Setups - Front suspension, Headlight Aim etc

[GreatOldOne]

It's slowly dawning on me that I'm going to have to start thinking about geting all the various adjustable bits set up.

Can anyone give me some pointers on this? I believe I have the castor setup as per the original Marlin instructions (one washer to the front, 3/4 to the back if the top wishbone), But I need camber and toe settings as well.

I also need to aim the Headlights and Spotlights - should I leave this for the MOT man to do for me, or is it something I can DIY?

[MartinClan]

Originally Posted by GreatOldOne

It's slowly dawning on me that I'm going to have to start thinking about geting all the various adjustable bits set up.

Can anyone give me some pointers on this? I believe I have the castor setup as per the original Marlin instructions (one washer to the front, 3/4 to the back if the top wishbone), But I need camber and toe settings as well.

I also need to aim the Headlights and Spotlights - should I leave this for the MOT man to do for me, or is it something I can DIY?

I started of with 0 camber and a 0 toe in. The problem I then had was that the steering didn't self centre. I just fiddled with the settings until it did and haven't checked it since! On my list of jobs for this winter....

I think Peter has had a good play with his settings....

Headlights - I just guessed. As it happens almost correctly.... Your friendly MOT man will normally allow you to play with them. Strangely - although my headlights passed the MOT they then failed the SVA and I had to adjust them again. Again the SVA man was quite helpful with this. It seems the equipment they use at the SVA test is much more accurate than that used for the MOT.

Robin

[Chris Cussen]

The SVA man should allow you to make minor adjustments, like light settings and speedo calibration during the test.

I guessed with my headlights and they passed both MOT and IVA, but the IVA test was very close to the limit.

[Patrick]

I'm using 1.25 deg neg camber. The toe I set by adjusting them in a 1/4 of a turn at a time until the car felt good to drive.

[MartinClan]

Originally Posted by Patrick

I'm using 1.25 deg neg camber. The toe I set by adjusting them in a 1/4 of a turn at a time until the car felt good to drive.

Interesting Does your steering still self centre OK?

Robin

[Patrick]

Yeah seems to work fine.

[peterux]

Originally Posted by MartinClan

I started of with 0 camber and a 0 toe in. The problem I then had was that the steering didn't self centre. I just fiddled with the settings until it did and haven't checked it since! On my list of jobs for this winter....

I think Peter has had a good play with his settings....


Robin

Yes, that's true but like Robin not exactly sure where i've ended up.
I tried setting it up with gaffer tape and bits of angle iron but it never really worked well.
I set 1 degree neg camber.


I used one of those cheap'ish camber tools. You really need to check it with the wheels on and the car on a level surface and not as shown in this picture.

I then tried about 0.5 degree toe in but couldn't get much self centering. After trial an error and a suggestion from Robin I found that 'lots' of toe out gave the desired self centering effect for the SVA. You could actually see the wheels sticking out by eye but it worked!
Since then trail and error and to be honest i'm not sure where I am now?
I took the car to my local tyre fitter in the summer but their old fashoined equipment wouldn't fit with the Sportster front wings and suggested laser alignment which is very expensive so didn't get it done.

I also had to wind up my front suspension up to get my headlight height right for the SVA. Lowering it back down again made a huge difference to the front handling. The other thing to check is that you adjust all the spring settings front and rear to get the ride height equal side to side.

One day I'd like to book it in for a proffesional set up and corner weighting.