Period Decamber Mods shim up stub axle

[John A. Ross]

Mike

The helper springs would be an idea but compared to the cost of a set of dampers too much to throw away

Will be new dampers so i can set the height better,

Stub axle wise I *think* the stub axles have same offsets only the length of the pin was changed, grease nipples added. If there are any other changes I am not aware of them.

The fixed length control arm was only difference I was aware of escluding actual wishbones and brackets

But then again I might never have noticed as only attention I have paid is if it looks OK in the end

John.

[moose549]

Do the early and late stub axles have different camber angles on them? I thought it was only the steering arm part that was a different length and angle for the pivot height. I would move the washer (free to do) And you could try this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Faulkener....c100005.m1851 cheaper than a pair of dampers or buy some dampers of me next year lol.

[John A. Ross]

Mike,

I actually intedned to update this one but might keep it with the car. Thanks for the extra write up !

The decamber worked well on standard springs which I think was the original idea as a slice and dice was cheaper than a spring and adjustable platforms.

However the front end still sticks up a bit and stiill looks like a motorboard in the water, a look I dont like.

In this case its high pivot.

So I dropped the nose with shorter springs but of course the wheels now lean in too much, so looks like I will either replace the stub axles with later ones (if i have any good ones) or move the wahser to the opposite side to uncamber the de-camber effect.

The springs are loose so some adjustable platforms are on the agenda, wont be this year, budget for car is completely blown

John

[moose549]

When i do king pin builds i sit them on the bench pick which side i am doing and think of a motorbike or push bike front forks. wheel in a straight line the bottom of king pin is further forward than the top, or leans back etc when you are sat in the car. Does that make sense it is the rake angle that makes a bike go in a straight line and altering the angle makes the bike more steady but slow to turn or turn in quick and give you scary speed wobbles. Stand at the bench put the 4 major component pieces in front of you easy bit first stub axle with hole for speedo cable move to your left other to your right. The put the last two pieces on the bench in the orientation they go on the car and make sure the tops lean towards you.

I always recommend 1/4 to 1/2 deg neg as a base setting. If you have adjustable spring platforms set the car at the ride height you want then check the spring platform is approx halfway on the thread. Set tracking to 3mm in. check camber with the normal laden weight of the car say 1 person full tank of fuel or half a tank and two people. If you do not have enough camber lower the spring platforms until you do and look at the ride height again you may not notice too much difference to where you had it. Always settle suspension after each adjustment and re-set tracking for each camber adjustment and keep good notes of what you have done in case you want to go back to a certain point. Drive the car and see what the different heights and cambers do for you, not forgetting to try different tyre pressures for different camber angles to see if more or less pressure compliments your angles. It will vary from tyre to tyre and from personal driving style so do not be mislaid or stick ridgedly to what an "expert" tells you. For example a race car on 2255 lb short springs with 1.5 deg neg on semi slicks will be different to your car on 145/70/12 and Monte's, as will someone else car on monte's with 165/65/13 tyres super budget brand and it will be different again for someone else on the same tyres as mentioned before but Michelin quality.

[John A. Ross]

The thread on this one has been static for a while so I decided today as i found a gauge in the back of the toolbox to check what the camber actually was on DDG with just the de-camber mod and standard size springs / suspension

Was quite surprised I thought it would be a lot worse as it still sits high.

the mod certainly seems to have done its job BUT I fear now when I drop the nose to stop the car looking like a speedboat in water that it will end up looking like a young fellas front end (the busted suspension look only JOKING young peeps !)

[John A. Ross]

Would be nice to try it on a car settled/fixed using the gap gauges in the manual to space the springs and see how many mm/degree the washers do.

I am sure there are some details somewhere.

Ideally as the suspension is lowered the angle would need changed as well.

John

[PMCG]

Reading a book starts on left so easy start point for us , not so good for Chinese evidently!.
Glad to see the "easy mistake to make " comment

It's a bit weird for me, left handed (writing) , used to get wacked on hand at primary school to use my right.
Play guitar right handed, pool right handed (can also play left) but I get annoyed at folks saying near side/drivers side when talking about cars.
I much prefer the old sitting in the drivers seat facing forward so left and right.

[Petowner]

Reading a book starts on left so easy start point for us , not so good for Chinese evidently!.
Glad to see the "easy mistake to make " comment

[PMCG]

Easy mistake to make.

I marked all the suspension parts when I stripped Merc. down. with a centre punch.
A simple dot in the casting areas then a note on a wall that says the ones with the extra dot are Left (nearside UK), I always start at Left for some reason.

[Petowner]

Well l wasn't 100% sure my rebuild of stub axles was correct , no amount of pictures or even looking at set up on car convinced me l'd done it correctly .
Trouble is ,when l take parts apart at work that are, or are nearly identical l always mark parts up with stamp or just centre dot parts so that l don't muddle up the parts from multiple strip downs, Why didn't l do that for my parts? on taking wishbones and stub axle assemblies to work this morning l noticed (ashamed to say it)
that l had assembled off side carrier to near side stub axle and visa versa. Removed top welch washer and stripped them both and corrected my mistake.
Now happier all is correct.
Did the de camber mods while l was at it

[John A. Ross]

Two points . no grease nipples or speedo cable , is this still being restored then?

Bob, yes, not finished yet, only found a NOS speedo cable a month ago. Thats why no dirt yet you would not see that on Boris !

These are also MK 1 stubs, they never had grease nipples and someone drilled those holes and the grease nipples dont thread in correctly, left that as a sproblem for another day

Likely I will just bung them up. I spend ages polishing the carriers to accept the bushes so they were a snug fit wnd no scratches/snagging. Then shimmed it in vertical axis till it was slightkly stiff but smooth on the thrust wasers.

I wont admit to how much time i spend with the stainless washers on the oils tone but I am a fussy sod.

Yes l've done it correctly , really it's so easy to mix up if stripping both , but basically angle of tilt is in same plain as steering column is best way l could describe it..
Thinking now mod the carriers 3\16" as stated in book ,get it out of the way , must make it look better if nothing else , always looks weird at the moment.

That would be way to go

- John

[Petowner]

Two points . no grease nipples or speedo cable , is this still being restored then?
Yes l've done it correctly , really it's so easy to mix up if stripping both , but basically angle of tilt is in same plain as steering column is best way l could describe it..
Thinking now mod the carriers 3\16" as stated in book ,get it out of the way , must make it look better if nothing else , always looks weird at the moment.

Bob

[John A. Ross]

Bob

Took some pics anyway


Offside First







Then Nearside First

[Petowner]

Maybe , l'll look at Pet tomorrow and get back to you if necessary. THANKS
Bob

[John A. Ross]

bob, you want some pics from car in garage ?