Hey folks. Just wondering if anyone could tell me what is causing my car to "track" or wander all over the road. It's a 71 1600, I have replaced all tie rod ends, ball joints, replaced the sway bar bushes and checked the struts condition and found them to be ok. The control arm bushes are fairly old and could probably be replaced but that's about it. Any ideas? A mate has suggested I may need adjustable castor rods as the car looks to have been in some sort of front end hit... the castor bar mounting bracket (welded to rad support) looks to have come away a little from the rad sup and had been welded. I basicly want to get it driveable again to use as my daily but at the moment it's a handful to drive even at 40k's. Thanks Chris.

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Has it had a wheel alignment recently? depending on how serious your problem is, it could be caused by too much toe out. Mine suffered similar problems, it was recommended I run about 1mm of toe in and it improved the handling drastically. It Steadied the car in a straight line and made it much safer at high speed.

It hasn't had a proffesional wheel alignment done but i have done a simple tape measure wheel alighnent. The steering wheel doesn't pull to one side it is always straight at low speeds so ive sorta ruled out a wheel aligment but i might check it out and adjust it to 1mm toe in. I really want to sort it out vefore taking it into pedders or somewhere and get it laser aligned.

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Grab the steering wheel and rock it left and right. You should see the front wheels moving at the exact same time. If not there is wear in the steering somewhere. Drag link or steering box also check your idler arm.

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1928 Model A CC Pickup

The whole steering assy has just been replaced with 555 stuff. But not the actual steering box. I'll do yr test tommorow though.
Having said that, i had the exact same problem before i replaced everything thinking it was just worn out ball joints and steering rods. So yeah, could quite possibly be the box.

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have you lowered it recently or put different offset wheels on?

it needs to be done professionally, usually if you have a well trained technician, they should go through a pre-alignment inspection of your steering components to ensure proper adjustment can be gained.

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Driving takes three abilities: Accelerating, braking, and turning.
More power only helps acceleration.
Lower weight helps all three.

This can work to get everything roughly in the right zone, but will never get you anywhere near where it needs to be. I do this as a preliminary if I've had the whole front end apart, to give the wheel aligner something to work from.

Excess toe out will make the car wander as you describe. Excess toe in will make the car dart around more sharply - either way you have to fight it. If it's been lowered too much without adjusting LCA's, then it will bump steer. Unever camber settings can make it feel odd too. Who's to say that your chassis is true, anyway>

Get it professionally wheel aligned.

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They have drifting in forests now?
What will they think of next?

Yeah as i said i will be getting it Laser Aligned. I've never had a car laser aligned before and never had trouble after having all the steering assembly apart. I usually just do it with a tape measure. I have done many cars this way including my falcon just a few weeks back and it's perfect. I inquired with the previous owner today as to whether it was lowered at all (it doesn't sit incredibly low) and was told it has chopped springs in it, so that's possibly one reason for it to be erratic, i've never been a fan of chopped springs. And yes it has ROH 16" alloys which are definitely the wrong offset as they stick out from the guards a little. Also the previous owner had to take to the inner wheel arches with a sledge hammer just to fit them on. After reading what you have all said i think i will be buying some new slightly lower than standard springs and fit up some stock 14" rims with good tyres and see if that helps. Thanks for all your suggestions, its all just simple stuff that i hadn;t thought of that will probably make a difference

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could be your chopped springs arent sitting in quite right this happened to my old car everytime i jacked it up it would pull heaps hard to the left until the spring poped back in

I though i should also add that this car has 240K struts up front so that may be putting something out of wack????

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Yes, everything you have mentioned will cause it to track or "Tram Line" but, not dart uncontrollably on the road. Have you checked your wheel bearings to see if they're tight? It sounds like something is loose if its uncontrollable. Steering box will give free play in the steering where the wheels will move by themselves, letting the car dart without you feeling it in the wheel. But that's not the cause of the problem.
The struts will have an affect, get rid of the cut springs, you've now destroyed your roll centre! What size wheels you are running will do it to a great extent. 1600's like to run thinner wheels as opposed to say a commodore which handles better with wider wheels. 7" rims are on the very large side for a 1600, and noting that you're running standard 1600 suspension, it will tram line further.

I'll see if i can remember correctly. (Dad told me about this from his rally days off a guy called Arthur Jackson. NSW Datsun Guru. About 1600 steering).
Without getting into the intricacies of steering geometry (i don't know it all myself, its complex) and the relationship between it all... the balance seems wrong with your car.
Increasing wheel width will give the car excessive track on the front. (Front track being the distance between the rolling centre of the front two wheels. Rear track... Wheel base, the distance of front to rear, this is all at a particular ratio, making it balanced). Your wheel size is bigger and your offset is increased substantially pushing them further out from the guards as you said, compounded by the fact you have wider struts on the front. You've notably seen how screwing your castor small amounts either way will give you more toe in and toe out and change the steering completely. Same with track width, Its just as sensitive. So not only are you wheels wider in the track, you've effectively widened the front end of the car.
Now, its not all in the front end, this is in relation to the rear end of the car that is the same as standard. Which is (probably) setup with a bit of toe in to assist turning, is where it is to interact with the front, keeping it true. Not allowing for the front end being at a set width that is now longer. All this has happened over an already short wheel base of the 1600. We haven't even hit camber forces on the steering yet.
That will make your car wonder over the road. As a wider front end will follow the lines and depressions in the road and pull itself wherever it pleases. It generally reduces if your going faster, as it rides over these bumps more. But I don't suggest you try that. It should still be drivable at low speeds, you'll just notice that it will want to pull across the road at random times and just a pain to fight it all the time.
I think you'll find you'll feel a big difference with narrower width wheels.

Sorry for the hijack, but thats my 2c.

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Ongoing Project: 1972 Datsun 510 S13 SR20Det. http://ozdat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=17898
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Previous Car: Restored Green 1972 Datsun 510, Hot L18

Thanks for that. Muchly apreciated

I am going to fit some 14" Meshies i have here and i am on the lookout for some stock front springs, also on the list is new LCA bushes. Once i get both of those on the car i am going to get it all proffesionally aligned and see what i come up with. Thanks for yr comments

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chopped springs are ok, just install some bump steer spacers to get your control arms angled back down a bit...

how much play is in your steering box. have you tightend it yet?

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My Cars/money tins
1 1600 rally car
1 1600 Road Car
1 B310 Sunny L18 Race Car
1 Stanza