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View Full Version : All You Alignment Gurus, I Need some Help!!!


OkiDori17
10-01-2015, 04:09 PM
So a little back story....

I'm building my S13, finishing up the suspension setup while I'm waiting to get the last parts for my 2J swap.
Dropped in a spare KA I had laying around and threw it up on the rack.
I'm running all PBM arms in the rear, Megan Track coils, S14 lower control arms & Tein tension rods up front.

After a couple hours the suspension settings are:
Rear
-1.2 camber
0 toe

Front
-3.8 camber
.2 toe out
7.8 caster on the passenger side
-2.0 caster on the driver side

Why am I running negative caster on the driver side you ask?
I have no clue.
We tried everything to get it to match the passenger side.
Even trying to get it to 0 made it scrub the rear of the wheel well. There's no damage to the strut tower. They're brand new coils and rods. The machine was set up correctly. Everything we did would either scrub or the tension rod would be so far adjusted that it'd damn near come apart.

I'm hoping someone has an idea why it's doing this and give some ideas on how to fix it.
Anything will help. I want to get this sorted before I drop the new motor in and head to the track.

codyace
10-01-2015, 08:27 PM
Something has got to be bent to have that much caster difference...that's a rediculous amount to say the least.

With that also said -3.8* of camber is like, touring car status...that's almost pushing R compounds past their happyspot

omgosh
10-02-2015, 12:08 AM
If the rod is falling apart you must be making it longer? You need to shorten the tension rod to add caster..

But Ive never seen caster that far off on my cars, even with a full suspension swap Id still end up around 6-7 degrees right off the bat. Are you running two passenger side control arms or something? lol

OkiDori17
10-02-2015, 05:59 AM
@codyace the -3.8 is pretty ridiculous, but my buddy swears by it so I told him I'd try it out. It'll come down though.

And no, they're d/s and p/s on they're respecting sides. They came off my old s14 after I blew the motor and parted it out.

I ordered some new front knuckles. When I go to install them I'll do a thorough inspection of everything, but we did a good look around when it was on the rack. Everything is new so I don't understand how it could be bent.
Thanks for your replies, I'll update if I find anything new.

ZenkiKid
10-02-2015, 09:31 AM
Pretty sure something is bent if its resulting in that much of a difference in caster.

KA24sleeper
10-02-2015, 10:18 AM
sounds like setback. is one of your strut tower's bent? did you take apart your front cross member and put it back on? but for it to be that far off sounds like your front end is comprimised. is had a similar issur on mine when i crashed it and took it to a frame shop to straighten out.

Croustibat
10-02-2015, 11:53 AM
Negative caster means something is seriously bent. even with the longest tension rod setting i never went negative. My money is on bent subframe and/or knuckle (bent strut tower usually adds caster)

10-04-2015, 08:36 AM
Lotsa things could be bent, none of them likely to be the spindle itself, most likely control arm could be twisted past the tension rod, the frame where the tension rod bracket goes could be tweaked, the strut tower could be shifted, the strut shaft could be bent...

No camber plates?

Kis4Kouki
10-04-2015, 05:07 PM
What alignment machine did you do this on. Maybe you did the caster sweep wrong. Also different offset wheels can throw off the accuracy of the alignment.
Can you get a picture of the coilover, it should be overcenter with the top towards the front of the car with that amount of caster.