Pinto front suspension angles??

Can someone with knowledge of the early Pinto front suspension (71) I believe) tell me how best to check that it's installed with the correct angles. I'm in the process of swapping out the Pinto 2.0 and auto for a Buick 215, so now would be a good time for me to double check these things. the gentelman I bought the car from 2 years ago said it was built in the early 80s. I guess they didn't have many late Pinto/Mustang II suspensions to rob at that time, and they used what they had.

Thanks,
Russ

http://pic80.picturetrail.com/VOL827.../394904542.jpg

Well, the front of the A-Arm is higher then the rear, so it does have some anti-dive built into it. Used to set these with 5 to 7 degrees of caster, don't recall the camber. Can't do much til the car is together with all the running weight items on it, then have it aligned to '71 Pinto specs on the camber and toe in.

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Originally Posted by Dave Severson

Well, the front of the A-Arm is higher then the rear, so it does have some anti-dive built into it. Used to set these with 5 to 7 degrees of caster, don't recall the camber. Can't do much til the car is together with all the running weight items on it, then have it aligned to '71 Pinto specs on the camber and toe in.

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Thanks Dave. the main thing I'm interested in at the moment is that the crossmember was installed with near the right "twist" in the frame rails. I guess the smart thing to have done would have been to take it to an alignment shop before I pulled everything out of it. they could have told me if it was able to be aligned properly... but then I was never acused of being smart at times. other than a bit of wander it does seem to drive ok, so it must be close already I guess. the add on steering dampers on the tie rods don't instil a lot of confidence that it was properly set up however. the builder must have been trying to fix something with those.

Russ

Crossmember and lower A Arms should be parallel to the floor at ride height. Some guys used to put the dampners on to take some of the twitchiness out with power steering and with the manual racks it was done to absorb bumps when cornering so as not to pound on yer arms to much....common deal when a lot of caster was dialed in to aid in high speed stability.... Lots of silly things done to rack and pinion steering in the 80's cuz some thought the rack was just "too quick" for a Hot Rod... and yes, sometimes the dampners were added to treat the symptom rather then find a cure cure for a steering geometry error....

PS--those old stamped steel arms and sloppy rubber bushings were often overlooked when searching for a suspension problem. Might want to give some thought to updating the arms.....