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Author: Subject: struggling self centering
worX

posted on 23/8/07 at 05:15 AM Reply With Quote
Hi Col,

to get you through the SVA, which is all your bothered about right now obviously, I would also recommend a couple of degrees TOE OUT and run High Tyre Pressures.

ATB
Steve






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Dillinger1977

posted on 23/8/07 at 07:28 AM Reply With Quote
i had a lot of negative camber on mine when it failed. Straightened them up and lowered my tyre pressures to about 18 and it was fine.

(yep, i see people saying higher, but I incresed mine a lot on the way to the test center, and took it to a local car park. the car felt twitchy and I didnt like it so deflated them again before I drove to the test centre)

slightly contradictory to whats been said above, but I guess its a case of keep fiddling until you find something you like.





-Rog

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David Jenkins

posted on 23/8/07 at 08:11 AM Reply With Quote
I'm with nitram on this one - a decent amount of self-centering makes driving so much sweeter. As I drive along I have to push the wheel into a corner, so to speak, and it'll tend to pull itself straight once I relax on the way out. You don't have to spend the entire journey aiming the car down the road.

However, that's not the point of this thread! Getting the man through tomorrow's SVA is the current aim - consensus seems to be:
1. up the tyre pressures - the car's being trailered, so it shouldn't be a problem for a while.
2. zero toe-in, or minimal toe-out - don't make it too obvious.

Once you've passed (fingers crossed) then I strongly recommend getting it sorted ASAP.

Good luck,
David






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02GF74

posted on 23/8/07 at 08:45 AM Reply With Quote
slightly OT but why aren't kits made to have an adjustment for the castor?

my formula27 - not built by me - has an angle brakect to which the lower 'bones brqckets are welded on and the bracket is held to the chassis via bolts in slots. This allows some to and fro movement and hance castor angle adjustment. (can't be done on top due to rocker arms)

Ok, so thinking about it, it is quite a heavy and non-elegant soloution but I had no self-steering problem.

I can't say I am that familar with 'bones and bushes but if the brakcets were made to be 10 mm wide and washers used to take up the space between the wishbone bush and bracket, then wouldn't that give adjusment, as well as allow for slight inaccuracies in construction?

(got me thinking that maybe I should do something like that soi save some weight....).

going back to the problem - can you remove the rearmost brackets and weld them a bit further back and use weashers/shims to take up the gap? Quicker & easier I would have thought than making up a set of top wishbones.

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zxrlocost

posted on 23/8/07 at 08:56 AM Reply With Quote
hi colin

pump your tyres right right up!!!!!!

this is why the less pressure in the tyres the more surface of the tyre touching the ground then the more harder it is for the tyre to be pushed out ie way to much grip

if you pump your tyre up the tyre raises from the edge inwards off the ground.


ta chris






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locoboy

posted on 23/8/07 at 12:06 PM Reply With Quote
Cheers Chris,

Steve,

It would appear that you have not read the whothe thread lol,

I said that my test is conducted in accordance with the manual,evidently not the way yours was.

The test involves driving in excess of 10mph, if anyone drove my car in excess of 10mph and applied full lock, the lack of self centering would be the least of their worries, the incoming punch on the chin would be furthe up on their list of problems!

The self centering test 'should' not involve full lock at any point hence my statement about springs in the rack too.





ATB
Locoboy

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nitram38

posted on 23/8/07 at 12:15 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by locoboy
Cheers Chris,

Steve,

It would appear that you have not read the whothe thread lol,

I said that my test is conducted in accordance with the manual,evidently not the way yours was.

The test involves driving in excess of 10mph, if anyone drove my car in excess of 10mph and applied full lock, the lack of self centering would be the least of their worries, the incoming punch on the chin would be furthe up on their list of problems!

The self centering test 'should' not involve full lock at any point hence my statement about springs in the rack too.


Then they are on to the toe out "bodge"?
Otherwise they would do the full lock test.
The only answer is more castor if you want it to self centre the way you describe.
Toe out will only make it attempt to centre from full lock.






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David Jenkins

posted on 23/8/07 at 12:51 PM Reply With Quote
This all comes back to the same conclusion - if the castor is right, the self-centering works and the car passes the SVA. If there is insufficient castor, bodges are required, which may or may not result in a pass.

I know which option I prefer...








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locoboy

posted on 23/8/07 at 07:51 PM Reply With Quote
Right,

Tyres up to 32psi,

A small ammount of toe out, just noticable and it made a slight attempt to self centre on my narrow not very smooth road.

fingers crossed,

thanks for all your input and advice as usual guys.





ATB
Locoboy

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RazMan

posted on 23/8/07 at 08:33 PM Reply With Quote
Hope it goes well Colin - keep us all posted.

Just my two penneth - have you greased your ball joints prior to assembly? I noticed my Cortina uprights were very stiff and the track rod ends were too, resulting in a very stiff feel to the rack.

Mine still doesn't self centre despite having loads of castor, making hard work of town driving. I keep hoping it will get better with a few more miles on the clock but 8k miles later I am still waiting. tbh I don't see how it passed SVA





Cheers,
Raz

When thinking outside the box doesn't work any more, it's time to build a new box

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locoboy

posted on 23/8/07 at 09:09 PM Reply With Quote
Raz,

Not greased the joints,

it has always been a surprise to me that there are never grease nipples on ball joints for everyday cars.

Fingers crossed and it should be MAC certificate tomorrow, then off up to Harrogate to see a mate of mine for a few beers before he flys back out to the states for another year.





ATB
Locoboy

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blakep82

posted on 24/8/07 at 11:56 PM Reply With Quote
how'd the retest go?





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tks

posted on 25/8/07 at 07:45 AM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by blakep82
how'd the retest go?


yeah how it went.. infact not being here but outside is good news...





The above comments are always meant to be from the above persons perspective.

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Macbeast

posted on 25/8/07 at 08:19 AM Reply With Quote
As it says in SVA thread -

Flew through emissions and self centering thanks to all you guys who have helped out and answered questions over that last couple of years.


Congratulations Loco

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