1970 Roadrunner front alignment "specifications" to prevent "tracking"

The alignment shop suggested that I ask the forum for caster, camber, toe in, and any other kind of "custom" data in hard numbers that I can pass along to them to plug into the alignment machine. They used factory parameters as a baseline, but I don't have any factory parts left in my suspension.
I am very happy with the alignment and overall performance of the new front suspension on my Roadrunner, which got a new K-member, and every other front suspension component replaced other than the center link, which is still factory. SPC is the only non-QA1 part, and that was for the great range of adjustments available.
Other than the very slightest "play" when the steering wheel is straight, and a fraction of an inch of turning the wheel left or right doesn't turn the car, the only complaint I have is changing lanes from say...a new layer of blacktop makes the lane yet to receive the new layer slightly lower, it "tracks" the car towards the lower road surface. I will comment about a road surface that has low U shaped areas where the tires run in the lane once I get to drive on a road like that, as I suspect it will want to "track" along those low spots too.
Anyway, is/are there any parameters of alignment that help counteract "tracking"? What are they?
Thanks for ANY comments!
Here is the alignment numbers for the current setup I just got done:

QA1, didn't provide alignment spec's?

Jerry Hall said:

QA1, didn't provide alignment spec's?

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Honestly I don't know Jerry. I've had the QA1 K-member and suspension parts for 2 years, and I didn't think to look in the manual or ask them.
The shop that did the vast array of work on my Roadrunner didn't have an alignment machine, so I knew I'd have to go elsewhere for that.

What size and compound tires are you using? Front and rear. Rear soft compound drag tires? Radial or bias ply? How wide are they, this will affect your problem.

Are those numbers after they aligned it or before. Looking at those number the car won’t drive very good.

What type of driving do you want specs for? handling and driving on roads?
Drag racing?

Get Specs from the Upper Arm manufacture.

Hey Steve, definitely contact the manufacturer for specs as they certainly differ from factory. Also, as @R413 said, your tires will effect the outcome of your alignment, so mention that to the manufacturer, as well as the "axle weight" if you really want precise handling.

R413 said:

Are those numbers after they aligned it or before. Looking at those number the car won’t drive very good.

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After the alignment. Green is front, gray is rear. What would you do differently number/alignment wise? That was the gist of my question.

I didn't realise you had coil over struts up front.

biomedtechguy said:

View attachment 1009343 The alignment shop suggested that I ask the forum for caster, camber, toe in, and any other kind of "custom" data in hard numbers that I can pass along to them to plug into the alignment machine. They used factory parameters as a baseline, but I don't have any factory parts left in my suspension.
I am very happy with the alignment and overall performance of the new front suspension on my Roadrunner, which got a new K-member, and every other front suspension component replaced other than the center link, which is still factory. SPC is the only non-QA1 part, and that was for the great range of adjustments available.
Other than the very slightest "play" when the steering wheel is straight, and a fraction of an inch of turning the wheel left or right doesn't turn the car, the only complaint I have is changing lanes from say...a new layer of blacktop makes the lane yet to receive the new layer slightly lower, it "tracks" the car towards the lower road surface. I will comment about a road surface that has low U shaped areas where the tires run in the lane once I get to drive on a road like that, as I suspect it will want to "track" along those low spots too.
Anyway, is/are there any parameters of alignment that help counteract "tracking"? What are they?
Thanks for ANY comments!
Here is the alignment numbers for the current setup I just got done:

Click to expand...

You are ALWAYS going to have some play in a traditional pitman arm, centerlink setup. Too many moving parts. To eliminate that altogether, you have to get into rack and pinion steering. If you are happy with the handling, don't notice any pull in either direction, than your setup is probably okay. The only concern that I would have is the total toe might be a bit much if you're running a soft compound tire.

kiwigtx said:

View attachment 1009401

I didn't realise you had coil over struts up front.

Click to expand...

Front and rear, get with the program.

Ironbuilt said:

Front and rear, get with the program.

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So it will handle like one of these cars...



4-cyl 1100cc 'big block'

Since I always bad luck at alot of alignment shops I would take my cars to, this is what I shoot for when I align my own vehicles. Cambers specs -3/8 to -1/2 Camber on both sides (I never want to have any positive camber), +3 to +4 Caster with 1/16 to 1/8 toe in. I start from there and see how it wants to pull and then adjust my caster and cambers till it will track straight to a slight pull to the right.

My car is aligned to 3/4 degree NEGative camber, 4 degrees POSitive caster and 1/8" toe IN.
The negative camber helps in stability and cornering because it helps the outside front tire remain perpendicular when the car leans into the turn.
The Positive caster helps the wheel return to center and aids in straight forward stability.
The slight toe in is to account for the drag that the wide tires have. Wider tires, you need a little more toe in to ensure the wheels have close to zero toe when in motion.

Richard Ehrenberg wrote an article about this a few years ago. You can read it here: https://www.allpar.com/history/mopar/front-end-alignment.html. In it he has what he calls the "skosh chart" with settings suitable for various driving styles. I have my 69 Coronet set up for the "Max Perf. Street" settings and am quite happy. The article also discusses what the reasons are for going away from the original factory settings (radial tires) and lets you decide which settings suit your driving style. Cheers!

