| passanger and race cars. It is relatively easy to do if you are patient and careful and understand the suspension geometry To answer your question on total tow here is a description of toe from the FSM. [ [ http://300zx-twinturbo.com/cgi-bin/manual.cgi?list=fa&dir=&config=&refresh=&direction=forward&scale=0&cycle=off&slide=9&design=default&total=25 ] ] Before I measure toe I check the lateral runout of the rim/tire. I do this by lifting the wheels off the ground and rotate the tire and use a simple touch tool against the inner part of the rim bead and look for the lateral drift over a full revolution. If out of spec you need to fix the rim of replace it since too much lateral runout will not make the best alignment machine give good results. Here is link on lateral runout. Although a dial indicator is used it can be done with a touch tool and a feeler gage. [ [ http://300zx-twinturbo.com/cgi-bin/manual.cgi?list=fa&dir=&config=&refresh=&direction=forward&scale=0&cycle=off&slide=7&design=default&total=25 ] ] Here is link on lateral runout spec. not much at 0.012" [ [ http://300zx-twinturbo.com/cgi-bin/manual.cgi?list=fa&dir=&config=&refresh=&direction=forward&scale=0&cycle=off&slide=25&design=default&total=25 ] ] After these checks and inflating the tires to equal pressure for the front pair and equal but different pressure fore the rear pair and fix anything out of spec I drive the car to get the road feel for drift left to right on level road, pull under braking and the wheel center on level road. I then place the car on a level left to right pavement with the wheels set straight forward regardless of where the steering wheel wants to set. I then take a toe measurement with a simple sliding 2 piece stick pressed against the inner rear of the tire casing at the widest point of the casing and not on any raised letters. This is about the 4 oclock position. I lock the stick at this measurement with a pair of small vise grips. Then place a mark across both sticks to indicate their relative position. Repeat for the front at about the 8 oclock position and slide the sticks to obtain the measurement then lock in place. The relative movement of the 2 marks on the sticks is the total toe. If adjustment needed it is important to get the tie rod lengths close to the same length as noted in the manual. This can be done by adjusting each to get a total toe of zero. Then from there adjust each the same to get the total toe in needed. Now drive the car and not how off center the steering wheel is and if the car drifts, etc. To center the steering note which way it is off either left turn or right turn position. To fix both tie rods need to be rotated either CW or CCW as viewed from below. What you are trying to do here is rotate both wheels to the left or to the right the same amount depending which way the steering is off center. Fo ex if the steering is in a left tirn position when the car goes straight ahead both wheels need to be moved to a greater LEFT turn position to get the steering wheel closer to center. Sounds counter intuitive. After this adjustment redrive the car to check the center of the steering. As a final recheck the toe in for any final toe in adjustment. One final note the toe in is the last adjustment on the front. The usual procedure is to adjust caster, camber then toe in, Since the Z has fixed caster and camber on the front then only toe in is adjustable unless you mod the front. For the rear do the same as above but adjust the camber first. I set the rear of my car with the least negative camber as I can and this is easy to do with a degree wheel I got from Harbor Freight. I bought the analog gage but just noticed that they have a digital gage I will get that one for the accuracy [ [ http://search.harborfreight.com/cpisearch/web/search.do?keyword=degree+gauge&Submit=Go ] ] I find doing these adjustments does not require shop alignments and car steers well no drift, tires run true and wear well.
ZUL8TR in Orlando,FL |
