Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Are we expecting the A frames to be level at normal load? Mine are distinctly angled down. And I have -ve camber at the back...

(I still have to make up a set of adjustables by the way. Have acquired a set of arms (spares) and turnbuckles, just need to get the inserts machined.)

So are mine with the "ballast" taken out. About 5 degrees.


The camber adjustment went OK. Offside had slight positive, near side had excess negative.
As usual the first takes hours and the other a fraction of it.

Only major problem is it would be useful to have 4 hands as top joint have spacers both sides and with spring pressure the hub twists so the hub has to be raised and pushed inwards, whilst also pulling the arm down and twisting it allow the first spacer to fit. Shove in the bolt with any spare hand you have!
After fighting for a while I found it simple to just turn the bolt around so it went in from t'other end.
Then the "tight" spacer had be persuaded first.


None of which is much help to you!

Rear toe in next.

looking forward to the rear toe in adjustments, how will you measure the alignment? Curious because I have adjustable toe wishbones and would like to dodge the ?70 alignment charge at my local garage if possible.

Even though i have an alignment gauge personally I'd pay them to do the 4 wheel alignment as getting the rears set against the centre line is so much quicker for them.
You just have to be clear how much toe in you want.
From experience the Hunter database specifies half that required.
The individual rear toe is roughly the combined front angle and that's not reflected in their settings.
Other brands may be correct of course!

Spyder fan wrote:looking forward to the rear toe in adjustments, how will you measure the alignment? Curious because I have adjustable toe wishbones and would like to dodge the ?70 alignment charge at my local garage if possible.

I wouldn't get too excited Alan. These tweaks are merely initial setups and , as Mark suggests, not guaranteed accurate! Measured from a lumpy concrete floor that may not even be flat.

The trigonometry suggests that the rear hubs simply point at the front hubs. So I ran a piece of Mk1 string from the rear hub to the front. Wound the hub in (from the wishbone) to leave a gap. Then wound it out so it just touched the string. The tyre inflated to 46 PSI and stood on two polished metal plates.