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914World.com _ 914World Garage _ DE Alignment

Posted by: Bill Kohnke Mar 14 2006, 06:50 PM

OK I have the 5 bolt conversion done, she is a also a 6 cyl. now. What alignment recommendations are out there for track use? 205/50 x15x 7"wheels on front, 225x50x15 x8" wheels on back with DOT Yokohama Advan tires.
Watkins Glen - Black run group and I will be running her hard.
I can get up to 2 degrees of negative camber, maybe a little more. Caster looks to be about 5 1/2 positive. I was guessing that 1/8" total positive toe may be what I'd want.
TIA Bill Kohnke & Mrs Murphy

Posted by: race914 Mar 14 2006, 06:55 PM

I'm running 15x7s all the way around and here are my current alignment specs:

Corner Balance with driver:

Left Front: 480 Right Front: 480
Left Rear: 604 Right Rear: 596

Alignment:

Left Front: -2.2 Right Front: -2.2
Toe .12 .12

Left Rear: -2.8 Right Rear: -2.0
(turns out car was hit on right rear. found body work and this is all the neg camber we can get)
Toe .23 .23

Posted by: Joseph Mills Mar 14 2006, 10:34 PM

My car is set up for AX and not DE and there are important differences. But there are also similarities of good handling characteristics. Incidently I run the same size wheels/tires as you.

Your tire selection may in part go a long way in determining camber settings. While one tire may respond well to -3 degrees negative camber, another may tolerate no more than -1.

I run 1.3 front and 1.7 rear. I run KUMHO 710s that work well with less camber.

I am not familiar with your tire, but hopefully someone here will be and can provide you some insight on camber preferences for that brand. Or, you may read up on what the tire manufacturer recommends for camber, tire temps, and base air pressure.

On my car, we took the side that allowed the least amount of caster and balanced the other side with it, which was 7 degrees caster. Which gives me maximum straight line stability (which helps to combat my toe-out instability).

I tend to favor lower toe-out settings since more toe-out creates more scrub which reduces speed, increases tire wear and produces more bumpsteer. And for the higher speeds you will be going, there will be more straight line instability. And for what purpose? Faster turn-in? I'm not convinced our cars have a problem with turn-in. Mine is set at 1/16th.

It sounds like you may not have done an alignment yet. If so, have it corner balanced first and then the alignment. Even if you don't have rear adjustable coil overs, you can still corner balance it to some degree. It can be a big improvement.

You didn't mention front swaybar, but I assume you have one.

For me, none of the figures you've stated seem way out of the norm and anyway, they're just a base from which to start your dark journey into the black art of suspension tuning.

..

Posted by: brant Mar 14 2006, 11:36 PM

the optimum rear toe settings really depend upon the type of suspension bushings you are using.

the general rule on camber and caster is to get as much of each +/- respectively as you can on the weaker side and match the other to that....

but stock bushings and poly bushings require different toe when compared to a roller bearing or mono-ball... and to get away with zero toe, you really need to bracing.

we run -2.8 camber at all 4 and zero toe, but also have toe lock bars and without them you can't get away with that:

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Posted by: 0396 Mar 15 2006, 08:12 AM

Brant,

Sent you an email regarding your set up
Thanks,