Thread: Followed Me Home II

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it's a good looker fer sure. In the top pic, you can see the paint color is blue on the light bucket... the lower pics the paint seems black.

Centered wheel is my personal fettish.

I'm fully cognitive of caster, camber, toe and can even reasonably explain Ackerman angle so I know the geometry, and understand the alignment can be perfect even without the wheel centered.

BUT.. it needs to be centered.

Originally Posted by firebird77clone

Centered wheel is my personal fettish.

I'm fully cognitive of caster, camber, toe and can even reasonably explain Ackerman angle so I know the geometry, and understand the alignment can be perfect even without the wheel centered.

BUT.. it needs to be centered.

Yep, the only one that affects the wheel position is toe. With a rack & pinion, once you get the toe set you can adjust both tie rod ends equal amounts to move the steering wheel to center (R one turn out, L one turn in, no net change in the toe), assuming you centered the rack when you clocked the wheel originally. On a traditional straight axle setup (or your Firebird) the steering wheel position is adjusted with the drag link that connects the pitman arm to the steering arm. Centering the wheel is the last step in the front end alignment.

Lookin' good Roger! For some reason I haven't been getting updates on your postings until yesterday... Anyway, this is the first I've seen of your roadster with the top on it - very nice.

You mentioned me in your post about setting the toe - here are pics of my "toe boards" in use. They are made of 3/4 inch furniture grade plywood (leftover scraps). The measuring tapes go through the holes so they are virtually on the floor (when the car's on the floor) and under all the possible obstructions (frame, body, pan, etc.). I can't take credit for the idea; I saw some made of aluminum plate being used at the track back in my stock car racing days and copied them.

Originally Posted by J. Robinson

Lookin' good Roger! For some reason I haven't been getting updates on your postings until yesterday... Anyway, this is the first I've seen of your roadster with the top on it - very nice.

You mentioned me in your post about setting the toe - here are pics of my "toe boards" in use. They are made of 3/4 inch furniture grade plywood (leftover scraps). The measuring tapes go through the holes so they are virtually on the floor (when the car's on the floor) and under all the possible obstructions (frame, body, pan, etc.). I can't take credit for the idea; I saw some made of aluminum plate being used at the track back in my stock car racing days and copied them.

Jim, I should have gone back and looked at your thread! I like those much better, as they take away the potential error of the extended 2x4's, plus they're so much more compact! Do I recall correctly that the yellow "strap" retainer is just yellow painters tape? Had me scratching my head with the "strap" wrapping behind the brake rotor until I remembered.

My quick morning Costco run ended up having a 5X multiplier when a truck picked up something from the highway and flung it back to my windshield on the F150. Whatever it was contacted in two places 1/4" from the edge and I immediately had two cracks a foot or more plus two or three smaller. Automatic replacement, no questions, $600.
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After I got over being angry and had my appointment at SafeLight for tomorrow, I decided to whip out a pair of Jim's plywood jigs. Got them mounted and found that I was dead even, zero toe so it was worth the time and material! Cranked the back side out about a turn, and measured ~3/32" toe in. TCI's spec is 1/16" with radials, so I think it's good to go.
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Yesterday I found a wheel & tire place in California that had a couple of sets of Cragar's 50th Anniversary 1965-2015 center caps so I decided the coupe needed them!

Thanks, Jim Robinson for posting the pictures of your "toe boards". Mine are hanging on the wall, until the next time.

Love those Cragars, had a set on my first car, 68 mustang!

Originally Posted by rspears

My quick morning Costco run ended up having a 5X multiplier when a truck picked up something from the highway and flung it back to my windshield on the F150. Whatever it was contacted in two places 1/4" from the edge and I immediately had two cracks a foot or more plus two or three smaller. Automatic replacement, no questions, $600.
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Attachment 73906
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Crikey. That'd make you spit wouldn't it?

Or rip your hat off and jump on it.

Three times.

Did the windshield cost you $600? I always have comprehensive, I think I have $100 deductible on it. Tow in is supposed to be just 1/16 , I know I got Rita's more than that maybe I should double check.

Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5

Did the windshield cost you $600? I always have comprehensive, I think I have $100 deductible on it. Tow in is supposed to be just 1/16 , I know I got Rita's more than that maybe I should double check.

Seth,
Yeah, by the time you added in tax & disposal it was $599.90 with a $40 discount for booking on-line. My comprehensive deductible is $500, so it's a choice of filing a claim for $100 or not, and I chose to not have the claim on my insurance.

Originally Posted by rspears

Seth,
Yeah, by the time you added in tax & disposal it was $599.90 with a $40 discount for booking on-line. My comprehensive deductible is $500, so it's a choice of filing a claim for $100 or not, and I chose to not have the claim on my insurance.

Here in Mass. windshield is covered 100%, no matter what policy you hold. FWIW...


and, "Yesterday I found a wheel & tire place in California that had a couple of sets of Cragar's 50th Anniversary 1965-2015 center caps so I decided the coupe needed them!" How about a picture (when you've a chance)… tia

Originally Posted by 34_40

Here in Mass. windshield is covered 100%, no matter what policy you hold. FWIW...


and, "Yesterday I found a wheel & tire place in California that had a couple of sets of Cragar's 50th Anniversary 1965-2015 center caps so I decided the coupe needed them!" How about a picture (when you've a chance)… tia

Here they pay 100% if you have a chip or crack repaired, but chips/cracks at the edge can't be done with the epoxy injection, and the crack can't be over 6" long. Basically if you have a chip & crack that can be covered with a dollar bill it's a free fix. Replacement falls under comprehensive coverage.

Caps are ordered, not yet here. The website image:
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3:00pm - I'm just back from SafeLite and as the guy's getting out of the truck he says, "We got it all in, no problem but as we did the final cleanup we found a scratch that we couldn't see under the inside lights....." Right in the field of view on the passenger side, about 1.25" long and you can feel it with a fingernail. Sure enough when I pulled into the garage it disappeared. They offered to discount the price if I wanted to just go with it but the truck's only got 35000 miles and not a scratch on it so settling for a scratched windshield doesn't make sense. Got to let the urethane cure for a week, so next Friday they're coming to the house with a new piece of glass, their ticket. On a good note, another shop had quoted $150 extra if I wanted to keep the FORD oval logo in the shading above the mirror mount, and the SafeLite has it, just like factory glass! I was happy to see that, even with the scratch!

Cool caps. I'd like one for the wall, between the Indian exhaust and the mustang "corral "

Originally Posted by firebird77clone

Cool caps. I'd like one for the wall, between the Indian exhaust and the mustang "corral "

Check eBay.

Hey! Those toe boards look just like mine! Did you sneak in my shop and steal them..??!!.. Oh.., mine are still here... never mind.. LOL!

Seriously, those look just like you used mine for a pattern, but you're several hundred miles away. You have a good eye for size and dimensions. An acquaintance of mine used to call that "calibrated eyeball". I like that term. Anyway, since I made mine (about 15 years ago) I have used them many times on my cars and friend's and a couple of them have made sets of their own. On a beam axle like my '31 and '32 and the roadster I sold a while back, I set the caster with a bubble protractor and the toe with these boards. I never have to pay for an alignment.

Oh yeah, the orange tape in my picture was just masking tape holding the boards up against the tires. Otherwise, they would fall over if I tugged on the measuring tapes.