Unlcejake's Home Made Camber/Caster Gauge

[Unclejake]

I need to re-develop the Cortina's front suspension.

To get the best results I need to know what change in camber I currently have when the suspension is compressed in a hard corner.

I want to arrange the suspension pivot points to gain negative camber under compression. This will offset body roll by helping keep the front tyres flat on the track in a hard corner.

First off for $89 I purchased this:

Simply put the box is a digital level that reads to 0.1 of a degree. The base line of the level can be set to the workshop floor so I can adjust camber acurately even when the car is not sitting on perfectly level ground.

More tomorrow when I have finished welding up a bracket allowing me to mount the digital protractor to a road wheel

[Snoozin]

Following this with great interest... like the concept, I take it this will allow quick and accurate adjustment/measurement while at the circuit as well?

Keen to bring the KP down and do some borrowage/pondering over it accompanied by some chilled beers when/if I ever get the thing sitting on sweet suspensions!

[Spencer]

Im really keen to do something like this also man, currently sorting the front end on my next track car and its going quite low I'd like to see how stuffed up the geomety is through its stroke.

[Snoozin]

^ Seeing what sort of toe changes you see with it as low as those pics of Phil's suggest will probably be slightly alarming.

[Spencer]

yea its going to be interesting how the superstrut setup works at that height, will be lower than that hopefully will see how clearance is for the axles.

[Unclejake]

The next phase of my camber/caster gauge build will include a toe gauge but right now the only quick observation is camber. Caster will take a quick bit of maths.

I await Imageshack to upload and then tonight's work will be revealed

[Unclejake]

So far the cost has been about $125

Here is the protractor fitted to the frame I welded up last night. My vise seems to be between 0.6 and 0.7 degrees off true and has been consistenly so for days so I am probably delighted.

Here we see me threading some 65mm long M6 bolts. Despite the fact they are metric the bolts should move the bracket out far enough from the rim and car to allow for tyre bulge and flares

Now with the three bolts attached the frame can go onto a 13 inch rim. The remaining steel frame (above the rim) is there to allow use of the tool on larger and therefore inferior rims such as may be found on a Sarlet. I just need to drill a hole or two enabling fittment to rims greater than NATO 13" standard.

[Unclejake]

And finally a poor photo of the tool in static action.

Those with a keen eye will observe that with my current suspension setup fully extended (Read: In this photo the suspension is extended in such a way as would be observed during an extended jump across a nearby river, motorway, kindergarten or canyon, simultaneously traversed by tourists or small animals who will be without doubt rendered comprehensively dead due to the decelleration trauma associated with a coil spring falling out of the vehicle from a great height and landing upon their person. Obviously the owner of said vehicle is at fault due to his/her lack of care ensuring that the vehicle concerned was not safely equiped with captive springs prior to commencing the leaping type manouvre) the front end of the Cortina delivers +1.9 degrees camber.

What happens under suspension compression is what I am really interested in but that will have to wait for another episode.