What do most of you with Van Diemens use to set up your toe? I think Primus has some toe bars they sell. Are there others out there? Are the ones that Primus sells the preferred style?
Alignment
What do most of you with Van Diemens use to set up your toe? I think Primus has some toe bars they sell. Are there others out there? Are the ones that Primus sells the preferred style?
I have migrated to a set of bars front and rear with strings that run alongside the car to form a parallel box. Then you just measure to the wheels from the string. It lets you actually square up the car. I made mine, and stealing a trick from something I saw at the track I got two cheap tape measures, took the tape out and put in heavy fishing line and I have retractable strings that clip onto my bars.
Brian
Brian - pretty smart - are you saying that the spring that retracts the fishing line also acts to tension it when you clip it on to your bars? I presume you have a loop at the end of the line to secure that end and the body of the measuring tape somehow hooks on at the other end.
Pics? - Derek
Re: Alignment
FYI: If the bar material is suitable such as square tube cut a thin shallow slot at the string locations for positive position. You can wedge/stretch heavy fish line in one slot for tension. I have a knot at the other end for strain release. Wrap the fish line around the bar since only used at home.
Thanks for the responses everyone. I think maybe I mis-worded my question. I am very familiar with string set ups for doing the toe and I plan to use that. I guess I am trying to find out who sells the toe bars for the Van Diemen (98)? I know Primus has some and I have nothing against buying those, just not sure if there are others out there or not and I want to make sure I buy the right stuff the first time.
VelocityHaus has some http://velocityhaus.com/set-up-tools...emen-cars.html
MK makes some too http://www.mktechnologies.com/produc...g_toe_bars.htm
I have no idea which ones are better than the others.
Smart Strings
I have the Smart String system (bought from Pegasus) and it is very solid and well made but did require that I fabricate attachment brackets to secure it to the front and back of my Crossle 35F. Very adaptable system and can be used on a wide variety of race and road cars.
Last edited by Firesmith; 10.09.14 at 9:51 PM.
I think I got the retractable string idea from seeing an MK setup. Mine cost about $40 though. It bolts on to the MK9 Hewland at the back, and I just use some clamps onto the nose box or the chassis in the front.
Brian
Burton Bars very nice
Cheers
Len
Porsche River Oaks. Houston
The best alignment system I have used is the flag system. I will attribute the system to David Bruns.
You need to do an alignment by setting camber, caster and toe simultaneously. The toe bars only check toe settings. But the settings for camber and caster are dependent on where the toe is set when you measure them. The flag system allows you to set toe to zero then check camber and caster. Make whatever adjustments you want and reset toe to zero and take new measurements. Once camber and caster are set, toe is then set to what you want to run. I even set ride height with the flag system.
Because you remove the tires to set the suspension, you aren't including the variances in tire diameters in your setups. And you can do one end of the car at a time.
The flag system is done with the car on stands so you aren't bent over and having to jack the car up or remove the wheels to make adjustments. And the suspension is unloaded so all the adjustments are much easier
When I put the car on the ground, I find that wheel weights usually fall within 10 pounds and ride height only needs a slight adjustment.
The best practitioner of this system is Gib Gibson.
Steve...oh no! I still have nightmares about the flag system! I remember that is how we did it on my dad's DB-3 for years and taking the shocks out for dummy shocks etc....I do agree with the quality of system it is but man that was a chore and a half!Originally Posted by S Lathrop
Gibby had a system to hold the shocks in the loaded position when he jacked the car up. I don't remember how he did it. That would save a lot of time.
One trick I did was to do the setup with dummy shocks and then after I put the shocks back, I would take measurements with the suspension at full droop. This I did to save time at the track if I had to replace a corner fast.
after the bars
After the bars and strings are up, you might find this useful. Measures toe readings at the front and back of the tire at the same time.
Last edited by swiftdrivr; 11.21.14 at 3:24 PM.
Jim
Swift DB-1
Talent usually ends up in front, but fun goes from the front of the grid all the way to the back.
Yep, nice gauge Jim.
Last edited by BillH; 04.07.16 at 5:50 PM.
On the bars I build, I get the retractable part using 2 - $11 fishing reels.
With .022 steel, coated fishing line. 15 years on mine with zero tangles.
I just let the reels hang over the bar. Bars in the pic are temporary (not the final ones on this Reynard).
Last edited by BillH; 04.07.16 at 5:50 PM.
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