Clay’s Wedgewood Blue FB Ute

[Errol62]

Stated above Rob. Camber -1 caster 0. Toe I will measure. I was surprised when he told me as I had specifically said I wanted +1 or 2 deg caster for the long drive. He was more focussed on lessening the inside edge of the tyre rubbing on turn in, but seems to have made no difference at all. I will do some calls to confirm thickness and add equal amounts either side front as wouldn’t mind a bit more camber as well. How I had it set up on the sedan.


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie

[Errol62]

Also more camber will bring top of tyre in.


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie

[Errol62]

Got that bit wrong. Add to rear. Edge of wishbone is close to inner guard at rear but can come closer.

FB ute driver, EK van project

[Blackdog]

Hi Clay,
Since the brake upgrade the steering was a little wandering on the road. Not too much but enough to have to think about steering.

I checked the toe in again once I had driven it a bit to settle in. Zero.
dialed in 3-4mm toe in.
Now it’s like on rail tracks. Just sits there.
Still steers into corners well but may pull it back to 2-3mm. See how I go.

Pretty impressed at what a few mm can do on the drivability.

Blackdog

[ardiesse]

The HK shop manual says that if you take away a thick (0.120"/3 mm) shim from the front stack, you'll increase the caster 1.3 degrees and increase the camber 0.3 degrees. Starting from -1 camber/0 caster you'll end up at -2/3 degree camber and +1.3 degree caster.

Taking away a thin (0.030"/0.8 mm) shim from both stacks will increase camber 1/6 degree.
Taking away a medium (0.060"/1.6 mm) shim from both stacks will increase camber 1/3 degree.

Sooo - you could pull one thick plus one thin shim from the front stack; and one medium from the rear stack. Then you'll end up with -1/3 camber and +1 caster.

Rob

[Errol62]

Thanks fellas, yes I’ll check the toe carefully. From what you’ve said rob, think I can take a medium from front and put in rear, should give me 1.3 pos caster and leave the camber at -1. Then reset toe to 3mm.

The other thing that will help is a pair of factory offset 6” ROH HT rims I’m chasing to replace the silly reverse stock things on there now. Bloke in Edwardstown has been advertising them but couldn’t find him until now.


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie

[EK283]

That's right Clay.

Offset rims can change the front end from being hard to steer to almost like having power steering.

You will want another alignment for your own personal feel anyway.

Greg

[Errol62]

Thanks Greg.

Yeh nah, turns out the ht 6" rims are p27 offset, equating to 112mm back space and I want more like 95 100. Interesting guy anyway. Lee Nicole, did a lot of sprint car sports sedan LC Torana at Sandown etc.

FB ute driver, EK van project

[ardiesse]

I could suggest LC/J discs and calipers to go with the 6" HT rims. The combination worked very well on my X2.

Rob

[Errol62]

Just going go offset the rims I think. Lee suggested longer studs and glue 2x6mm spacers to rim.

Kicking my self for not checking the handbrake front cable now. Was out around the ripper switch doh bang head bang head. Was a vgc original cable.

Think the wiring is ok. Have the dash out now so will put in Blacky's new switch. The bimetal cut out did it's job on the old one. Could have been toast.

FB ute driver, EK van project

[Errol62]

So I didn't measure the toe before I pulled the shims.

First photo left to right left rear, left front, right front, right rear.

Now just moved medium spacer front to rear each side, photo two. Let's see how it feels after toe adjustment. It's probably not far off how I had it originally.


FB ute driver, EK van project

[Brett027]

Will check my cable right now. Thanks for the tip Clay.

[EK283]

Hi Clay,

So what are are doing is taking caster out, I'm worried that this will induce more of a twitch at high speed, a bit like the dreaded shopping trolley wheels that flap around. I personally enjoy more caster (+ve) as its more stable at high speed, the trade off is of course heavier steering at low speed.
Also 2mm to 3mm total toe and camber at 1degree (-ve) for tyre roll around corners.
Every car behaves slightly different especially being jacked up or lowered, size and offset of the wheels etc.
I think once you muck around a bit you'll get it to where you like. It has also been an interesting and entertaining read for us measurement buffs !!!

Greg

[Errol62]

Dialing in positive caster Greg by moving the top pivot out at the front and in at the rear, thus moving the top joint back. I should now have around 1.3 degrees positive caster, keeping the camber around 1 degree.

Checked the toe before test run and came up with 10mm toe in. Will fix this on the weekend. World of difference on the road now and Raff reckons the guards are rubbing less. I did gently massage them while I had the wheels off. Feels much more like a car I can drive to Toowoomba now.

Installed new light switch which went in like a bought one. Thanks again Blacky. Of course fiddling with the dash I now have no fuel and idiot pod lights, and speedo not working. Poor Raff’s ears there was some cursing as we trundled down the Main Street on our run.

So now the list is
Speedo
Dash lights
Adjust rear brakes
Adjust hand brake. Front cable still seems serviceable but may get replaced if I can find a good one.
Passenger inside door handle spline flogged
Paint rear rims


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie

[Errol62]

No new Speedo cables in Adelaide. Will repair the one that is on the car. It was a NOS one but the outer parted from the speedo flange.

Moved an additional 0.8mm shim Front to back each side. Checked toe properly, 3mm.

FB ute driver, EK van project