ghia alignment, driver with a little auto x

For road racing, autocrossing, or just taking that curve in style. Oh yea, and stopping!
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juki48
Posts: 473
Joined: Wed Apr 04, 2007 9:04 am

ghia alignment, driver with a little auto x

Post by juki48 »

I need to have my 74 aligned. I have drop spindles with a stock beam and a 3/4 sway bar in the front. the rear has all new bushings and stock torsion rods, I have a 3/4 bar for the rear but have not installed it yet. the car sits level so the rear must be down 2.5 or so. I usually drive on country roads and often hit 90+ mph due to the big motor :twisted: . I also would like to sign up for a couple local autocross events just for fun. my question? What should I use for front toe, camber and caster, and what should I set the rear toe at? the rear has a lot of camber in it from sitting lower. I'm not looking for an auto x only setup, 90% of my driving is cruising windy country roads at 60-70 mph. I just want something that will be comfortable at higher speed but not too hard to steer at lower speeds.
Riley

74 Ghia 2276 Turbo MSII Extra
67 Beetle in restoration
Manx Style buggy 1600 stock
buildabiggerboxer
Posts: 621
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:50 pm

Re: ghia alignment, driver with a little auto x

Post by buildabiggerboxer »

Juki, the stock settings are always the best starting point apart from extra castor on the front, at least one shim, preferably two, longer bolts help when fitting two shims, stock bolts are fine with one, front toe in Is good at between 1/16" and 1/8" or about 30' if you prefere metric, get some extra camber nuts and set them for maximum neg camber and caster, as to the rear, is it IRS or swing, that huge rear bar is not the best for swing on the street, lower the rear by one outer spline from stock, then set the rear toe AT THE NEW RIDE HEIGHT, I would guess 15' to be near optimum for what you are doing, and a z bar is a better idea than an ARB, but I would learn the car first and then develop it as and when required, the real performance comes from detail work with weight shifting and driving ability, for example it may be quicker with a full tank of fuel, an old trick I still use in the rain, then the tyres, the right tyres Set right , Out perform any other trick parts, I've now shifted to running the front tyres harder than the rears to get what I want from the tyre temps. Good adjustable shocks then finish it off, go over all the bushings front and rear, and no worn parts as you know already, then have fun learning the car... Regards, BBB.
helowrench
Posts: 1925
Joined: Wed Aug 11, 2004 6:20 am

Re: ghia alignment, driver with a little auto x

Post by helowrench »

My ghia has been through a full bushing replacement, and extensive alignment.
I am running -.75 degree camber in the front and .07 toe in front.
Rears is straight up, 0 camber, and 0 toe in.
All measurements taken at ride height with 250lbs ballast in the drivers seat to compensate for my heavy a$$,.

3/4 sway bar up front, stock ride height , but level front to rear.
23.5mm torsion bar in rears, stock leafs up front
one set of caster shims installed
Sachs shocks all the way around

Mahle rims, with 205/60-15 Ohtsu FP6000 tires

Love the way it drives, need to install my 14mm rear sway bar next. have the mounts figured out, just have to dig it out, and figure out the links.
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