Need a little help figuring something out

[SSLance]

Here's how I went about accomplishing this exercise...first I had to create a worksheet to help me keep track of all of the measurements as I made them.



Then I set the car on a level drive on lift in simulated race prep mode...I even put (1) BBC head on the floor in front of the driver's seat and (2) SBC heads behind the front seat to simulate driver's weight in the car. I then made a careful measurement of the spindle heights and removed the front tires and set bottle jacks under the A-Arms as close to the ball joints as I could get them and adjusted the screws in the bottle jacks to get the spindle heights at exactly the same height as they were with the front tires on. This allowed me much more room to make the measurements needed.

Here is the car on the lift with everything I used during the process set up and ready to go



I needed to have a secure square stand for a laser level away from the car at different times and the shop press worked perfectly for this. Notice there is a laser level on the press pointed at the upper ball joint in this picture.



I also used a laser level to light up the string running down the whole center of the car and another to light up the string exactly 10" in front of the spindle centerline.





The framing squares and the magnets holding them in place were used in conjunction with the three laser levels, plumb bob, tape measure, digital caliper and verneer caliper to measure and record all of the pivot points from the three reference points of the center of the car, center of the spindle, and ride height, over 80 measurements in total including the track width and scrub radius measurements.

With a good friend's help, it took about a half day on Saturday, then a couple hours a night for 3 week nights to complete the process. I'm certain we could do it faster the next time given the tricks we learned doing this our first time.

But anyway, hopefully this shows the rest of you a bit more about what we had to go through to come up with all of the measurements that Ron is going to put to use to help me figure out a solution to my woes.

[SSLance]

I should probably update this to add...do not use this method of setting your car up for measuring.

I then made a careful measurement of the spindle heights and removed the front tires and set bottle jacks under the A-Arms as close to the ball joints as I could get them and adjusted the screws in the bottle jacks to get the spindle heights at exactly the same height as they were with the front tires on. This allowed me much more room to make the measurements needed.

Ron entered the numbers I gave him after the initial measuring using this method, then got back to me to go over some discrepancies...things weren't adding up. So I put the car back on the front tires on the rack and remeasured all of the height numbers...and they were all quite different.

I'm guessing the bottle jacks kept the suspension from settling completely like it will when sitting on the tires themselves. Was a nice try I thought, but in action, did not work as hoped. Part of the learning experience I guess.

Eventually I plan on fabbing up or purchasing some steel plates to bolt onto the hubs that will extend down to the ramp to set the hub at ride height. They'll have to be a bit adjustable height wise and also be able to slide around a bit once on the ground surface to allow the suspension to settle completely. What they will do though is not only allow more access for pivot point measuring, but also provide a nice flat base to measure from for setting alignment specs once changes have been made. One or two trips to the alignment shop saved should more than pay for the stands I believe.

[diesel25lrs]

Lance,

Curious how did you do it when you went back and measured again without the bottle jacks to get suspension at ride height?

I should probably update this to add...do not use this method of setting your car up for measuring.











Ron entered the numbers I gave him after the initial measuring using this method, then got back to me to go over some discrepancies...things weren't adding up. So I put the car back on the front tires on the rack and remeasured all of the height numbers...and they were all quite different.

I'm guessing the bottle jacks kept the suspension from settling completely like it will when sitting on the tires themselves. Was a nice try I thought, but in action, did not work as hoped. Part of the learning experience I guess.

Eventually I plan on fabbing up or purchasing some steel plates to bolt onto the hubs that will extend down to the ramp to set the hub at ride height. They'll have to be a bit adjustable height wise and also be able to slide around a bit once on the ground surface to allow the suspension to settle completely. What they will do though is not only allow more access for pivot point measuring, but also provide a nice flat base to measure from for setting alignment specs once changes have been made. One or two trips to the alignment shop saved should more than pay for the stands I believe.

[SSLance]

Lance,

Curious how did you do it when you went back and measured again without the bottle jacks to get suspension at ride height?

After putting the car back down on the tires, I just had to get more creative with where and how I placed the laser levels to get the measurements from. Using the framing square with welding magnets to hold it true and square helped a lot to get into the tight spots.

Plus I wasn't as overwhelmed as I was in the beginning because I had already made all of the measurements once and pretty much knew what I needed and where to go to get them.

When starting from scratch, I was pretty frustrated fighting around the tires trying to get the first couple of sets of measurements. Over time I developed ways to get around things that made it easier to get around obstacles.

[diesel25lrs]

Thanks Lance,
I'm thinking that without lift access it will probably be worth it to just fab up some hub mounted stands of some sort...up and down adjustability will be key though.