Alignment

65 Tiger

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11
How do one adjust Caster on a Tiger ? I know that there are wedges under the the front cross member but I find that is a lot of work and was wondering if there was another way .
 

66TigerMK1A

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1,129
There are shims between the cross member and the upper fulcrum pin ( 34 & 35 in pic )... you can alter the camber by moving the single shim to the front or back bolt. The shims that are in your car may or may not be enough to get it where you want but your local alignment shop will probably have something that will work. Hard to add much castor without ending up with too much camber :(
I don't know of anyone that's messed with adding shim under the cross member but maybe someone that has will chime in... I know that the thick end was on the back on my cross member which I think is correct...



Jim
B382ooo446
 

0neoffive

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CAT Member
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2,853
Need Some Room

There are shims between the cross member and the upper fulcrum pin ( 34 & 35 in pic )... you can alter the camber by moving the single shim to the front or back bolt. The shims that are in your car may or may not be enough to get it where you want but your local alignment shop will probably have something that will work. Hard to add much castor without ending up with too much camber :(
I don't know of anyone that's messed with adding shim under the cross member but maybe someone that has will chime in... I know that the thick end was on the back on my cross member which I think is correct...
Jim
B382ooo446

One of the things we do when rebuilding & reinforcing the front cross member is to add an 1/8" - 1/4" between the towers. This allows the alignment guy some shim room to play with and "dial in" desired camber/caster a bit more to taste. Not purrrrfect in a Tiger, but more workable.
 

at the beach

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CAT Member
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904
A lot of Tiger owners both shim between the crossmember and frame as well as by adding the tower shims asymmetrically.

Fifty years ago, Rootes seemed rather conservative with their recommendation for caster setting for the Alpines and Tigers. However I seem to recall that Imps were in the double digit world usually inhabited by Mercedes and Porsche.

bt
at the beach
 

66TigerMK1A

Gold forum user
Messages
1,129
I actually came across another thing while redoing the bushings on the fulcrum pins. I took note of where the mounting holes were during disassembly and then had a look in the manual which showed that they were actually in backwards :confused:
I put it all back together using the 'factory' spec but realized after that if the fulcrum pin is 'flipped' it would have the a-arm a little more forward and would have of course also increased the castor!! I know a few 'tricks' were done to the front suspension years ago and this might have been part of it...


Jim
B382ooo446
 

mwood

Gold forum user
Messages
175
There are shims between the cross member and the upper fulcrum pin ( 34 & 35 in pic )... you can alter the camber by moving the single shim to the front or back bolt. The shims that are in your car may or may not be enough to get it where you want but your local alignment shop will probably have something that will work. Hard to add much castor without ending up with too much camber :(
I don't know of anyone that's messed with adding shim under the cross member but maybe someone that has will chime in... I know that the thick end was on the back on my cross member which I think is correct...



Jim
B382ooo446

I shim the crossmember for caster, getting a little over 5 degrees. I also run much more static camber than many, -1.0 in daily use and throwing in a couple of more shims to get to -1.5 for autocrossing. With our poor camber curve and Ackerman issues, I believe more static camber is indicated for any use that may push on the limits of grip. (also, tire wear is not an issue, as big toe angles is what really kills tires, not so much camber. I run a tiny bit of front toe out, to help turn in and help with straight line tracking). If I was going to run stickier tires than the 140TW streets, I'd want much more camber, but I'm running into inner fenderwell/upper a-arm fulcrum pin clearance issues once in the -1.7 range and up.
 
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