The wheel alignment and ride height has been a fairly tedious task requiring constant re-measurement and adjustment as each change affects previously established settings.
The camber was the most straightforward to check using a spirit level with an adjustable gauge. The alignment was somewhat less than straightforward; using a couple of long straight edges and fishing line, I've set up as accurate a grid as possible from which to take measurements to wheel positions. If done carefully it ought to be accurate to within a millimetre or two at the worst. Although not precise, this should at least make it safe to drive until it is road-legalised and then a professional outfit can improve upon what I've done.
In case anyone is interested, this is pretty much what needs to be done:
Distances A must be equal (along the metal straight edge between fishing lines), as do distances B (along the fishing line). Then the metal edges must be slid laterally until the measurements from the line to the each of the hubs are the same for each pair of wheels (note that C and D will be different distances due to the wheel configuration of the car). Then check all measurements A-D again, adjust, repeat, repeat some more, and finally when all measurements are correct then the toe-in/toe-out of the wheels can be measured (E) with any alignment modifications being made then kicking off another exciting round of measuring.Once that was completed, I thought I would get a new set of tyres for the wheels (there was at most a couple of hundred miles in the old ones) and get them fitted. Unfortunately, the finish of the refurbishment on the wheels didn't allow this, and I ended up with a new set of tyres (Toyo TR-1s) on a fairly tatty set of wheels. Needless to say, I wasn't terribly happy about this after all of the expense and effort getting them tidied up last summer.
As with a many of the problems that have arisen during this project, the solution is the application of cash. I have now bought a nice new set of wheels which now have the new tyres on. On a plus side, it has corrected the crazy offset that the old wheels had (18mm as opposed to the required 35-40mm) which means that the rear arch clearance will be much more comfortable. To be honest, the wheels are borderline bling, but I reckon that with the chrome detailing on the car I ought to get away with it.
Whilst messing about with wheels another minor setback made it's unwelcome presence felt; one of the rear shocks appeared to be leaking oil. To make sure I removed it from the car, thoroughly dried it and left it to stand upright. Sure enough, by the morning it had suffered a little accident, standing looking embarassed in a little puddle. The leak appeared to come from a weld at the base of the housing which was clearly not right, so after a phonecall to Westfield it has been sent back for replacement. Between this and the change of wheels I will get to sample the delights of wheel-alignment all over again I reckon - woot (not)!
Whilst I'm waiting for a replacement shock so I can do that, I've pushed ahead and fixed on the front wheel arch supports, including coating the underside of them (as I did the rear) with and anti-stone chip resin. Fibreglass can produce a hard to repair star-shaped crazing when impacted from behind (as may happen with wheel arches), so this should help prevent that.
And I've now fixed in a couple of pieces of carpet - I've elected to use trim & carpet adhesive for the footwells rather than velcro as the kit suggests, as I wasn't convinced that they would be sufficiently immobile. I'll likely use the velcro solution elsewhere, particularly where the carpet may need to come out in future for access.
Posts
