Need old school garage to setup geometry on an OLD Ford.

[shithotfast]

Anyone know of an old school garage who can sort out geometry (CASTER, TOE-IN, TRUSTLINE, CAMBER. ) for a 1955 Ford. Near Petersfield Hants Ideally. I have all the settings details, need someone with the right machine to measure it up.

Tried the usual High street guys like ATS who don't even know what the car is let alone know how to sort it.

[PositronicRay]

sthotfast said:

Anyone know of an old school garage who can sort out geometry (CASTER, TOE-IN, TRUSTLINE, CAMBER. ) for a 1955 Ford. Near Petersfield Hants Ideally. I have all the settings details, need someone with the right machine to measure it up.

Tried the usual High street guys like ATS who don't even know what the car is let alone know how to sort it.

I can't help, just amazed a "55" Ford has so many adjustables.

[GreenV8S]

I guess you have a fitter/mechanic maintaining the car - perhaps yourself. It is not complicated to measure the geometry and usually doesn't need any specialist equipment to adjust it. If you're just applying know standard settings, just about anyone should be able to do that. If you maintain it yourself and don't want to get involved in setting it up, you might consider throw some beer tokens towards a local race team, who should be able to do this sort of thing in their sleep and also understand how these settings affect the handling.

[Little Pete]

You may have more luck at a body shop. Most of the old body guys I know have decent castor/camber kit and more importantly know how to use them. I got mine from a body shop that was closing down.

[tapkaJohnD]

"TRUSTLINE" ?

What that?

If you know how these are adjusted, surely the shop can measure them for you?

JOhn

[shithotfast]

thanks guys, The issue is that most of these setup places are used to cars like caterhams or track day cars. When I turn up with a 2.4 ton 17 foot Ford Thunderbird they get a bit worried.

I have all the specs and measurements, just don't have the kit to measure it!

THRUSTLINE is the measurement of front axle to rear axle. If the car has had an accident and is slightly twisted it could "crab" along the road. THRUSTLINE should be zero or near enough. IE the front axle is dead in line to the rear, the car is then "straight."

[The Wookie]

I'd suggest finding a historic race team that runs big old yank stuff. I doubt you really need a machine that wouldn't have existed back when the car was built to do the job and most race teams, even at a high level, still use the old methods.

Don't know these people but looks like they have experience with that sort of car, if not they might be able to recommend you somewhere decent locally:

http://www.alanmann.co.uk/

[GreenV8S]

sthotfast said:

I have all the specs and measurements, just don't have the kit to measure it!

The kit is the same either way. All you really need is an old school 'string box' setup, but modern equipment will make it much easier and quicker to get accurate results.

[tapkaJohnD]

sthotfast said:

thanks guys, The issue is that most of these setup places are used to cars like caterhams or track day cars. When I turn up with a 2.4 ton 17 foot Ford Thunderbird they get a bit worried.

I have all the specs and measurements, just don't have the kit to measure it!

THRUSTLINE is the measurement of front axle to rear axle. If the car has had an accident and is slightly twisted it could "crab" along the road. THRUSTLINE should be zero or near enough. IE the front axle is dead in line to the rear, the car is then "straight."

Thanks!
Hope you get sorted - if all else fails, as said above, the strings can check your alignment pretty well.
John