Finally got a wheel alignment, couldn't get as much caster as I wanted with the standard caster rods, the value below is supposedly maximum caster. I'm assuming they put less caster on the right for safety reasons?

And can someone in the know please tell me how they measure king-pin angle and what the included angle is?

 

(click to make it bigger)

Edited September 30, 201313 yr by rian

Is there any more thread left on your castor arms?

 

Also what sort of camber tops you got? as if they put the top of the strut closer to the front, you essentially lost castor for a given castor arm setting.

 

King pin angle is the angle between the stub axel and the shock tube. I think you can calculate it based on castor and camber angles, but youd need to move the wheels in order to get the plot the relationship.

 

www.wheels-inmotion.co.uk/tech-kingpininclination.php

 

Sounds like the included is a calculation between camber and castor. and almost like a check that both sides are the same, and that stuff isnt bent.

Just got home and checked the caster rods - maxed out.

 

That's a good point about the camber plates Dave, I'm using T3 AE86 camber plates. I forgot that AE86 camber plates into an KE70 gives negative caster.

 

I find it a bit strange that the KP angle changed ~ 10º on the left when camber only changed by ~2º on that side.

 

I'm stoked with how the car handles now, but it still has some weird bumpsteer or tramlining going on.

Edited September 30, 201313 yr by rian

I belive they also tend to set the castor different on one side to counter the camber angle of the road. The last time i got my ke70 wheel aligned i told them i wanted them the same, and they did, i didnt notice any adverse effects. Didnt notice any advantage either, so ive never bothered with it on any of my other cars.

 

With -2 camber +2 castor should be pretty good i would think, especially for steering wheel weight, just might need to watch your inner tyre wear.

 

See how you go though, castor is adictive, you might find yourself wanting castor with less camber due to tyre wear. I was up at around +6 castor i think, with -1 camber. (i had s13 camber tops in mine, which gave massive castor at moderate castor arm adjustment while keeping the wheels centred in the wheel arch.

Do you have toe in at the front?

 

Yeah I asked the guy when I last got my alignment and he said kingpin angle is calculated by castor and camber, and said its not that accurate.

Its strange the castor is different, you'd have to see other ke70 alignments to see if they get a similar thing. You've lost some castor having 86 tops as you said. I remember hearing word of someone flipping them but it think you have to drill holes.

Do you have toe in at the front?

 

Ahhh what the ʞ©$ɟ! I just had to check which way positive toe is and it's toe-in. I told the guy 2mm toe-out, what a tard.

 

Edit: just called JAX, they're going to fix it up for me later in the week. If you didn't point that out I would have never noticed, it drives really well even with the toe-in.

Edited September 30, 201313 yr by rian

2mm toe-in is normal, its not much with neg camber. Its the only way to spread the strees from the inner treads across the tyre face. If you run toe-out you wear the inner treads to shreds, and if you run neg camber you wear the inner treads away, so running both together destroys the inner edges fast. The Altezza/IS200s are prone to that.

 

Having toe-out on the rear axle is surprising, that will make it over-steery and prone to bump steer. We reinforced the back face of a Stanza live rear axle with a big plate welded across it, and the welding distorted it into arching back so it suddenly had toe-out in the rear. Great fun on dry tarmac, but hopelessly tail-happy on gravel.

Thanks for the info Altezzaclub.

 

Also installed new Narva free-form, polycarbonate lens headlights in this car and new Narva headlight buckets because the new lights didn't fit properly in the old buckets. I need to fix it up though because at the moment the Narva buckets are mounted in the Narva bucket holders which are mounted in the Toyota bucket holders, it fits and works fine but it's just retarded. I'll get some pics because the words don't make any sense.

i redrilled one hole in the strut tower to flip my ae86 T3 plates left to right.

^Yeah I've thought about that, I might look into it.

 

In other news, I managed to ruin a Lukey catalytic converter in < 5000kms of driving, it should still be under warranty so I'll see if I can get it replaced. Only problem is it's a weld-in unit. I should probably install an air/fuel ratio gauge as well.

How'd you do that? you throwing flames or something.

4A is just too gnarly.

 

Nah I'm not sure, it's either just a shit catalytic converter or my AFRs are wack.

Most Cats are shit. Its that simple. Even a nice one will rattle after a few thousand klms. Just don't use any ethanol fuels, and don't run it lean.

Most Cats are shit. Its that simple. Even a nice one will rattle after a few thousand klms. Just don't use any ethanol fuels, and don't run it lean.

 

Ordered a new cat, getting a Redback metallic 200 cell/inch unit this time, this one cost 3 times as much as the old one but because Redback are awesome they're going to do a deal on it, so it won't be much more expensive then the old Lukey ceramic rattlebox.

 

Also bought a narrowband air/fuel gauge for $10, it's been on clearance for like 2 years because it was hiding in the back of the display cabinet at work, score.

I installed the AFR gauge: it reads that the engine is running very lean but the exhaust smells very rich, I suspect the 02 sensor is faulty and that would explain how I managed to melt the catalytic converter. I'll test the 02 sensor tomorrow with a multimeter but a new sensor is like $40 from work so I'll probably replace it anyway, apparently they're meant to be replaced every 50000kms or something.