Ackerman angle help - I think.....
When moving the RS around the garage I've noticed the front tyres making quite the racket when on full lock and assumed the wheel alignment was way out. Did a rough check and all looked ok - within a couple mm.
When on full lock it appeared the inside wheel was not turning tight enough compared to the outside wheel - I could see from the tyre sidewall the load on the tyres was as if it had a heap of toe-in which it does not in the straight ahead position.
So that got me looking into steering and Ackerman angle. Going by some pretty crude measurement I only have approx. 3 deg difference in the angle of my front wheels when turned through 30 degrees - according to my research there should be at least 2 degrees for every 10 for a road car. Don't get me wrong, the inside wheel is turning at a tighter angle than the outer but not the difference I expect. Drawing it up based on the Escort track and wheelbase I estimate I should have 6 degrees which agrees with my research. So my car has "anti" or reverse Ackerman as the inside tyre tries to follow a wider radius than what it should. This is fine for a race car with large lateral loads but I doubt it's ideal for a road car so it will be a pain to manoeuvre in tight places and may scrub tyres in real world driving.
I'm running Capri style struts and (what I assume) are Mk1 Escort steering arms which I may be mistaken. Please see the images below and if anyone has a clue then please enlighten me.
Is anyone else running the GAZ adjustable front struts and Escort steering arms - if so what has been your experiences?
Also, the car has no engine and is not at it's final ride height (approx. 25mm higher) and if this makes a difference (I'm thinking not)?
Or....am I just overthinking it (as usual) - no wonder this thing is a life long project
PS - Ignore the washers under the tie rod end nut as it's only a temporary thing....
post edited by Paul Dunstan - 2020/02/23 20:15:55
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