|
Righty-O, there`s obviously quite a fair bit of confusion over the specs for wheel alignments
Most "ROAD" minis are happy enough with pretty close to std specs, that is somehwere between +1deg to -1 deg camber,,, 2 to 3 deg caster & 1/16th toe out, most factory settings are a bit all over the place so you get what you get.
Add to that all the years of abuse, car crashes, panel beaters bashing & pulling on them all the biffs & barges they`ve copped over the years & they end up even more "all over the place"
So , where do you start hey???? that`s the question really isn`t it???
well,,, first up you need to ask your self one question---> what am i going to be doing with this mini???
If your answer is just keeping it as a roady, no track work, then specs can be quite calm at the std (ish) end as written above, no real drama therte just as long as it`s all pretty even both sides. Some guys like to slightly stagger the caster figures a tad to cope with the camber of our roads.--> like maybe 2.5deg caster on the right & 3 deg on the left, just to help keep her straight on the cambered roads we have. who really cares anyways & it`s not really that much of an issue but still some people like to think so.
However, if your answer is that you`d be using it for road,,, but also wanting to do some track work,,,, well, it then depends on 2 things---> #1 what type of track work, dirt or bitumen or both &&&&& #2 How flexable is your car, or maybe how stiff is your car???
That is to say you could have a fairly weak body with fairly soft springs & shocks, well that would lend itself nicely to more of a dirt track situation or even a wet tarmac track as the softness helps with grip in those situations & if you have this soft set up then upon cornering would induce a fair bit of leaning over, body roll & therfore a fair bit of camber/caster would be pretty good.
A stiff set up, roll caged, seam welded, braced mini with anti roll bars etc all set up with stiff springs & stiffly valved shocks would be more happy with far less camber than a soft mini
you get the drift ? (pun intended)
set up far Too stiff & you`ll have it sliding all over the place, far too soft & it can tend to hop around all over the place
A mix match of any &/or all of that dribble can leave you in no mans land if you don`t have a slight grasp of what i`m talking about here & you won`t be able to do much about it till you finally drive a "Well set up" mini & see/feel what i`ts all about
The difference is chalk & cheese, you try to drive an off road buggy on a bitumen race track & race it against a V8 super tourer & you will see what i mean,,, dam all you need is imagination to know what car is going to win hey?
But, turn that around & race the V8 super tourer against the off road buggy on his home ground, the dirt,,, & obviously , well,,, you are getting the idea right?/???
All sorts of other interesting things come into play also tho,,, ride heights, roll centres, shocks, spring rates, etc etc etc,,, so there`s no "Perfect" set up for "ALL" minis
a ball park figure for a roady will be about between odeg & 1deg neg camber,,, 3 to 4 deg caster,,, & 1/16th toe out on the front,,,, .5 to maybe 1 deg neg camber on the rear & 1/16th toe in
a ball park figure for a sof set up for dirt &/or wet tracks can be around 2 to 3 deg camber, 4 to 5 deg caster & 1/16th toe out front, maybe 2 deg camber on the rear with again 1/16th toe in at the rear.
For stiff bitumen race cars , set low on the deck with anti roll bars etc, well maybe there`s a fair bit of trial & error with it all to suit the weight of the car, the roll centres can be played with , the tyres also have a huge part to play,,, for EG: Hoosier Street TD tyres absolutely love being set up straight up & down,,, that is absolutely no camber at all... so i can`t really help you much with a race cars set up until i drive it & feel it out & run the tyre pirometer over the tread after a run to test temps across the tread patterns etc etc etc there`s also a photo/video we can take of the cars attitude going into, during & comming out of a corner so we can put all this info together to work out the very best set up for that particular race mini. Big job but well worth the effort,,, just not really worth it on a road car
so there you go, not the "be all & end all" of wheel alignments, but hopfully just gives you all an idea of where all these figures come from & why
_________________
No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.
You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.
|
