Volare subframe / aligining question.....

[53choptop]

Anyone running Volare front ends in their cars/trucks....

I am having a hell of a time aligning the dang thing. I was running it pretty low but was wearing out the drivers side tire, I can't seem to get the drivers side negative camber lined up, I pulled the upper A-arm all the way out and still isn't enough. The passenger side if fine, I pulled the upper A-arm out all the way the lowered it as much as possible to get the camber just right. Can't do that with the drivers side. Am I missing something? I am wondering if the subframe is crooked now.. I had to raise it cause of tire wear...looks like I am preparing for take off now... Toe-in/out and caster is fine.... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

[gettingreasy]

Moog makes offset, problem solver upper control arm bushings to help the toe in/out problem.
-Jesse

[29EHV8]

Do you have the torsions cranked way down.Are you crankin on the right torsion?Remember they are opposites....Shiny

[jerry]

check the lower arm bushing for wear. can let the bottom of the tire move out enough for a problem with negtive camber.


jerry

[53choptop]

The torsion bars were cranked pretty way down, opposite sides I know, but the passengers side does had camber adjustment, the drivers not as much, it was pulled all the way out.

I have been looking at the MOOG site for a while now i can find the problem solver bushings for that model and year but not the offset ones, are they the same? Is that what "problem solver" means?

[bigron]

hey fatmans makes lowered spindles for the volare/aspen.

[desoto]

When I put the subframe under the frame in my '40 I set it up using the MoPar service manual frame alignment specs. That way the crossmember wound up sitting in the same relative position as if it were under the donor car.

If you drop the torsion bars too low, there isn't much you can do to eliminate tire wear.

Dropped spindles is the better way to go. That way, the bottom of the lower control arm is parallel with the road surface (on the outboard end) like it was meant to be.

FWIW, I drive these things all the time. Put close to half a million miles on MoPar cross-torsion bar front ends.

[tragic59]

Desoto, Do you use the dropped spindles, or do you figure ride height into your build?

In other words, the car will handle best if the front end suspension is left close to stock donor car geometry. But that will result in higher than desired ride height for most custom/rod guys... Instead of lowering the torsion bars, do you use dropped spindles, or do you fabricate your frame, so that the car will ride low with the stock torsion bar settings???

If you build the frame to get the proper ride height, how do you figure where your frame should be???

[29EHV8]

The car will not handle better at stock donor car geometry.If you lower the torsions a lil you'll lower the roll center which will make the car handle better.

If your a decent welder/fabricator or know someone who is you can build some dropped bottom a-arms.It'll lower the car another 2 inches.

Put the thing back to stock height and then see whats going on with the camber.Then crank the torsions down bout ten turns and set the camber/caster.Leave it there,see if you like the ride height.If not buy dropped spindles or build dropped a-arms.
Let me know if you want my number to ask some more ???s
I've clipped over three dozen trucks and never had a problem with ride height or alignment.....Shiny

[jd55f100]

hello Iam new to the f100 build but i have been looking at the volare conversion
and found some good articules on the subject

looking for templates for cutting the frame does anybody know where i can find some i hear they come in handy


just bought the truck 2 weeks ago and already have the front clip apart

[brewsir]

I used a set of lower arms with the raised ball joints...I would say buy dropped spindles...I actually had to raise thetruck and trim some of the a arms just to use them. (I know the arms weren't "level" as they should technically be)

[rat deuce]

A friend of mine has this setup in a 53 F100. A month ago he emails me frantic after wasting most of the day trying to get the alignment right. (he runs a repair business and does alignments all day long) We ended up pulling the upper arms and I made templates for spacers. I stacked 1/8" templates to total 1/2" thickness and Tig-tacked them so he could split them as needed. He installed them with longer bolts (grade 8) Problem solved... He described his problems just like you did.
If you can't get this done yourself PM me I'll try to find the templates.

[Larry T]

.....looking for templates for cutting the frame does anybody know where i can find some i hear they come in handy

No Limit Engineering used to sell templates. I don't know if they still have them or not. I don't think the subframes are exactly uniform, so your gonna have to do some "adjusting" even if you use templates. No Limit also sold an installation video.

[ELpolacko]

, I can't seem to get the drivers side negative camber lined up, I pulled the upper A-arm all the way out and still isn't enough.http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Sounds like it was wrecked to me. Take it to someone who can rack it up and pull it straight. And while they are at it they can check for deteriorated bushings and such.

[6-71]

It was pretty common back in the day when those volare/aspens were on the road,to shim the upper control arm bracket out to gain positive camber. At our shop we would just pull out the 4 bolts holding the bracket,and use thick washers (made for use on u bolts) between the bracket and thecrossmember.unless it was way off you didnt usually have to use longer bolts.:)