clubstylus

I have an adjustable pan hard rod, just wondered why i would need to adjust it, what the benefits are. Will it align the axle at all?

Antnicuk wrote:I have an adjustable pan hard rod, just wondered why i would need to adjust it, what the benefits are. Will it align the axle at all?

That's the sole purpose of it ----- if your rear wheels aren't following exactly the ' fronts ' , you will have trouble corner weighting it . But there's always the chance that the original builder didn't align the chassis with the body accurately in which case at least you can even the wheels within the arches. Don't get too close to the tunnell with the propshaft though ---- as the suspension moves in 'bump' the prop' will get closer to the tunnell

thanks............... again, (you should just leave your brains on show for me to pick)

i did notice that one of my wheels is further in the arch than the other but put it down to poor fibreglass/mould.

How do i check that the back wheels are in line with the fronts then? can that be done when the alignment is set up?

Antnicuk wrote:thanks............... again, (you should just leave your brains on show for me to pick)

i did notice that one of my wheels is further in the arch than the other but put it down to poor fibreglass/mould.

How do i check that the back wheels are in line with the fronts then? can that be done when the alignment is set up?

The correct way would be to string it out starting by finding the centre of the chassis / front . Centre of wishbone pick-ups left to right. Mark it , then measure an equal distance from that mark left and right to each side of the car , say 150mm outside the body . This gives you two parallel strings to measure the wheels to.
NOW the easy rather heath robinson method BUT a good guide ---- lay a lazor spirit level across each rear tyre about half way up pointing towards each front tyre at ground level ----- each lazor to tyre gap needs to be the same

i am trying to get my head around this, if i use a level accross the face of the rear wheel, when i point it to the front wheels i need to make sure they are straight. This is very diffficult to do unless i get the tracking done first and hen just make sure the steering wheel is in the centre.

Antnicuk wrote:i am trying to get my head around this, if i use a level accross the face of the rear wheel, when i point it to the front wheels i need to make sure they are straight. This is very diffficult to do unless i get the tracking done first and hen just make sure the steering wheel is in the centre.

Don't forget that ' this ' method is a ball-park check NOT F1 standard accuracy Simply put the wheels as straight ahead as you can see with your eyes , not neccessarily having the steering wheel dead straight either because that depends how you fitted it to the column
The lazor on a spirit level pointed onto the floor adjacent to the tyre to floor contact is fine ---- it's disparity you're looking for not NOT 1000 ths of an inch equality , mine still aren't equal but are sufficiently close . Lengthen the panhard to shift the axle RIGHT , shorten to shift to the LEFT ------- don't forget that there is a limiting factor to getting this perfect which is ------------- check the distance between the propshaft and the tunnell vertical ' tube ' about halfway along the prop' . When my performance was less I got away with 3mm BUT as my lap times dropped I've moved it away more than once over 7 yrs. It's now 5mm which I've just done

thanks again rob, another job to add to the list.