How do you set up your Alignment for strip?

[cj's mopar]

Question for 69 b body owners who race the cars
What are your alignment specs?
Do you prefer to set left side body height
Slightly higher to put weight on rear Right ?
Please ride height and alignment Post your specs .
Trying to dial in my 69 Bee .

 

[dvw]

You can adjust rear weight by jacking the torsion bars. Trouble with that is if the car wheelies. Then any load you add will be lost. Depending on power the rear weight may be insignificant. If it just pops the tire up at the hit no rear reason to worry about it. The further you drop the front, the more travel it'll have which will help if it has traction issues. 6 cylinder torsion bars will help as well. set the caster the highest you can get it with both sides equal. Unless you have offset upper bushings you'll be lucky to get +2 degrees. Then deal with the camber. Anywhere around -1 to +.5 will be fine. Set toe in at 1/8" in with the front end jacked up 1"-1 1/2" . You can run zero toe, but. If there's any slop or flex it'll have toe out going down track. Hit a groove, crack or rut and it can get spooky at speed. These tips will be good well into the 10 second zone.
Doug

 

[cj's mopar]

Thanks for that info Doug!

 

[Tex013]

I set mine same as Doug suggests . Though as mine is a street/strip car I dont raise it to set toe , I go 1/16-1/8 toe . With mine set for 5 1/2"front rise from standing height Caster is +0.5/0.75 Camber 0 . This is with stock arms . Mine has Caltracs so Calvert recommend 5" + öf upwards travel .Not helped by having aftermarket iron block with extra weight .
I could get more caster by raising ride height but I am happy how it drives .
I try to set left side a hair higher to allow for driver weight so car is level when driven
Tex

 

[fourgearsavoy]

It's really amazing to me how jacked up the alignment is on most drag cars I get on the rack. I always like to look at the before specs before I adjust anything. As usual Doug is right on with the drag car alignment. Hey Cj do you still have stock upper arms and all stock type bushings and ball joints? If they are worn out get the offset bushings and you will have a much better alignment because you won't need to sacrifice camber to get the caster to a decent amount. It will handle much better especially if you are nose heavy.
Gus

 

[cj's mopar]

Hey Gus,
I have all new front bushings .
I have a set of offset bushings that I have not installed yet.
Stock A arms with me bushings.
Just trying to see what happens and where I should try to get to on my car.
Currently I have left side issues I can't get more than .5 degrees positive caster.
I am looking at my options for fixing it.
I may buy adjustable struts rods too
Some how there car drives pretty good.
Is manual steering. So I guess that helps .
Left caster is .5 pos
Right caster is 1.0 pos
Left camber -1
Right camber 1.0 pos
Toe is 1/8 to 3/16 right now
Car drives straight
But does not feel that good at high speed.

 

[70bigblockdodge]

Not drag racing per-say, but some good visual cause and effect. He is a dirt track racer normally, and some autocross.

 

[fourgearsavoy]

Hey Gus,
I have all new front bushings .
I have a set of offset bushings that I have not installed yet.
Stock A arms with me bushings.
Just trying to see what happens and where I should try to get to on my car.
Currently I have left side issues I can't get more than .5 degrees positive caster.
I am looking at my options for fixing it.
I may buy adjustable struts rods too
Some how there car drives pretty good.
Is manual steering. So I guess that helps .
Left caster is .5 pos
Right caster is 1.0 pos
Left camber -1
Right camber 1.0 pos
Toe is 1/8 to 3/16 right now
Car drives straight
But does not feel that good at high speed.

If your cams are at maximum positions then you need to install the offset bushings. The adjustable strut rods shouldn't be used to adjust caster IMO. They put the lower control arm on a bind if you pull them forward to try and get more caster.
Gus

 

[Black_Sheep]

The old Direct Connection Performance Bulletin #15 says to make adjustments with the front end raised 1” from static ride height, just like DVW said. The bulletin also has in depth details about dynamic toe change and bump steer. If you really want to go down a rabbit hole, find a copy.

I recently rebuilt the steering and suspension on my ‘69 GTX. A couple upgrades I found worthwhile were QA1 upper control arms and Hotchkis adjustable strut rods (steel vs. aluminum for the QA1). The extra caster made it a much better driving car, especially at speed. Here’s the printout with the alignment settings.

The before specs were from eyeballing things on the garage floor, just getting it close enough to get it to the alignment shop…

 

[dvw]

By your numbers it definately could use the offset bushings. I have shortened my strut rods 3/8". Its had zero negative effect. Mine runs poly lower and strut bushings. Been 1.24 60ft off the foot brake on 10.5's
Doug

 

[cj's mopar]

That some real good numbers there Doug.
So far my best is 1.9 60 ft and a 13.75 try at 104 . No prep leaving off idle .
Stock leaf springs with half a truck spring bolted in to front segment

 

[dvw]

That some real good numbers there Doug.
So far my best is 1.9 60 ft and a 13.75 try at 104 . No prep leaving off idle .
Stock leaf springs with half a truck spring bolted in to front segment

If you are running No Prep I would run the 6 cylinder bars for sure. Along with the Afco/QA-1 1" longer upper ball joint for additional front end travel. Along with adding rear ballast and good shocks.. You've got close to 1 second in ET left on the table.
Doug

 

[cj's mopar]

I appreciate the tips man!
I have small block bars I couldn't find six bars yet.
But I am definitely going to lower the front end a little more to get more travel.
Should I cut down the rebound bumpers
some ?
I hate to take them off cus I do street drive.

 

[dvw]

I appreciate the tips man!
I have small block bars I couldn't find six bars yet.
But I am definitely going to lower the front end a little more to get more travel.
Should I cut down the rebound bumpers
some ?
I hate to take them off cus I do street drive.

Here's Malex"s solution. I beleive they're hockey pucks.
Doug

 

[cj's mopar]

That is great idea I like those collars on the LCA shafts are those custom?

 

[Struttmaster]

Not drag racing per-say, but some good visual cause and effect. He is a dirt track racer normally, and some autocross.

Great video! Thanks for sharing

 

[dvw]

Agreed pretty good video. The only thing I had issue with is the assesment of bump steer. Yes adding caster lowers the outer tie rod. And yes this effects bumpsteer. However depending on where everything lies the outer tie rod may need to be lowered ( or possibly raised, bent in /out) to correct bumpsteer.
Doug

 

[70bigblockdodge]

Agreed pretty good video. The only thing I had issue with is the assesment of bump steer. Yes adding caster lowers the outer tie rod. And yes this effects bumpsteer. However depending on where everything lies the outer tie rod may need to be lowered ( or possibly raised, bent in /out) to correct bumpsteer.
Doug

I agree with you. As long as your pieces aren't bent and you can get tie rod sleeves to be at equal angles (pitman arm and idler in same plane/level with each other) bump steer should be reduced.

 

[dvw]

My 64 (same suspension from 62-70 B Body) needed the tie rods spaced down .100" to have zero toe change.
Doug