Alignment Issue QA1

[79T/Aman]

Are you sure the car was never wrecked or took a severe hit to the suspension in the past? The only time I have had bolt-on parts from a reputable company not be in "spec" was when there was an issue with the mounting structure.

If you look at the alignment sheet the OP posted it is clear the caster is backwards and fairly even.

[Frank69]

I just got off the phone with them again. Sent them the photos and measurements of the arms (front and back). QA1 tech believes they are installed correctly. For visual reference, they said that the center of the ball joint (red grease zerk cap) should line up slightly forward (towards the front of the car) from the snubber bolt on the gusset. Mine does. If the arms were switched left to right, that visual reference would line up towards the rear of the car.


I'll take it to another alignment shop, but this one has been really good in the past...independent shop, good equipment, willing to set up to aftermarket specs, etc. They set up my 69 Camaro (full Global West front) and last month did my 57 Chevy (tubular uppers/stock lowers/tall ball joints) with perfect results. Still not sure what's going on here. I guess I could try swapping the a-arms left to right and see what happens. The QA1 cross shaft is "offset", but you only flip it from the "shallow" indentation (stock) side to the "deep" side for added negative camber. It's not a tapered offset cross shaft like others (Detroit Speed, I think) that add positive caster.

[79T/Aman]

the offset cross shafts only affect camber, DSE uses mounting slugs to shift the arm for and aft to affect caster.

From what I can tell the guy at QA1 does not seem to know what he's talking about, according to QA1 the upper arms have 3-4* of built in positive caster, this means that your car when it had stock upper control arms had around 6-7* of NEGATIVE caster!!!!!!! stock caster setting is typically around -1.5 to +1.5, I don't know what it is exactly but you can see it is way off the opposite way their arms are supposed to change it.
A-body arms are very symmetrical and not out of the realm of possibilities that the sticker was put on the wrong leg.

[Frank69]

the offset cross shafts only affect camber, DSE uses mounting slugs to shift the arm for and aft to affect caster.

From what I can tell the guy at QA1 does not seem to know what he's talking about, according to QA1 the upper arms have 3-4* of built in positive caster, this means that your car when it had stock upper control arms had around 6-7* of NEGATIVE caster!!!!!!! stock caster setting is typically around -1.5 to +1.5, I don't know what it is exactly but you can see it is way off the opposite way their arms are supposed to change it.
A-body arms are very symmetrical and not out of the realm of possibilities that the sticker was put on the wrong leg.

I am inclined to agree, but all evidence points to the contrary. The front arm is supposed to be 9.5” from the center line of the cross shaft bolt to the center line of the ball joint. The rear arm is 10” from the same reference points. The measurements match mine. The front arm of the “A” is shorter on their design (at least for A bodies). For G bodies it’s obviously different.

[eville]

Have you verified you have the correct part numbers?
According to the last page of the instructions, it looks like the arms are installed in the correct orientation for PN 52422 that I think you should have for your application.
http://www.qa1.net/tech/documents/GM...11-15-2016.pdf

[Frank69]

Have you verified you have the correct part numbers?
According to the last page of the instructions, it looks like the arms are installed in the correct orientation for PN 52422 that I think you should have for your application.
http://www.qa1.net/tech/documents/GM...11-15-2016.pdf

Only visually by shape and logically since that’s their A body arm. Didn’t find a stamped # on the arm itself.

[eville]

If the other shop gets the same numbers I'd check the ball joints.

[Frank69]

If the other shop gets the same numbers I'd check the ball joints.

Taller, maybe?