Front end alignment advice - a-body w/ QA1 UCAs?

I'm open to suggestions here, guys!
I just swapped in a manual 16:1 steering box and QA1 upper control arms which supposedly improve toe geometry (?)...

With an emphasis on handling over tire wear, what would you guys recommend for alignment settings?

How much negative camber can we get out of these front ends?

Thanks for any advice!

I would want as much positive caster as I could get & unless some corner carvers advised otherwise I would go with zero neg camber/a skosh of toe in. As you know setting the ride height comes first. My weight on the dr seat/tires aired up to hot psi/half tank of gas

Thanks, Robert!
0 camber?

I would go .5 degrees Neg on the camber. 1/16 to 1/8 toe in, as much positive caster as you can get as long as it's equal on both sides.

yes one too many words!, zero camber would be correct (as far as the wording goes). My thinking is that I would like to have the wheel camber vertical to start with & steering play/road tilt/turning radius all of that combined will be constantly shifting it slightly from that (ideal imnho) starting point & I am after long term wear as opposed to ideal handling which you clearly stated you are seeking but since you weren't getting any love on this Q I wanted to get something out there.

Thanks. Is this how yours is aligned? How does it drive?



Ok...yeah, 0 wouldn't be negative or positive but it's not technically wrong!

The input is appreciated. For your goal, it sounds like this would be the way to go...but I'd be thrilled to wear out front tires on my Dart. In the 21 years that I've owned it, I either throw them out from age or rotate them to the back where they become one with the pavement. So...excessive wear is ok for me.

if you want it to handle and you plan on driving it hard into the corners. i would recommend at least 1* neg camber and as much positive caster you can get.

Do not be afaid of tilting them in a bit. On a Mustang I've tried -3.0, -0.9 and -0.6 with a 245 tire and stiff springs.

-3 will prematurely wear the tires but the handling is the best any alignment will return.
Neg half a degree is for highway cruisers that never ask anything in return. Max tire life and zero expectations in cornering.
1.0 neg is a great comprimise. If you are an agressive driver you may even wear the outside 1st.

This is good advice.
Some article in Mopar Muscle showed the author with a red 72-74 Challenger getting an alignment and he intentionally aligned it to stock specs for camber. This car has all sorts of upgrades in it, too. Why the hell would anyone do this for a car they intend to drive harder than for grocery trips? Positive camber with radial tires?
No, sir...NO...

I did not know there was an OE setting with positive camber (I'll take your word for it tho).

FWIW the factory service manual for 1969 Barracuda, Valiant, Satellite, Fury says:

"Camber-left. . . +1/4* to +3/4* (Preferred +1/2*).

Camber-right. . . 0* to +1/2* (Preferred +1/4*)."

Side to side difference is for road crown.

Positice camber and compensating for road crown makes sense to people who support amp meters in the dash and bias ply tires. There are better ways to do some things.

OK, so there was an OE positive camber setting.

Since you have a manual steering box, you might not want to get too carried away with positive caster as it will increase the steering effort by doing so.