Golden Goddess heart surgery

[Kern Dog]

You do have to drive forward and back to settle the suspension.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

Yeah I’m an idiot and kinda forgot, I’ve just rolled it back and forth a few times, probably 10-15 feet it’s looking better

 

[Kern Dog]

The thing I learned about our cars….. if the steering has excessive toe OUT, it will give negative camber. If the toe is IN too much, it will give positive camber. All of these things are inter-related so one thing does affect other things.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

I think I got it settled, I’ll let it sit over night and tighten everything up, should be good enough until I can get to an alignment shop

 

[PRND21]

The aftermarket UCAs all seem to be built with increased caster in mind. You may know this but caster and camber are somewhat intertwined. It is hard to have positive camber and positive caster. You don't want positive camber anyway so that is sort of moot.
I run .75 negative camber, 5 degrees of positive caster and 1/8" toe IN. This was before I raised the car an inch this week. Even going up one inch affects the alignment a small amount but not enough to warrant a trip back to the shop. After seeing Chris' video, I'll go ahead and buy the gauges and try doing my own at home.

Raising or lowering will effect toe in more than anything else.

 

[Kern Dog]

The chart I have shows opposite of that. One inch loses 1.5 degrees of caster while only losing a tiny fraction of toe.

 

[PRND21]

My old alignment guy died recently, my experience with raising or lowering the front end of my 65 would change the toe in. At least that’s all he ever adjusted. He was a meticulous old fashioned mechanic, let me look over his shoulder and showed me all his settings. When the body goes up or down the center link goes with it, that affects the length of the tie rods. I’d guess it changes other geometry but it never really showed on my car. But I’m sure no expert on front end geometry.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

With the advancement in lighting technology, and receding in driver intelligence lately, I’ve decided I wanted to switch all the lights to led. I did it in my Datsun, because I was sitting at a red light when it was a little foggy out and almost had to change underpants watching a car that probably couldn’t see the dim lights. So far it’s just the side markers, 1157s are on the way, but holy smokes look at the difference!

 

[Kern Dog]

Just an FYI:
You'll need a new flasher to be compatible with LEDs. They require what is known as a "no load" type for proper operation.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

Yes, I already have those because for some reason the Datsuns led flashers only work with the factory flasher installed. When I put the led compatible ones in, they don’t

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

Well this is a fun one. I got the 1157s in, I swapped out to led flashers, it took a little pushing and I had to tap the flasher a couple of times, but I sorta have lights. The front running light, turn signal, and hazard work great. The rear running light, and turn signal work great. However the flashers and brake lights don’t. I swapped everything back, apparently I don’t have brake lights

 

[MarPar]

Well this is a fun one. I got the 1157s in, I swapped out to led flashers, it took a little pushing and I had to tap the flasher a couple of times, but I sorta have lights. The front running light, turn signal, and hazard work great. The rear running light, and turn signal work great. However the flashers and brake lights don’t. I swapped everything back, apparently I don’t have brake lights

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

Upon further inspection it appears we have a possible bad brake light switch

 

[MarPar]

Upon further inspection it appears we have a possible bad brake light switch

That damn low-hanging fruit...

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

Finally figured out the brake issue, stupid wire just barely pulled out of the connector

So, got her all cleaned up and ready for a date with an alignment shop. The guy I spoke to said their alignment guy is a genius, it doesn’t leave until it’s correct and feels right, so hopefully he’s not all talk, if so they’re running a promotional deal and it’s $1 alignments all month, so I’m not out that much

 

[RemCharger]

Upon further inspection it appears we have a possible bad brake light switch

This is why we put electricians on electrical jobs!

 

[ckessel]

Finally figured out the brake issue, stupid wire just barely pulled out of the connector

So, got her all cleaned up and ready for a date with an alignment shop. The guy I spoke to said their alignment guy is a genius, it doesn’t leave until it’s correct and feels right, so hopefully he’s not all talk, if so they’re running a promotional deal and it’s $1 alignments all month, so I’m not out that much

Make sure its not "set the toe and let it go" on their alignments.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

Make sure its not "set the toe and let it go" on their alignments.

Oh I called them and he assured me the tech doesn’t let it leave until he’s happy with it

 

[ckessel]

And they hang targets on all 4 wheels, not just the front. Don't want it crabbing sideways when driving down the road. Unless its from the driver cleaning the old rubber off the rear tires.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

Huge shout out to cross tire in mineral wells! The guy at the desk talked to me, understood my car is different, well let’s just go ahead and say special, talked to him about the specs I wanted. Then I had a conversation with the guy that was going to do it, this the chart, and this is what firm feel says, so I gave him a range that I wanted based off this and told him caster is what I’m after, and I know camber changes with caster. After a couple of hours he had me come back there and look at the screen, he had it exactly at what firm feel/the max performance chart showed. I guess they were intimidated by the car so they let me drive it with the tech in the passenger seat watching, everything felt good. Paid them, thanked everyone and drove around happy knowing there is a place that’ll take care of you