Wheel alinement on Berli

[Alan B Gloucester]

Hi, all.
Is there a correct wheel alinement setting for my cortina/Berli.
I once again am preparing my car for its MOT, so as it is already sat on BFGoodrich tyres the front are now borderline so needed replacing. Finding local dealers on BFG website, Found that F1 autocentres stock them, also i have always fancied one day to get the "4" wheel laser tracking done ( as i bought the car,rather then built it, two years ago) just to find out if the car is all singing & dancing or something some where amiss.
So, as F1 autocentre is not to far away, ordered two new tyres + 4W tracking and waited for them to arrive at the garage to get it done.4 days later they phoned to say there in. Now here's the kicker, the guy i booked it with (the manager ) or later to be now known as Mis- manager, and my self had a long chat about what i wanted, as with my n/s outer edge was scrubing more than wearing, i told him that although able to do most things to my car myself that i thought maybe the castor may need ajusting to which setting i did not know and was asured that there magic computers would advise and fix. Also that my Berli sits at 5-6 inch off the ground. Going on abit,to get to the point. Arived on the day, was given the usual BS about they couldn't do the tracking no stat's and they ramp sits at 8 inch of ground any way and would of grounded on the ramp. So i had just tyres done and left by now pretty P***ed off with them. SO the perpose of this thread is i would still love to have the tracking done sooner rather than later but at other garage. Will try ATS.has any one got the stat's. My berli sits on 195/60/15.88v. Wheel alinement/ chamber/caster/toe in or out? . many thanks. Alan.

[danny_nelson]

Re: Wheel alinement on Berli

Hi Alan, The camber and steering axis inclination angles are set in production and they cannot be altered or adjusted (Ford Cortina) The castor angle can be adjusted by un doing the nuts on the tie bars and screwing them in or out as necessary. Toe in or out is of course adjusted at the track rod ends. Settings are as the donor Cortina.
Toe out very slight. 0.04 ins 1.00mm However I run set straight ahead. Castor 2degree plus minus 1degree You will find these settings in a Haynes workshop manual.
However when we talk about camber, because the Cortina front road spring is cut and reduced by two complete coils ( this is only to adjust ride height, and wheel to wing clearance) and also because there were many different rates of spring used on different models. It is not un commom to see Berlinettas with various amounts of neg camber.
Ykc did produce top wishbones for a short period that did allow adjustment, and builders have used different methods to achieve some adjustment. Look for a tyre company( old school) for best service and knowledge of older cars. If you have not got Cortina manual I can scan and send full suspension/ steering geometry details and settings.
Danny.

[philcoyle]

Re: Wheel alinement on Berli

Well depending on how fussed you are about tyre wear it really is a simple choice.
If you want your car to go into corners quickly then choose the toe-in/toe-out to be. Toe-out 1mm/1.5mm
For straight line and fast conditions without any twitching. Toe-in 1mm/1.5mm.
If you want the best of both toe-in 0 mm toe out 0 mm.
Or just base it on the data for the donor car.
I suppose that because the tyre company do not have any laid down info on your car, it's the old "oh sorry sir we can't do that" and that's them absolved.
As these cars are built to OUR standards then it's up to us to tell the muppets what we want.
My own Roadster built with my own unequal wishbone suspension, is also tracked by me to be dead track (0 degrees to -1mm toe-in). it suits me and if I feel I need for better cornering then I will change it to toe-out.
The tyre company where I live always ask, what's the settings , I tell them, job done, although I have already done the old string and measure treatment before hand, this way I know that they will not have to fumble in the dark as it will be close enough before they start.

[Alan B Gloucester]

Re: Wheel alinement on Berli

Thanks for the heads up. I was 80% sure that i was on the right lines, but knowing that your knowlegde of Berli's is the best that anyone could receive i thank you both. I have now bought an old manual and found what i been looking for,as my last one had some pages missing guess where abouts . PS. i have a freind who thinks he has a old alinement frame in his garage not used and dosn't want, things are looking up. Cheers Alan.

[danny_nelson]

Re: Wheel alinement on Berli

Well done Alan, use the spec as a guide, and final set up to suit you.
Danny.

[philcoyle]

Re: Wheel alinement on Berli

For a quick and simple tracking check try the following.

Put a piece of tape vertically on the rear of the front tyres, about halfway up and about dead centre and vertical.
Next draw a line with a biro or pencil vertically on each piece of tape. if in doubt it,s " I "way up.
With a reliable helper measure the distance between the marks, I always start at the 10mm mark to avoid the fiddly end bit, and you can line up the biro mark easily.
Roll the car forward (do not drive) until the tapes appear at the front of the tyres.
And now with your trusty companion measure the marks again.

If the dimension is greater than the first measurement, the tracking is toeing out.
If smaller then it is tracking in.
By trial and error you can adjust the trackrods until you get the measurement you want, just don't get in the car.
Adjust accordingly and final check at the tyre shop for 4 wheel alignment.
Run this through your mind a few times and it will click into place, it's a very good start if you are building your steering from scratch.

[Dane_Rescueman]

Re: Wheel alinement on Berli

Hi all, I think this has been covered before but a quick resume.
I have the YKC adjustable top wishbones and I set my camber to just off vertical; -0.75°. I have fitted the Burton front cortina springs which are 2" shorter than the standard items. I run 215/65/15 tyres and find that a small amount of toe in is required. The cornering is on rails and the car cruises straight ahead hands off (not recommended to try this one!) I have made a simple tracking gauge out of 1" box section steel, L brackets and wing nut operated plungers. It is set at about 4mm toe in at the moment. My camber gauge is a Burton item. Superflex bushes to mount the rack firmed everything up nicely. It is all trial and error, make only small adjustments until you find the best compromise setting.

My tyre wear is even with no feathers or scrub marks.