front end alignment

i have a 125 altered chassis with a stright axle with a torsion bar.what should i set the measurments to?

 

What measurements are you looking for? Center the steering wheel. Toe-in should be 1/8 to 3/16" max. Don't forget to set the preload. Who built the car? Was it done on a jig (square).

RG.

 

When You Say Set The Preload How If You Dont Have A Supenision?just A Torsion Bar

 

Torsion bar has splines you set preload by rasing or lowering the arm on the spline. meening one spline up or down at a time

 

You set it on any front end. Even solid cars.

 

chassis dynmaics built it but they are no longer in busniess. what is the starting point on the pre load?

 

I'm Wondering Myself Where Would You Start When Setting Preload I Understand About The Splinded Bar But You Cant Line Things Up If You're Off On The Bar? Any Thoughts Thanks

 

We have the same set up torsion bar 125 wheelbase and need to set the front end anybody??????

 

I ordered my first funny car chassis back in 1976 and ran it as an altered. It had tortion bar front end on it, too. My memory is about as good as Bob Meyers anymore, but I do remember being able to adjust the preload without any problems.

Send me a PM and I'll see if I can help you.

RG

 

Back in the day, when we built chassis (S.E.M.A. CHASSIS SHOP #100) all the cars we built were torsion bar cars, On the gig we set the torsion bar on the right front spindel 3/8 in. lower that all the rest of the axels center line. this meens that the rear axel center line were the same hight from the gig as the left front spindel, capeash? I`m sure you dont have a chassis gig, so what you should do is find the flatest part of your shop and get a lazer to leval the car with shims or any other meens that are avalabel to you, and use your floor. Good luck, and rember to check this set hight as it will change after you put some runs on the car, Now didn`t we do this a wile back? or is old age getting to me?

 

thanks i will try that this week

 

Four Scales and twenty years ago?

Shouldn't preload be set with a set of four circle track scales? not measurements? I remember torsion bars came through full thickness with the chassis builders option to turn them down in a lathe to vary the spring rate. The turned down portion you will no longer see or know about once installed since it is plug welded into a tube. We never turned ours down on the only car we built with a bar. But I can imagine some chassis shops may have elected to turn them down maybe even different thicknesses per side. So that being said.. What percentage of preload weight distribution would be a good starting point for the above 125" Altered application?

 

Woodchip, that would be the way to do it, if you had the scales and or knew some one that did have them, not to mention you knew what weight you wanted on the rear tires, the way we did it , the left rear tire had 125 to 150 lbs more that the right, with the tork evining it out at the hit, we knew the weight by bringing the car to the track and weighing each tire on the track scale. back then nobody we knew had scales as you mentioned, mater of fact i dont know anyone now that has any.dont forget this is before you were abel to BUY any thing you needed for your race car.we hand made every thing! 1964 till 1978

 

eli:

What chassis shop did you work for? My altered I ordered from Roger McCracken's "New Visions Race Cars" in 1976 had SEMA #101 on it, I believe.

Scales are nice, but I've seen so called scaled cars get pretty unruley. The real world is 1,320 feet. There are some pretty nifty ways to set up a frame and things the driver can do to make it predictable, even during heavy tire shake.

RG

 

Terenzio Bros. Racing Engines And Chassis. Stamford Conn. Victor Terenzio best welder this side of the Mississippi

 

Yea, baby! You got that right! G.T., e-mail me, I heard some news today.

 

Funnycarguy 230, and the others who asked:
Most of the old torsion bars were stiffer than a teenagers willy and did not like the rebound factor of an offset/loaded arm. The chassis will pick up a torsion twist no matter what happens just from running it.
Since I'm back into short cars again, I'm using the Strange adjustable spindle which can transfer about 40 lbs. from corner to corner. I front halved the Lenco altered with standard spindles, and it runs on a string.
What is more important by a long way, is to have new fresh rod ends and the afore mentioned 1/8" to 3/16" toe in, which I consider very critical. (Amazes me how people spend $700.00 on rods every ten runs, but won't spend $85. on new rod ends every year!) It has to be measured on the ground with the motor in and the last movment forward. If you have to take the tanks out.... so be it.
If it has an offset/staggered wheel placement, under NO circumstances (even if the guy telling you his uncle knows a guy that lives four doors down from Richard Petty, and he said..........) do you ever measure center to center of the tire! If it has the usual 2" offset with the left front being the leading wheel, the dumb end of the tape should go 2" back from the face on the fat of the tire on the left with you squatting in front of the right tire centerline. Now keep your tape extended without moving anything but yourself to the rear of the left tire centerline and squat there to bump the fat of the right (trailing) tire.
This is hard to explain without a drawing, but think of the car's centerline being a double crossed "T" (just like the American Lung Association symbol). If you measured center to center, the bars of the cross would be crooked!!!
And YES, the rear tire pressure can be staggered to correct the car from turning at the "hit". Remember the proper term in this sport is "UP on the tire". Once the car is up, the tires have no clue if they even have a valve core in them. Gospel according to Uncle Bob.

 

Bob:

PM me your email address.

RG