Thread: 74 pinto crossmember question.

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Thanks for the info. I have searched the internet everywhere and I can't find out if the top hat slots came factory angled in, or leveled. I was hoping someone had installed one and might know. Other then the narrowed a arms, I think because e everything is narrowed the same amount, it should be close to factory settings. I could be wrong. Thanks again.

Originally Posted by 48thames

Thanks for the info. I have searched the internet everywhere and I can't find out if the top hat slots came factory angled in, or leveled. I was hoping someone had installed one and might know. Other then the narrowed a arms, I think because e everything is narrowed the same amount, it should be close to factory settings. I could be wrong. Thanks again.

Looking at the suspension from the front, the upper arms were relatively flat. In my experience, handling can be improved by raising the arm at the outer (balljoint) end of the arm. This will allow some camber gain on bump and will allow the tread of the outside tire to remain on the pavement in a turn, rather than rolling over onto the sidewall of the tire. I have seen spacers which are commercially available to space the arm up. I designed an IFS from scratch with help from author Carroll Smith, in his book Tune To Win, and used an angle of about 10 degrees up (been a while ago and I have forgotten the exact angle). This allowed the suspension to gain 3 degrees negative camber on bump to help keep the tread flat on the outside tire in a turn.

It seems that I remember the upper control arm on the Pinto was installed at about a 5 degree angle downhill to the rear as the control arm is viewed from the side.

If you'll get the book Tune To Win, Mr. Smith explains in the back of the book how to make what he calls "paper dolls", using heavy construction paper and stick pins to make a workable scale model of the proposed suspension so you can see how everything is going to work. I VERY strongly recommend that you follow suit.


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