The front-end of my '71 Mav is sitting low and causing me to have a lot of camber on the front wheels and giving me a lot of wear to the inside of my tires. Is there a way to adjust the camber angle or is that angle driven by stiffness of the springs? I believe the springs on the car are the originals and I have no idea on the dampers/shocks. Is the camber adjustable? Do I just have to buy new shocks and springs?
The camber is adjustable using the eccentric bolts where the lower control arm attaches to the frame.
Know of any good exploded views/diagrams of the control arm assembly? If I can adjust this myself, I'd rather do that than pay someone else to do it. Thanks!
A $50 alignment by someone who knows what he's doing would be one of the best investments you'll ever make. Makes a HUGE difference in the way it drives. Do a search and you should find a couple of examples of specs that work better than what the factory used.
I agree with Jsarnold. I've been down the road you're going... Believe me I'm the last person to take a car to a shop for anything I think I can do myself, but I know where this leads. You'll find that yes, you can adjust the camber via the lower control arm mounting points. But no matter how careful you are to adjust them the same amount, a little at a time, using whatever ingenious method of measurement you come up with, etc., when you get it on the ground you'll find that the toe is now way off and it's terrifying to drive. So you'll compensate for that by adjusting the tie rods and you'll get it close, but you won't get it right... Depending on how stubborn you are it may take days or weeks, but you'll end up at the alignment shop anyway once you give up. It's best to just go ahead and skip all that cussing and extra tire wear, and go ahead and get it aligned. But don't just take it in and say "align this please" like I did the first two times. You have an opportunity here to really improve the way your car drives. If you don't give them your own specs, they'll generally just do whatever "the book" says. "The book" has stock factory alignment specs for 1971, from the days of 14" wheels, bias ply tires, manual steering and drum brakes... You will want, at the least, to add some caster. Will make a world of difference.
Sadly, the stock alignment specs would still apply to my car. It still has the original wheels (and hubcaps!), drum brakes and steering linkages/control arms. What is the best resource to find better setups? I plan on getting most of this stuff replaced eventually and could use the info to use for my repairs now and also when I upgrade. Thanks guys! You're awesome!
But you're not actually running bias-ply tires, are you? Surely you at least have radials? As for upgrading all that... Start with disc brakes for the front. You can get them off a '75-'80 Granada/Monarch or any disc brake Maverick/Comet. There's a whole lot of info about that swap on here, just do a search. After that your 14" wheels may not fit, (especially if they're 4-lug; all disc setups I've seen are 5-lug) so you'll want a set of wheels. If you do currently have 4-lug hubs the next thing you'll want is to convert the rear to 5-lug. Do that by getting a 5-lug 8" rearend from a Mav/Comet or a Granada/Monarch. If you want to go with power steering, transplant the parts from a Maverick/Comet or - you guessed it - Granada/Monarch. You'll need the pump, lines, and the control valve/ram and associated bracketry. If you want power brakes, get the master cylinder, booster, booster bracket, shock tower brace and don't forget this one - the brake pedal, from a Mav/Comet with power brakes. All of this stuff can by found cheap at your local junkyards if you're lucky and persistent, or someone on the board can sell the parts also.
http://www.mandhtire.net/ There's a guy up there that can align old cars. He was recommended by another Creedmoor guy, the one that did my Traction Lok install. He aligned my Maverick with good results. Its a good, honest shop. After another shop tried to rip me off, I take my vehicles up there for inspections too. Duty Tire http://www.dutytire.com/ on Atlantic Ave is another honest shop, but might isn't the lowest cost shop in Raleigh. Never had any alignment work done there but that would be my second choice because I know the owner is a straight shooter. If your front end hasn't been apart lately, I'd make sure nothing is rusted up real bad and everything can be adjusted.
Thanks Jim! Might give duty a call when I'm ready. A $50 alignment sounds nice, but Creedmoor is a bit of drive from where I am. Atlantic's right around the corner tho - good to know. I wasn't too happy with the shop that did my last alignment. Thanks again
