Just an update about the car. I put 1000 miles on it this past summer. Not a lot but I did enjoy driving it. I tried to go to a car show about 80 miles from us and didn't make it. A wheel bearing went out in the front right. The only items I never checked out during the build were the front wheel bearings. So after getting the car home and checking it out I found that the front spindles where still 6 cylinder spindles with a micky mouse disc brake set up. Meaning there was a bushing inside the outer wheel bearing to get the diameter small enough to fit the spindle. It also seemed like I could not get the rotor tightened up enough to set the bearings right. There always seemed to be some play after tightening up the spindle nut.
I ended up buying a CSRP disk brake kit that was new but had been installed on a vehicle for the past 20 years but never driven. I'm in the process right now of installing this kit. Here is a picture of the Granada spindle. Do you think the offset on the upper part will help with caster.
The tie rod arm is .5 " shorter than the 6 cylinder arm and I'm hoping that will give me a tighter tuning radius.
Not sure about the castor but the turning radius is controlled by the steering stops on the radius rods. The shorter tie rod arm will quicken the steering abit though.
I'd rather do it myself if it's done right or not,,,isn't that what hotrodding is all about
I'd bet it will make it turn sharper! a little anyway. I see you have R& P, so I bet it wasn't ever touching the stops. & like Fred said it will help it to be quicker steering .. it could possibly reduce the amount of turns of the steering wheel from stop to stop if these changes result in the spindles hitting the stops,but if the rack bottoms out before the spindles get to the stops the amount of turns of the wheel will remain the same .
as for that offset. As far as helping to get more caster, I don't see how it could get more,, but it may have the same effect as more caster.
With the R&P the stops never came into play and now I removed them totally. The tires don't hit the frame so I'm good, but it will be interesting to see how much I gained in turning tighter. I'm hoping it will be noticeable. Here is a picture with the rotor and caliber installed. I was very pleased to see how much bigger these brake pads are compared to the ones I took off.
I don't think the offset in the spindle will affect the caster. The caster is a function of the location of the upper ball joint in relation to the lower ball joint. Since the ball joints are attached to the control arms, the position of the control arms is what determines the caster. The offset in the spindle would only change the clocking of the spindle slightly, not the location of the ball joints relative to one another. I think the only affect of the offset will to be to raise the tie rod ends slightly. And that opinion is worth every cent it cost you.
Jim
Last edited by Jims65cyclone on Fri Jan 24, 2020 5:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
What you said about raising the tie rod ends Jim is just what happened. In order to get the tie rod parallel with the lower arm I had to use original Granada tie rod ends and not use the bump steer tie rod ends that came with the R&P kit. I also had to cut off 1/2" of the threaded R&P rod in order to get the tie rods turned on enough to get the wheels straight. So the new setup has way shorter R&P rods including tie rods then it had before.
I don't have a lot of knowledge on the geometry of the whole turning thing. I just read what people say about it. I did the Shelby drop and was trying to get 4 degrees positive caster like they wanted but, only could get about 2 because of the A arm binding on the shock tower.