Front end alignment

candphall

Active Member
Jun 8, 2009
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Orlando Florida
I have asked the question before but I am an old man so please humor me. I have a 69 fastback. The front end has been lowered I inch via springs. I aligned the front end myself and the car drove great with one problem. The front tires hit the fenders when the wheels were turned full deflection. I readjusted the caster, no more wheel contact but the car is all over the road. Again what should caster and camber be with the front end lowered as mine is. Thanks in advance
 
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Where was it rubbing? Front or rear of tire = caster, Top of tire = camber. Did you do any adjustments after the caster adjustment? Caster adjustment will change your toe in and camber settings so you want to do them in a specific order.
You should do fine with factory settings but I agree with Worth that you might want to drop the rear an equal amount as you did in the front.

First check and write down all three settings then start by adjusting your caster.
Next do your camber and last toe in.
After adjusting all three then check the settings again and fine tune if needed.
Here are some general settings from a supposed mustang expert but there are performance settings out there if you Google them.
You will notice that there is a difference between left side and right side and also between manual and power steering.
These are stock settings using radial tires.
I've always tried to keep mine the same from side to side but that's just me.
I put my cars up on the car dollies that you use to roll your car around in the garage under all four tires and I push
down on the front and rear a few times to make sure the suspension is settled down.

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Model Year Caster In Degrees Camber in Degrees Toe-In
’69-’70 Power Steering Left: +2 Right: +2½ Left: -¼ to -½ Right: -1⁄4 to -¾ 1⁄8 to 3⁄16-inches

’69-’70 Manual Steering Left: +1⁄2 Right: +1 Left: -¼ to -½ Right: -1⁄4 to -¾ 1⁄8 to 3⁄16-inches
 

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I have aligned the front end as you suggested my previous thread. And I must say it is much better. Tends to wander at slower speeds and becomes more stable at higher. The steering wheel returns to center somewhat better than before a result of adding positive caster as you suggested.

The only spec I had difficulty with was toe in. Right now it is set at zero, as you can imagine it is extremely difficult to split 1/16 of an inch between two wheels with a tape measure. I was wondering if setting toe to 1/8 total 1/16 per side would help. And I would also like to increase caster to help steering wheel return.

Your suggestions are valued. Thanks
Chris
 
did you use the strut rod or the shims to make the caster adjustment? if the strut rods, then you pulled the wheel forward in the wheel well. use the shims to make large caster adjustments, and the strut rods for small fine tuning adjustments.

as for the toe in, go ahead and use 1/8" for the overall toe setting.