Thread: 53 Is back from the Body Shop

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Originally Posted by 36 sedan

No disrespect intended to anyone.

Most of the circuits I use and embellish upon are known, proven and working industry standard circuits. Occasional I make errors and I’ll admit I did not make it clear on the prior drawings that the activation and door jam switches were copy and paste generic internet pictures, not necessarily shown in their correct positions. I also assumed everyone would see the drawing was in its standby state with the activation switch on, ready to be triggered by the door jam switch when it engaged and that I was using a standard automotive relay footprint.

Im sorry I mislead anyone to think otherwise.

The drawings were done quickly on the fly with no written instructions to explain function. My intention was and has always been to help, not confuse. I believe I straightened all misgivings out in the later drawings. While I try to keep on topic and uncomplicated, unfortunately I don’t always succeed. It is never my intention to mislead, misguide, misdirect, argue, fight or complicate issues, and again my apologies, I don’t always succeed.

Though I have acquired some knowledge, I’m not to be considered an expert by any means on any topic. However, I truly enjoy sharing knowledge and helping. Unfortunately sometimes I assume everyone else can see what’s swimming inside my head and unintentionally leave info out. It’s not intentional, certainly not meant to misguide. Lately, I seem to be a catalyst of misleading, misguiding, misdirecting, arguing, fighting and/or complicating issues.

Sorry, I’ll refrain....

NEVER! We all know that you were just offering a helping hand and NOBODY said you were the expert.. ( well, maybe me!?!? 8-) ) Everyone here enjoys your posts and knows that you are one of, if not THE, most helpful guys on this site. You've got nothing to apologize for. Now that I've typed out this wordy response... what I wanted to say originally was "BULLSHIT... Stop That!"

Originally Posted by 34_40

NEVER! We all know that you were just offering a helping hand and NOBODY said you were the expert.. ( well, maybe me!?!? 8-) ) Everyone here enjoys your posts and knows that you are one of, if not THE, most helpful guys on this site. You've got nothing to apologize for. Now that I've typed out this wordy response... what I wanted to say originally was "BULLSHIT... Stop That!"

I couldn't agree more! I've always appreciated your posts and find them to be some of the most helpful, well thought out information anyone provides. I found your drawings to be just what the doctor ordered, and I never questioned the details of the "jam switch" - it's obvious that it's a NO switch that closes when actuated. That's just the way things work!

Keep up the "helps"! They are much appreciated and of great value!

Got the alarm wired in, I went with the remote on/off key fob like you suggested. I was wondering if the remote relay was going to draw the battery down overnight, so I first tuned it on and left it set for 24 hours. It cranked over like crazy yet so that was not an issue. Here's a video of it in action, its pretty quiet so turn your volume up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY3gi0AA7GA

Originally Posted by 53 Chevy5

I was wondering if the remote relay was going to draw the battery down overnight, so I first tuned it on and left it set for 24 hours.

The relays are off until the door opens, the only power draw at rest is the remote receiver and it's small.

Originally Posted by 36 sedan

The relays are off until the door opens, the only power draw at rest is the remote receiver and it's small.

Yes, The remote relay makes quite a click when it turns on so I was a bit curious about it's draw.

That will certainly get some attention! Good job!!!

I got some suspension issues. I just passed 15k on Rita and I have never been overly impressed with how it drives, it follows road lines and it's a bit twitchy, not terrible but not nice either. I've had it aligned by two different people and it comes back the same. I bought a bubble caster/camber tool and thought I would check it out myself. I found out that I cant get near enough caster on the wheels, I can get 0 caster at best. My method how I understand it is for the left wheel, turn 20deg to the left off center, 0 the gauge center the bubble, turn 20deg to the right past center, center the bubble and read gauge. If I try to get 4-5 deg of caster I'm out of adjustment in the rear and my ability to adjust the camber is long gone. After a lot of looking, it seems like my top A arm/spring perch is welded on too far forward. Aside from the steering, Rita's reliability is proving itself to go on some pretty long trips and I'd sure like to get the steering the way it should be. Before I cut my brackets off and re weld them this winter, do you have any other idea's?

Check into adjustable upper control arms. They are available for MII type suspension. You would be able to move the upper ball joint location to the rear without actually moving CA cross shaft.

Something like this:

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/s...g-ii/year/1974

Or this, if it will clear the upper spring pocket:

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/s...g-ii/year/1974

This would be easier than cutting the upper mounts off. The fabrication approach I would take is to build new upper CA's with offset balljoint locations. You could estimate what hard offset you need and then use the original Ford adjustment to get it dead on.

One downside to moving the upper mount or balljoint is that it will move the wheel location to the rear in the opening. Not much way around it unless you move the lower ball joint forward too. Basically split the difference between upper and lower. Of course that may run into rack clearance issues. Isn't hot rodding relaxing and fun!

In the picture of the front end parts? Is this the left side or right side?

My digital gauge ( like your bubble ) only requires a 15 degree change. I've never tried readings at 20 degrees. I wonder???

The picture is of the left side, according to the Longacre instructions, it is actually a 40° sweep in total. 20 back and 20 foreword. I watch some YouTube on it too, it seems to be the common instruction for a bubble gauge.

They sure know what to get for those adjustable arms, wow! I'm halfway tempted to pull the engine this winter and cut everything loose and make it all right . I have some cobble up motor mounts in there that drive me nuts and some cobbled up steering welding and I would like to clean up as well. Both are safe but, they just look like crap and it bothers me. We'll see what winter brings.

I just came across this thought, how about cutting both sides of the arm, welding in some nut slugs inside of the arms and installing a adjusting bolt on both sides of the arm, fine thread 1/2 or 5/8 whatever would fit nice. I should be able to move the arm then right?

There is another possible solution. Turn the cross shaft so that it is vertical. Fabricate an angle bracket or solid block that positions the ball joint further to the rear. Once you get the alignment in the ball park, you could even weld the bracket to the spring tower. After that you could use alignment shims to fine tune the caster and camber.

Mike- that's not a terrible idea!

I was thinking that the cross shaft could be milled to add to the slot so it could move further.
And I want to add that use of 304 stainless should never be used in suspension components period. I realize you may have just used that pic as an example, but I think someone should say it so somewhere in the future someone thinks it was done.

Yes, the pic was for reference only. I have learned that stainless and grade 8 are a bad choice where there's any flex involved. After looking at it, I don't know if the plate or the milling of the shaft will work, The bushing side of the a arm will contact the mount before it can even move. I think I would be happyest either buying the adjustable a arms or cutting them off and moving them to the correct spot, which is what I'm leaning towards.