While I'm waiting for parts I shipped the car off to have the suspension done, I just got it back and the top mount settings are wildly different from left to right as shown in the pictures attached. I questioned this and was told that old cars "are just like that". I asked if the strut was bent or spindle or anything and it is all fine apparently. So what would be causing one side to be so different to the other? I've looked it over and it doesn't seem to be any damage to the chassis at all so I'm dumbfounded as to why it's so different.
 
The steering rack was rebuilt by them and I can turn the wheel more times to the right than to the left, 1 1/4 turns to left lock, and 1 3/4 turns to right lock. This causes massive rubbing on one side when turning full lock. Could this be related to the top mount settings? Since they didn't notice it wasn't centred when they did the alignment could it be that a strut or spindle is damaged and they just didn't notice? Suspension has always been a black art to me and I can't understand why one side is different to the other. Whenever I've seen other cars they always have the same or similar setting left to right. Other than that it handles like it's on rails. It has 205/60 R13 tyres on 13x6JJ superlites and by all accounts I've read that should fit no problems but my suspension guy is insisting that I either cut the guards or run smaller tyres. That's why the coilovers are raised as you can see in the side picture. Is this all related somehow?
 
Please educate me on suspension!
 
Trent

Not too unusual for the strut tops to be different at the top, provided the camber is dialled in correctly I wouldn't worry about it.
 
As for cutting the guards, it is not unusual to have to trim the of the arch lip as they will catch depending on height and offset, even if only in reverse and full lock.
 
Cant help you with the lock to lock, someone more knowledgeable than me will help you out I'm sure.
 
Shaun
 
 

I think the struts are lightly bent or one is. A good way to check is the gap between ur tyre and strut leg just below the spring platform . With having 205s on 6s (?) There won't be much room, maybe a finger width or so. This will be a giveaway if the gap is different. The x/member could be over to one side which is a possibility as well. The 1st job after installing 'fats' is roll the lip and trim the front of the arch away...dont be scared and give an extra inch clearance at the closest spot.
As for the rack being more to one side it could be the track rod ends not being evenly wound in. Measure the remaining threads should show the problem there.
Hope this info helps as to what is going on.
Shaun is correct with these old cars being not exact...the tolerances were no where near modern cars .

Not unusual at all.  In fact it shows the value of adjustable tops compared to the standard non adjustable tops.  At least you can get your alignment right now.
My MK2 RS and MK1 are both like this.  Both cars have been hit in the front and repaired earlier in their lives.

Agree with the above,
 looks pretty good to me. 5-6mm difference is hardly 'wildly different', wouldn't be worried about it at all.
Although I would use some high tensile bolts for strut top to body. You should always use high tensile nuts and bolts for all suspension components, in fact those bolts that you have there I personally wouldn't use anywhere on the car. 
As far as steering rack is concerned it certainly sounds that the rack wasn't centered when installed and was probably compensated for by tie rod adjustment, and would explain why left to right movement differs. I would definitely go back and ask the question. A good wheel aligner should have picked it up and corrected it, probably too lazy to remove the steering wheel.......:)
 
cheers 

Thanks for the responses guys. You're right Shaun, going forwards I had no rubbing/clearance issues, it's only when reversing full lock into the driveway at home that it sounded like I was ripping the sway bar off its mounts! I rang them about it and they said drop it off and they'll sort the steering rack out. And thanks RS 2000 it didn't even click about the strut top bolts, they did replace those bolts but I just assumed they would have used something high quality. I'll definitely be asking about them and having them swap them over if they aren't grade 8 or better, I'd certainly hope considering how much this place charge and the good referrals I got about them that they'd be aeronautical spec!
 
The car must have been in a bit of a shunt on the left side, it's interesting/aggravating finding out the unknown past of the car and the dodgy repairs that were done that I now have to fix. If I was to try and get the top mount settings to be more 'equal' how would I go about doing it? The wings have to come off to cut out and replace the rusty splash panels, would I get them to 'straighten up' the top mount when they do that? The problems we've found (so far) are one side was running double spacers while the other only 1 and different length control arms left and right (now replaced with new matching pair). Looking on the bright side at least I'm learning something about suspension I wouldn't otherwise have known. I've included some pictures if anyone can see anything out of the blue, the threads on the tie rods are showing different and you can see the boot in more compressed on one side than the other. I don't want to fix around problems, I'd rather do it properly the first time and fix the root cause.
 
When I drop it off I'll ask them about the strut top bolts and to check the gap between the tyre and strut leg (thanks Marty). Anything else I should ask/get checked? Hopefully I can get this sorted and move onto more expensive, more complicated things that need doing.
 
Trent