Mine (QA1 frontend & Borgeson steering) drivers side -.4º camber +5º caster
pass side -.5º camber. +5º caster
total toe in 1/8" or .07º per side

I've got 235/60 15 up front and the overall ride height is lowered. It looks like you have the caster just about neutral, seeing how you are using those adjustable UCA, try +3º caster to see if you like it. I think it improved the tracking on my car.

Generally the advice above is consistent and pretty good. The tracking you describe should improve with some positive caster. I wouldn’t go nuts, 3 degrees should be fine.

Toe in on the old cars is usually measured in inches, here it’s in degrees. If we take both and add them together we’re at about 1/4 of a degree. 1 degree is .017” per inch and your wheels might be 27”? So .25x27x.017 is about an 1/8 of toe in. That’s appropriate.

Camber wants to be negative about 1/2-3/4 degree. This has a lot to do with suspension geometry and how the car leans. These cars have shorter upper control arms than lower, this pulls the top in making negative camber as it leans. If you have stock springs and bias ply tires go positive but with radials or stiffer springs go a little negative.

QA1 site https://www.qa1.net/assets/uploads/documents/intallation_guides/C1500_Level_3_Front_Install.pdf

Ironbuilt said:

You are ALWAYS going to have some play in a traditional pitman arm, centerlink setup. Too many moving parts. To eliminate that altogether, you have to get into rack and pinion steering.

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That's EXACTLY what the 2 shop guys said. Thanks.
It was a pretty cool deal for me, not so much cost wise, but the business owner allowed the manager (1 of the 2 guys who did the work) to use his facility "after hours". The manager, Erik, was referred to me by a long time friend who runs a tire shop, when my friend passed on doing my alignment due to lack of experience. Erik called a guy he knows who does "tuner" cars and lifted 4WD truck suspensions. Together they did the alignment, mainly Erik watching and learning. They gave kudos to the SPC UCAs, and said overall it was fairly easy.
Erik says after watching his "phone a friend" guy do it, he can make adjustments or do the alignment next time.
Regarding the cost, they charged $20 more for each front tire (x2) than Tire Rack, but got them the day after I ordered them. I let the shop know that, but said I was OK with that since they were helping me get it done. So 2 Toyo Proxes 4+ (225/45/17s) were $280 a pair, and $25 total mount and balance. $90 "rack time" for the use of the alignment lift and machine. So the shop got $405 and then the guy who did the alignment said "pay me what you think it's worth". I wanted to make sure he was satisfied in case I need him again, and he was thorough, even noticed that the other shop's owner forgot to lock down the Assassin traction bars lock nuts after I did the preliminary adjustment to them at the shop I had my car at for the last 2 months. I was going to ask/remind that guy to lock down the Assassin bars, but I forgot and he did too, so I'm glad "alignment dude" did a once over "safety check" of my entire suspension front and rear. Erik also gave me about 45 minutes to redo the linkage on my Passon 5 speed, since the shop owner who did all that work managed to swap 3/4 for 5/R...I'm still not happy about that because it isn't shifting like it should.
I tried getting the electric fan and shroud assembly out of my car without pulling the radiator hoses and losing all my coolant, and actually removed the 4 bolts, 8 nuts, and all the washers that held it to the radiator tabs that Cold Case has welded on to the sides of the radiator, and I even removed my battery and battery shelf for more side to side room, but with a 2⅝" deep fan and shroud assembly (that's one of the thinnest available with that kind of CFM and a 17" diameter) and only about 3" of space between the radiator and the Wraptor, I went ahead and drained the radiator and pulled the hoses, and took the radiator and fan/shroud assembly out as a unit. I certainly don't want to scratch off the beautiful black powder coat.
So I paid $90 to FedEx on my business FedEx account for guaranteed 11AM delivery of the $45 fan electric motor I got the fan manufacturer to "hook me up" with at $100...(I'm starting to really not like that guy). Tomorrow I'll swap the fan motors, reassemble the fan and shroud assembly to the radiator, and install it all together.
And go from there...

Time to put the battery in the trunk! Move that weight back for better traction when you DUMP that clutch

Wow! I hadn't seen posts 12 through 17 when I posted my story about that night of the alignment.
I'm spending a lot of time under the hood, this afternoon and evening no exception. The fan manufacturer said he was going to "take care of me" by charging me $100 for the fan that for whatever reason he decided to reveal cost him $45!! I mean, seriously, he could have left that out unless he's trying to piss me off, or somehow he "thinks" that charging me over double his cost is doing me a favor! Anyway, I see he charged me $110 so he added tax as well. I still haven't received the tracking number, that I made sure to let him know it was important that I get, and since he's supposed to be using my FedEx account number for the $90 "Saturday before 11am guaranteed delivery" I was hoping to be able to access it on my account dashboard, but nothing yet.
Thanks for all of the GREAT advice!