new coilovers causing my nova to get all bent out of shape?

Suspension Tuning, Troubleshooting, Design and Discussion

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wikd69
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Re: new coilovers causing my nova to get all bent out of sha

#16 Post by wikd69 » Wed Jun 01, 2011 6:37 pm

71 chevy wrote:
John_Heard wrote:Where are you located at?
DFW
I used to live in the DFW area.

Big bugs there.

Good Tex-Mex though <stomach rumble>
1969 ProStreet Camaro RS Best 9.75@139 1.46 60'
Blown 427 BBC, TH400 w/Brake, Back-Half Ladderbar
Narrowed 12-Bolt, 4.10 Gears, Spool, Moser 33 Spline

http://www.marsh-racing.com/harrys_camaro-1.htm

71 chevy
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Re: new coilovers causing my nova to get all bent out of sha

#17 Post by 71 chevy » Sun Jun 05, 2011 10:07 pm

ok, its been determined that the rack is the wrong one. so that might be the reason why I had over half inch of bumpsteer with the front end lifted. I was going from toe in at rest to toe out under power.

btw, I ordered these toe plates . best $60 Ive spent this month
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/LNG-79500/

so, Ive kept adding shims per dave morgan's book, until the bumpsteer was gone. now, I have 1/8' total toe in at rest, and it toes in even further to 1/4" with the suspension fully extended.

now Im wondering if I went too far the other way.

thoughts?

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John_Heard
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Re: new coilovers causing my nova to get all bent out of sha

#18 Post by John_Heard » Mon Jun 06, 2011 7:21 am

That should make a big difference!

You might be able to get by with a tiny bit less toe-in at rest to reduce it at full extension, but you should check it so that you're sure it doesn't go toe-out when under compression. For example coming down from a wheel stand. But you have made a huge improvement, the car should drive a lot better.

71 chevy
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Re: new coilovers causing my nova to get all bent out of sha

#19 Post by 71 chevy » Mon Jun 06, 2011 10:33 am

John_Heard wrote:That should make a big difference!

You might be able to get by with a tiny bit less toe-in at rest to reduce it at full extension, but you should check it so that you're sure it doesn't go toe-out when under compression. For example coming down from a wheel stand. But you have made a huge improvement, the car should drive a lot better.
Im excited about it. I hope it does. I think I will go and remove one shim per side tonight and see if it does any thing.

another problem I think that developed is that the springs didnt like my weight too much. I put 250lbs of weights in the seat, and it totally changed all my alignment numbers - the caster swapped sides lol. it also changed all my camber numbers.

so I cranked up the driver side springs to almost equalize the ride height with driver weight in the car and had to remove a shim from the passenger side control arm to reduce camber and caster on that side and even both sides out.

Im thinking that should help a lot as well. I guess the coilover springs are just more sensitive to driver weight than the old springs.

71 chevy
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Re: new coilovers causing my nova to get all bent out of sha

#20 Post by 71 chevy » Mon Jun 13, 2011 12:17 am

well, i finally nixed the problem, and it turned out to be a variety of things, but the biggest one was toe out.

here are the problems that we had to fix

1. toe out
2. too much air pressure in the slicks
3. unsquare rear end

from least bad to worst
1. squaring rear end. my buddy came over and helped me with this. we made sure it was square front to back and left to right. it was pretty off before.

2. I was putting 15-20 psi in the slicks. i took it to the track thursday and could only make one pass because the rear was skating so bad. it was Very twitchy and the datalog shows that I never actually hit 100% throttle for the pass. so I got back, read the material on the net, and set it to 10psi . this removed the skating in the rear

3. the biggie. when I removed the springs to go to the coilovers, the toe was to in, so i measured and set it correctly. I can push my car back and forth about 3 feet in the garage, and It was fine then. well, for giggles I took the toe plates to the track and I drove the car more than 20 feet straight and checked the toe. over a 1/4" toe out, and just driving the car you could feel it pulling/fighting you. well, i fixed the toe problem and when I drove it around the pits I knew the problem was GONE. no more pulling, or twitching, or fighting.


now it goes straight as an arrow. so this problem forced me to learn how to do my own alignment, square the rear end, buy new front tires, buy a bunch of new tools etc, fix my bump steer, and it was a simple thing - toe out. lol

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Jeff 4100
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Re: new coilovers causing my nova to get all bent out of sha

#21 Post by Jeff 4100 » Sun Jul 03, 2011 9:01 pm

71 chevy wrote:now it goes straight as an arrow. so this problem forced me to learn how to do my own alignment, square the rear end, buy new front tires, buy a bunch of new tools etc, fix my bump steer, and it was a simple thing - toe out. lol
Congrats for your efforts to do this!!!

Great tips and I guess will need to invest in Longrace tools and front aligment...

Thanks!!
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John_Heard
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Re: new coilovers causing my nova to get all bent out of sha

#22 Post by John_Heard » Mon Jul 04, 2011 6:02 am

Good to hear you got it figured out.

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Re: new coilovers causing my nova to get all bent out of sha

#23 Post by 71 chevy » Mon Jul 11, 2011 12:04 pm

thanks guys.

I got a best 60' of 1.412 so it is definitely working a lot better now.

need to look at some shock changes to see if I can get it in the 1.30s

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