Question: New front coil springs causing + camber

[78 Shark]

Hello all,
I completed my first frame off resotation of my 78. I replaced the front coil springs with the moog 5762 470#, and a rear spring from VBandP rated at 330#. My front now has excessive + camber. Will and how long for the camber to come back to where I wont have to put in many shimms to correct this? I have been driving up and down my street trying to get the suspension to settle but only the rear is sitting where it should.
I didnt want to get it aligned until it settled so I wouldnt have to get it done twice. Thanks 78 Shark

 

[gmjunkie]

Hello all,
I completed my first frame off resotation of my 78. I replaced the front coil springs with the moog 5762 470#, and a rear spring from VBandP rated at 330#. My front now has excessive + camber. Will and how long for the camber to come back to where I wont have to put in many shimms to correct this? I have been driving up and down my street trying to get the suspension to settle but only the rear is sitting where it should.
I didnt want to get it aligned until it settled so I wouldnt have to get it done twice. Thanks 78 Shark

Well if you have no shims in it now or just a couple,My guess is about 30 years and 100,000+ miles!!:L:L:L
If your going for the least amount of shims,You obviously don't understand the set up of this type of suspension alignment!! You can make it relax some by loosening every Nut and Bolt that has anything to do with the control arm and trailing arm bushings,bounce the vehicle a few times and re-tighten!!But you will always have to have shims!! Thats how you get the proper settings Caster and Camber!!Shims have to be there to get both settings,some just more or less than others!!On some Old Big Block Caprice,Impala,Chevelle,Monti Carlo,GTO,Tempest,Cutlass,Buick's,Vettes and yes even on some Fords that have been road hard and beat to death through the years,a good alignment man may have to chain the upper control arm mounts(Both Sides) to the rack and jack the center of the cross member up to spread the frame so he can get enough shims in it to do a proper alignment!!I've done at least 500 of them though the years,Hell I even had to spread a couple C5's that had slammed the ditch hard,An they don't even use shims!!!!

 

[78 Shark]

gmjunkie,
The passenger side has almost half an inch of shims and the drivers side has about 1/4 in of shims. I didnt know how much more could be added or might even need to go to a frame shop to be pulled in or not. I thought I read somewhere that after a month or so the suspension would relax a little. 78 Shark

 

[gmjunkie]

gmjunkie,
The passenger side has almost half an inch of shims and the drivers side has about 1/4 in of shims. I didnt know how much more could be added or might even need to go to a frame shop to be pulled in or not. I thought I read somewhere that after a month or so the suspension would relax a little. 78 Shark

Thats entirely possible,they could have a bunch in the front and just a couple in the rear,or the other way around,it's just whatever it takes to get the right Caster and Camber angles! No 2 vehicles will be really shimmed alike!!
If you replaced the Ball Joints,Tie Rod Ends, and All the rubber bushings,the shims aren't going to be the same for the alignment as it was before anyway!
If you tightened the Upper Bushing Nuts and the Lower control arm mounting bolts with the suspension hanging, you need to loosen with the weight on the car the bushing nuts and lower control arm mounting bolts and bounce it a few times and the re-tighten them,that will let them settle down a little more!!But you must do it with the weight of the car on the suspension!

 

[6880 Mike]

Time to go to the alignment shop.