I gather you haven't touched the caster-settings yet?
That's where the most of the proper handling/tracking/stability will come from.
Simply eye-balling the alignment is simply impossible and certainly no option to achieve any proper handling.
Steeringplay, I would assume that a "remanufactured" box would have the play taken care off.
If the rest of the steering linkage is good and tight, my guess is the box just received some new gaskets and grease inside.
Are you really sure the box is mounted tight on the K-member? (Have someone steer left/right while you observe possible box movements.)
How tight is the steering coupler?
Most often the idler-arm bushing is the cause for lousy or vague steering response. Next to that are loose steering boxes, worn/trashed LCA bushings, worn ball joints or loose wheel bearings.
A good alignment shop shouldn't even start the alignment-job until these parts are replaced and play-free.
As for nr. 4 and 5;
(4) Torsion bars are pre-loaded unevenly.
(5) Caster setting way off, or bushings trashed?
Great info here! Thank you.
The idler arm bushings that you mentioned may be a critical point...this is one of the few components that hasn't been replaced yet. That will be my next step! Thanks. Looks like they're ~$100 from Mancini. Would anyone recommend a different source?
That's a really interesting question about the steering coupler...can they be loose? IIRC, they're splined, no? I used an extension coupler from Mancini when swapping to the manual box. This is worth a look. I will also re-torque the bolts holding in the box.
Why do the front wheels have +10mm offset?
Is that to the inside or outside?
The +10mm moves the wheels in-board a bit as it moves the mounting pad 10mm closer to the outside rim of the wheel. A-Bodies are known to have a narrower track in the rear and I wanted to reduce that a bit, even if it's only 20mm over all.
My wheels are a complicated question as the front wheels started out as 15x8+10 but they didn't clear the upper control arm so I had a shop narrow them (because they didn't make these wheels in 15x7 and I love to throw good money after bad
).
The steering is never going to feel like a modern rack steering system, you can maximize it, but it is a systematic thing. So you need to check
EVERYTHING one after the other and optimize it. Only check with a load on the tires- on the ground or an alignment rack. The steering column bearings, the coupler, correctly adjust the box, make sure the box is properly tightened, watch the box for k-member flex, it's very common. Make sure the steering arms are tight, wheel bearings properly adjusted and then suspension- i.e. ball joints and bushings are tight.___
The torsion bars and rear springs look like a good match.
You need to get a good professional alignment, have the car checked on a frame rack and have the rear checked for squareness. The factory tolerances are really pathetic on the frame and needing shims to square up the rear end is common- you'll note that several companies make them for old Mopars.
___
After all this, you can play with the shock adjustments.___
If you are O.K. with the body roll after all this, you are golden, if not I'd go with Firm Feel or Helwig bars. This is just my personal preference, Hotchkis and PST both make good product as well.___
The tires will then be the limit and those old T/As just won't get it done.
Point taken on the comparison to modern steering. I think my expectations are realistic and I know there will always be a relative lack of precision and road feel. I just would like a whole lot less play. You've provided a good roadmap on how to go through the system. Thanks.
I'll look into the shims for the springs. The car sat even (to my eye) on the original springs...but maybe the stiffer springs are exacerbating a tolerance issue?
Tires- Yeah, I've long noticed how poor the T/As are by modern standards but as we have talked about in this forum, there aren't really any superior options in the 15"/60 series range. What would you recommend.
