Hi all,

I'm am still having trouble with the way my car is handling, a 910bluebird. What I have done so far.

I have replaced the upper and lower trailing arm bushes. ball joints and tie rod ends. bushes on r31 sway bar and and the bushes on the caster arm or whatever it is called. I just put in monroe shocks and pedders springs all round. and I still have the same problem. turns in great going into a right hander and understeers going into a left hander. It is still sitting around 10mm lower on the rear right hand side.

I am going to take it in for a wheel alignment again and see what happens.

Any ideas... Maybe I just have a lemon.

Nik

A few ideas.
Have you checked the body for straightness and square? Any unusual bends in the front inner rails on one side behind the cross member? Have you checked/replaced the ball joints at the base of the front struts. If one is worn or loose this can move under steering load. I assume the strut tops were checked when the shocks were replaced?
If it has a steering rack(?) check its mountings as they can perish after being soaked in leaked engine oil, causing the rack (and front wheels) to move around under load.

_________________
RichardC
SSS016

richard c have you got a pic of the area you are talking about behind the cross member? im worried now. any measuring suggestions for a 1600

the part i have circled was bent down straight on the left side. i think it might have been done to put wider wheels on to turn well i hope anyway. the car was on alean to the left which i think was because i had different wheels on there i put my trx rims on there and it looked level and i thought nothing of it till i read this post

I did the ball joints last year and put and new rack mounting Bush in as well as rebushed the rack itself. The strut tops have new bearings in them, as far as I can tell they look ok, but I am not so sure what to look for. As for a bend in the chassis I couldn't see any thing.

going to get another wheel alignment and get the wheel base measured then.

CHeers.

I haven't got a better photo than the one you have included in your following post. The area to look at is the box section area rear of the cross member. This area will bend if its had a good hit in the front.
I dont think you will have a chassis alignment problem with the inner guard panel metal that has been bent to give clearance for larger tyres.

You could measure left and right hand wheel bases to check they are equal.

On a 1600 and most other Datsuns of that era, there are lots of areas to look at for improved handling under turn and braking, but one area that gives good results is to renew the caster arm bushes (they allow a lot of strut movement under heavy braking if they are tired), and the inner bushes on the radius arms, which also will create poor steering if they are too soft. Remember that these bushes were never designed for the higher loadings that bigger brakes and stickier tyres create on the front suspension. They were built to manage 13 inch tyres on 4.5 inch rims!

_________________
RichardC
SSS016

I know this is a bit of an old question - I don't come here much these days. But if you are still looking for an answer, I can help...

I've bolded your problem. You have what the Americans would call alot of wedge in your setup. Adding wedge means increasing the LR ride height. What that does is affect your cross weights. The effect in handling as you add wedge will be to make it 'tighter' in left handers (ie more understeer) and 'looser' in rights - which is the problem you're describing. And 10mm is alot of wedge!

You need to correct the rear ride height problem. Try swapping the rear springs from one side to the other. If that doesn't change anything, you can either make a shim to fit under the low side spring, or cut a little off the high side spring. Do that in small bits - you can always take more off, but you can't add it back on!