your IFS kit. So stock alignment settings are out the window.

 

Approx 27". Sorry. I forgot to post that.

 

Your math is very close to what I calculate, too. I always thought toe in added additional stability. I wasn't aware that toe in could make the car very sensitive and darty. I knew from my racing days that toe out would.

I'm going to check the pump before I go back to the alignment shop. It's 30 minutes away. I had a helluva time finding someone who could do it. My car wasn't "in their database" at the tire store. Jesus.

 

The crossmember to me doesn,t look like made by Fatman.
The a arm hole is to high.
Your steering is off bacause the tie rod is not parrell with a arm.
Your wheels are going in and out as the car goes up and down.
You say its good on level.
When the front end is aliglined they don,t check up and down on a arm.
If you draw it out on paper you will see whats happing.

 

My God, nothing is easy. Today, I went back to the alignment shop. Once there, we discovered that I had a leaking rack. So, I pulled the plug on the alignment and went on a wild goose chase until I got the right one from NAPA. While installing it, I checked the pump relief valve and discovered that it already had 4 shims installed. So much for that theory.

My alignment guy set the toe with less toe in for my ride home and it felt better. I'm taking it back Friday and following El Polackos advice. It will have 4 degrees caster, 1/4 degree pos. camber and virtually no toe in. I think it will drive a lot better.

 

Let us know how that works out please.

 

I think you are on the right track. My alignment guy recommends zero toe in and lots of caster and a degree of camber. Works well for me. And this is on my Mustang DD.

 

We were only able to get 3 degrees caster in it while maintaining .2 degree negative camber. We set the toe at zero and it track and drive much better. The steering is still quick but not unmanageable. I'm convinced we've got it as good as we are going to get it without changing to a manual rack. Thanks for the help!

 

Great thread Rock, very informative (once again, thank you ElPolako!)

Am I correct in saying that one of the take-home messages is use a manual rack on an MII conversion?

At first, I was upset with the CE guys who told me that I cannot use a power rack in my '51 chevy MII when I found out from others later "Oh, a power rack will fit!"

Now I'm feeling pretty good about their advice.

 

Jimmy, I would go with the manual rack as NeedLouvers said. Heck, I wish I had converted this week when I had to replace the rack. It would have been easy to do.

ElPolacko, you are the man! Thanks!

 

It was the perfect time! Oh well, I understand that you had it plumbed and set up and all, why undo. Just remember the manual rack and stock wheel deal for the future. if I had not seen that tiny, adorable, psychotic female driving my car as much as she did, I would have thought I had to have power too. I do have to admit that I am not a huge fan of power steering in any thing though...

 

I have one of those kits. I'm not overboosted, the ratio is jus really quick for this car.

 

I agree. My 41 is gonna have manual steering!

 

Come to think of it, how many turns is your rack, lock-to-lock?

 

3. I got a replacement rack a NAPA that was 2.5 and I took it back!

 

Yeah, I wanted to make sure that you did not have the 2-1/2 turn one.

 

We set my truck up with the specs from a mustang. Thats what it was designed for. Never had a problem. It did do some wandering on high speed turns so we put a sway bar on it and it never felt better.
Good luck.

 

From this point, a sway bar would likely improve it a little. It's a big car and it bounce a bit. An improved rear suspension would help a lot but I'm not putting that kind of time and effort in.

When you turn a car with leaf springs in the rear, as the car rolls it steers the rear due to one spring lengthening and one shortening. That's why 4 bar setups are better. They keep the rear pointed straight ahead.

 

Why don't you pull the belt off the power steering pump just to see if it improves.
Also when you plumbed it , did you use aftermarket hoses.

Most OEM power steering hoses have restrictors in them to reduce volume
[ the most volume needed is lock to lock turns ]

Pressure is pressure and Volume is Volume [ don't confuse them ]

Too much Pressure gives the power steering light touch, but too much volume makes the power steering over reactive and touchy

 

A rear sway bar would help that quite a bit. Takes a lot of body roll out.

 

Very Interesting and Informative thread. For what it's worth my Avatar truck has got a Fatman crossmember and a MII rack with a Heidts adjustable valve to tweak pressures along with a 7/8s antiroll bar and it tracks like it's on a rail.

 

Have you checked this

 

harpo, do you mean anti-dive, where the upper arm opporates on a slightly different plane as the lower?

 

I think the car at its ride level should be setup that way.Putting 2" drppped spindles puts it on rake.Being on rake the caster is set back farther. This is where the tie rod gets so far out of parrrel. What i,m saying car on ground,a arms level front to back level,Spindle 1 degs pos.A manual rack is 3 turns plus.

 

This is picture of mine,the a arm looks lower in back.That maybe why the rie rod is level with a arm. I have no sway bar front of back and have very little movement in front.The coil overs are stiff maybe 3" movement at most.

 

Uh, I am over the 100 mark installing these, and I always put the crossmember level, at ride height.

Provided that you've done the rest of the install properly, proper alignment does the rest.

 

This thread turned comical

I level my Mustang II crossmembers to the frame, not to any rake angle, because I want to match a particular anti dive geometry. I make sure I can get my needed 3degrees even with one or two degrees of body rake.

But that's just me, you guys carry on.