Front suspension question

I am building my own front end and I have a question about the orientation of the upper and lower balljoints when veiwed from the side. If I were looking from the side at my spindle and drew an imaginary line threw the upper and lower balljoints would it be perpendicular to the ground or would itbe tilted slightly back? I thought that I read somewhere that the upper arms were angled back slightly to make the vehicle more stable at higher speeds. It looks to me like on the mustang 2 clips that the c-arm mounts are parallel to each other when veiwed from the side.

What you are referring to is called Caster. The line that you speak of should be slightly tilted back and will add stability at highway speeds. Most of the time you wouldn't need much more than .25 to 1 degree, but there are circumstances that would benefit from more caster, but other things would need to be taken into consideration as well. But thankfully a mini isn't one of those circumstances, so your job (and mine) are kept simple for now...

What about having zero caster? What would the downfalls of that be?

A vehicle with zero camber will tend to wander. Caster keeps the wheels trailing behind the steering axis (just like shopping carts) this trailing effect is stabilizing. In the event that you end up with negative caster, the vehicle becomes a nusance to drive. When you back up, you car will try to steer the wheel all the way in one direction then when you drive foward again, the vehicle will try to center the wheel. Having negative caster will have the opposite effect.

I build everything with at least 5 degrees of positive caster, and as much as 15...

Im setting the frontend up on my pre taco and i read that mustang II's call for 3-4* pos caster, i plan on doing a ton of hiway driving so would it really benefit me any to go 5-6*? I just dont want to be chasing this thing all over the road.

No. 3-4 is fine.

Max...I have pink upper a-arms, what should I do? Also, If you have a crossmember that is supposed to have four bolts holding it in, is it ok if 3 and a half of them are ground off from dragging it?

Originally posted by badchicn



Max...I have pink upper a-arms, what should I do? Also, If you have a crossmember that is supposed to have four bolts holding it in, is it ok if 3 and a half of them are ground off from dragging it?

Rick, I already told you that I would go halvsies on some "professional help" after a few weeks of that you should be able to figure it out on your own...

You see... That's why your the man! I will take you up on that offer.

---------------------------------------------Originally posted by BioMaxA vehicle with zero camber will tend to wander. Caster keeps the wheels trailing behind the steering axis (just like shopping carts) this trailing effect is stabilizing. In the event that you end up with negative caster, the vehicle becomes a nusance to drive. When you back up, you car will try to steer the wheel all the way in one direction then when you drive foward again, the vehicle will try to center the wheel. Having negative caster will have the opposite effect. I build everything with at least 5 degrees of positive caster, and as much as 15...---------------------------------------------When you say positive caster that is with the upper balljoint behind the lower when viewed from the side???