handling questions

Just got the car back together and did a few test and tune passes Sunday.

Car is leaving very nice and strait, both wheels up and even, gets out about 200-250' and starts wondering to the left and when I let out or try to correct it gets out of shape.

Any Ideas on what needs to be done?

Car is a 1984 Fox with Tubular K member, A Headed BBF, PG, Manual Rack.

Could be a bunch of stuff. Could be a bump steer problem, or not enough positive caster, or un-equal positive caster numbers side-to-side. You might also check your slick roll-out numbers.

I have seen some cars where the required preload settings for some reason just wasn't the same for both ends of the track. If the car was set to launch straight, it would then push right/left down track. Then if it was set to drive straight at the finish line, it would then launch crooked.

You might get it scaled, but that will only tell you so much. The scales won't tell you if its a bump steer problem, or if the caster is off.

I'm going to work on the bump steer suggestion first. We had a tape on the front and jacket it up and it moved quite a bit, tried setting as close as we could to where the car appeared to be running, but I do have quite a bit of angle in the tie rods ends.............

Whats a good starting point for toe-in / out on a fox body mustang???? provided I get rid of a large portion of the bump steer?

Definitely need a bump steer kit if you don't have one. Your steering should be parallel to your lower a-arms.

Setting your alignment to factory specs is close. I don't have those and I am on my phone right now.

One more thing, even though it is leaving straight off the line are you sure your rear is square? just some thoughts.

put as much caster in it as you can, tough to get on the fox. toe in 1/16" 1- 1/8", main thing is get the bumpsteer happy. Dont forget the rollout on the slicks, if its more than a 1/4 " diff it will drive goofy.

I'll check the Runout on the Slicks also. I'm thinking its the bump steer as it went strait and 145+ before I had Bill Mitchell lower the rack 1 1/2". It wasn't like driving a Lincoln before but it was acceptable and didn't pucker up the bung hole.....

<<<richter69 Today at 11:54 am

.put as much caster in it as you can, tough to get on the fox. toe in 1/16" 1- 1/8", main thing is get the bumpsteer happy. Dont forget the rollout on the slicks, if its more than a 1/4 " diff it will drive goofy.>>>

agreed on the caster. we just pull the struts as far back as possible. we set our camber with the front jacked up some. tow in we like it closer to the small end than the large in of the scale.

but if you did lower your rack then you will need to address this. good luck

so, on a strut car, how much caster will be too much? I am currently using lakewoods but changing to the QA1. this switch will allow me to lower the car. keep in mind this is on a 65 fairlane, the shock towers will be leaving the engine bay.