HELP!! Have I done this correct?

[Andy302]

Having assembled the front upper wishbones Im a bit worried I may have got them the wrong way round!

I trawled the site but cant find the definitive answer so...

Are these the correct way round for a GD? I have 3 camber shims to the front and 1 to the rear, the bevelled edge on the stop mounts is to the rear.

Any advice?

Cheers

[dave]

On the Dax they would be the other way around.
You do have the outer most bolt through the ball joint in the wrong way though. This way around it could catch the brake disc on full lock.
HTH.

[mcartney]

Andy

GD also has chamfered part to the front. I have three shims to front and none to rear. This can be changed later on depending on how well steering self centres.Bottom wishbone has offset to front.

Regards Ian.

[Andy302]

Thanks Guys, So if I just swap them left to right and move the shims this would put the bolt heads to the front of the car and solve the issue Dave raised and bring the chamfered edge to the front and solve the issue Ian raised.

Does that sound like a good plan?

My set up originally had 4 shims so thats what Ive replaced, as you say it cant be played about with when my chassis arrives (circa 2 weeks!!)

Cheers

[mcartney]

Andy

Thats correct. The number of shims recommended by GD are 3 at front and 1 or none to rear.

Ian.

[Andy302]

Thanks Ian! :thumb:

[RobinH]

Andy,
Each manufacturer tends to recommend a particulur number of shims etc as a starting point. However I would say that the practical steps for any individual car are to check, in order..
1/ As Ian says above, check the bottom wishbone is cranked the right way for your car. In this case he suggests to the front which is the same as for an AK. This sets the whole scene for how far forward/back your wheel will be within your wheel arch. Forward looks a bit strange to me, but it seems to be what most chassis are setup for.
2/ The total number of shims used at the top should be selected to ensure that the top arms sit squarely on to their pivot arm. Too many or too few and they will strain the bushes. This might vary as bushes do.
3/ Unless you are using the holes halfway down the upper arms for mounting bump-stops, you have total freedom to use the arms either way up and swapped from front to rear, with your allotted shims (see above) in any combination of infront or behind the upper ball joint. This gives quite scope for variation as you have perhaps found. What you are aiming for is a combination which a) will give you your desired caster angle, which like Ian also says above will affect the self centering and load on your steering (~5deg) and b) will not protrude in such a way as to be too close to the inside of your wheel rim.
Idealy the shims would be equally shared, front and behind the ball joint for maximim flexability in the future but that I would suspect will be a 'nice to have'.

[Cobra289]

Hi Andy,

Because you are there perhaps this information will help you.
It is about the alignment.
I have written this article to help the Dutch Cobra world.
You can find there a Alignment tool drawing that you can print and use to have a basic setup of the CASTER.

http://www.donostia.demon.nl/index_files/alignment.htm

Jaguar has two types of Caster shims; the thickness is what it changes.
One shim (old One) is 1.64 mm and the new ones are 1 mm thick so be careful when people say 4 shims because there would be a lot of difference when you use one or the other.

My advice is to have 4.5° of caster; your steering wheel will come back easily and the Camber compensation would be OK.


Almost the same article at the Dutch Cobra Forum can be seen here.

There you can see all the angles that DAX have use (advice) through the years.

Our DAX Benelux Importer has work with us to setup this information.

http://www.cobra-forum.nl/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=44

Best regards,
Cobra289