Setting up the tracking

[Philthefinger]

I have a rolling chassis and am not certain how to proceed with setting up the alignment of the rear trailing arms and the front wheels. The chassis was a refurbished one and the shims have been removed from the rear trailing arms Can the alignment be done without replacing the body? My intention is to send it to a TVR specialist for the work to carried out (as well as a check of the work to date). Any help would be appreciated.

[GreenV8S]

Of course it can be done without the body. Just make sure the ride height is correct first. This may need you to remove the springs and support the chassis at the right height.

[PhilS3c]

Thanks - I thought it would certainly be easier to do - bodyless!

[phillpot]

Myself, I would get it "somewhere near" using string or whatever other method you can find on Youtube then get a "full geo", alignment, castor and camber when the car is complete and ride height adjusted (presuming you have adjustable seat shocks) to you requirements and car has done a few miles to settle everything in? So long as it's near enough you won't do any noticeable damage to tyres in just a few miles, imho.

To a fully equipped workshop and with all bolts etc clean and rust free adjusting with body on won't be an issue.

[v8s4me]

GreenV8S said:

Of course it can be done without the body. Just make sure the ride height is correct first. This may need you to remove the springs and support the chassis at the right height.

Without the body, engine, transmission etc in place wouldn't you still be guessing at the final ride height?

As suggested above, you could get it near enough but wouldn't it be worth waiting until it was all back together before spending lots of money on a "full geo"?

[GreenV8S]

v8s4me said:

Without the body, engine, transmission etc in place wouldn't you still be guessing at the final ride height?

The ride height is measured off the chassis. Given that the designed ride height is known, and if you decided to change it then you (should) know what you're changing it to, no guess work should be involved unless you're leaving the final ride height to chance - which would be a bad idea in any case.

[magpies]

The ride height is measured off the chassis. Given that the designed ride height is known,

What is the design ride height?

Looking at the Suspension wiki there is quite a range of set ups Front generally in the 175 - 180 range Rear 180 - 200 !

(ignore mine - on the left obviously)

Edited by magpies on Thursday 3rd October 09:04

[GreenV8S]

magpies said:

What is the design ride height?

From the point of view of the suspension geometry, the lower wishbone should be horizontal and the trailing arm should be approximately horizontal. That puts about a 10-15 mm rake on the main chassis rails. I doubt there are many cars still at the original ride height. It seems very common to lower them. Although this is not ideal for the suspension geometry and handling, I think most people will agree it looks better and really half an inch here or there is not going to hurt the handling enough to worry about.

[magpies]

I asked about the ride height as I am reasonably sure I made the bottom wishbones horizontal - but my car is lower than (all) others. I will use a spirit level when setting the suspension and tracking. Still has the body off at the mo.

[PhilS3c]

Thanks for all the help. I suppose I am more concerned about the shiming on the rear trailing arms than the front settings. The shims I presumed were to set the rear wheels squarely to each other, the chassis and the front wheels and would in themselves have limited influence over ride height. The front wheels need setting with camber and toe in/out and are at least much easier to access with the body on.

[phillpot]

Think you're fussing about nothing, up on a ramp access is not an issue, body on or off.

[PhilS3c]

Thanks for all the feedback and decision made. Setting up a temp tracking and then dropping the body back on the chassis before I get it properly set up at some point in the future once all the other jobs are tackled.