Spindle Angle

[hrosenthal]

I can't thank the members of this forum enough for all the help they have been during my first week of building.

I hope that I can provide the same help to others when I am more proficient.

Today I installed the passenger side spindle (I used the spindle marked Driver Side).

I did the following:

1. Attached the bottom spindle mount onto the lower control arm.

2. Adjusted the upper control arm to fit into the top spindle mount and attached accordingly.

Although everything seems fine, the spindle is angled downward. I had expected it to be more vertical.

I'm attaching a photo.

I'd like to know if this is correct before moving on to the driver side.

Thanks

11436

[Jeff Kleiner]

I see two things that are making it appear this way. #1, the suspension is drooping. Raise the LCA up so that it is horizontal. #2, the upper links are extended much too far. Shorten them to get rid of that extreme positive camber. Here's how it will look:

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj43/jkleiner/Mk4%207276/100_1804-1.jpg

Good luck,
Jeff

[hrosenthal]

I pulled in the upper link, which in turn raised the LCA. It seems to be an improvement, but my LCA isn't as horizontal as your image shows. I'll spend some more time on it in the morning. Thanks
11437

[riptide motorsport]

Jeff has you covered. Did you put a jack stand under the lower control arm to take up the suspension droop?

[hrosenthal]

I'm confused about how to get the LCA horizontal. Since the shock connected the body to the LCA, it's the shock that dictates how the LCA is angled. As I see it, the only way to get the LCA horizontal would be to compress the spring a bit, giving room for the LCA to come up. Would that be a mistake?

[Gumball]

Notice the jackstand under Jeff's LCA - that's all you need to do to get an idea for how the suspension will sit when the wheel and tire are on it and it's on the ground. With the shock and spring in place, you may need to use a floor jack under the LCA to lift it slightly in order to get the jackstand in place. Although, you can probably just lift it by the spindle and have someone slide the jackstand in place. With that done, the LCA should be parallel to the ground, which is about where it will be at ride height when the car is on all four wheels.

[Norm B]

When I set mine up I threaded the spring adjuster up the shock until I could get the lower control arm parallel to the floor without compressing the spring, then made the adjustments, took the jack stand out and adjusted the spring back down until it was just seated on the spring hat at full droop.

Norm

[Jeff Kleiner]

Right, since there is virtually no weight on it currently you'll have to back the adjuster off to raise the LCA to horizontal.

FWIW, even though it really doesn't matter at the early build stages I can't stand to see the suspension pointing all wonky and always like to go ahead and get it roughed in by simulating ride height then doing an initial set of camber, caster and toe:

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj43/jkleiner/Mk4%207276/100_1801.jpg

Cheers,
Jeff

[hrosenthal]

Thanks. I will get out the jack stands today.

[rich grsc]

Back off the shock springs. They dont touch at full drop.

[CHOTIS BILL]

Jeff,

Your system for roughing in the alignment is quite similar to mine except I use longer angles and extent them back to where the cross tubes attach to the 4” dia. tubes.
I also mount the angles below the center line of the disk so that I can measure from the angle to the 4” tube once behind the disk and again in front of the cross tube to
get a rough toe measurement that is set to center line of the car.

Bill Lomenick