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Triumph TR6 - List to Port

The height at the wheel archs on my '74 are 27" on the left and 28" on the right. The rear has been redone - springs, bearings - inner and outer, seals, universals, tube shock conversion, re-enforced mounts and poly throughout. The car listed before all this work was done. Any thoughts about swing arm camber and shims? Is there an easy way to level things out? Thanks in advance. SC
Stephen

Check the front (yes, front) anti-roll bar. Is it warped?
JohnD

Thanks for your reply John. The car is asleep for the winter now, but in the spring I'll check that anti-roll bar. Does anyone else have another idea? SC
Stephen

Hi Stephen
I do not think your problem is related to what you have done so far ...as u say the list to port was there before ( for u non boaters the port side is the driver side:) My opinion is that it is the body mounting points that have shims and spacers in them that have the purpose of squeak and body allignment purposes respectively. The rubber shims do give minor allignment. The spacers...round "C" shaped aluminium 1/4" pucks..do most of the " raising" of a body mount point.
A VERY BIG POINT HERE!!! What I am about to say below is NOT an afternoon job!! In fact when I did my body off restore I left the final tweaking of the body allignment to the body/paint shop. They have far more experience than I do. It took them over a day to do it!
Does the front and back have the same amount of difference in wheel arch height? If so it may be simple to add spacers to the left side front to back at all body mount points. I say all points as this will help to eliminate any "twist" of the body down one side causing the door to go out of alignment. This ( the doors) will be the first place you see misalignment happen. It may be necessary for you to go to the starboard side, again front to back, and remove spacers to drop that side. Front and rear bumpers may need alignment so as not to look like they are on an angle.
Now if the difference in height is only at the stern ;) then u might get away with doing just the back of the car. If your driver door is aligned now then it is really going to be out of alignment if you do just the back!!! In reality here if you correct the height difference then the door was aligned to compensate for a twist that is in the body now. You will need to remove the drivers seat to get at the 3 mounting points inside the car, You are REALLY going to have fun with the one at the crossmember. You will need to jack up the body (all mounting points driver seat to back loose). Also remember to loosen the rear bumper to body/frame mounting points. Make sure you have both doors open as you will introduce twist to car so you can get room to add spacers in. Be very careful (slow) closing doors when you put the jack down. You WILL have to realign the driver door(maybe both).
I again pre warn you...this is not an easy exercise. It is more like a winter project in a heated garage. My final thought. Maybe you should take her to a body shop in the spring?
Let me know what you do Stephen.
Have fun
Rick
Rick

Rick, Stephen,
I would be very surprised if playing with shims under the body mounts will cure the problem. They are really for getting the doors/other body parts to align with each other.

Stephen, before tackling all that Rick suggests - not a weekend job - I suggest that you check underneath. With the car parked on a level surface, measure the height of the chassis at matching, opposite points, as if you were checking that the chassis were square and not distorted. If the chassis lists, then the problem is in the suspension, and no amount of body mount adjustment will cure it! If the chassis is level and the body lists, then Rick has it - though I would look first for a rusted through, collapsed mount point.

Yes, please report back!
JohnD

Further - This weekend I checked the chassis height at or near the wheels and found that the right rear was proportionally higher than the others. The fronts are within a 1/4". The rears differ by close to an inch with the right being high. There is no evidence of frame damage. Raise the left or lower the right will level the front. Is there adjustment at the swingarm bracket? Any more ideas? And thanks for those already expressed. SC
Stephen

Hi Steven
It is good you found out that the chassis is where you have a difference in height. It does say that it is not body shims. If the front has a difference of only 1/4" I would leave it alone. When you get the back correct, you should recheck the front.
I have difficulty understanding what JohnD says about that if chassis is out then it is suspension. If I understand what he says then the suspension "error" is twisting (distorting)the chassis forcing on side up (or the other side down). Correct me if I am wrong John. I ask the question: can the frame be twisted that easily? The simple answer (to me) is possibly (with no body attached) but with the body attached??? Again in this thread, I am willing to stand corrected. Now that I have said this I will refer you to a MOSS catalogue that talks about Rear Camber Adjustment and mentions ride height adjustment up and down. NOTE: IT DOES NOT SAY ANYTHING ABOUT WHERE RIDE HEIGHT IS MEASURED FROM. Simply Steven you want the BODY to look (and measure)level. It does talk about correcting ride height using the trailing arm brackets specifically the outer bracket. To me this article takes care of three things...tyre Camber, tyre alignment, and body height. I am not familiar with 1,2,or 3 notch brackets. It sounds like one or the other will raise or lower the body. Anybody who can answer this please jump in. Simply put Steven it looks like this is the place to look at to adjust the body height. Again is it frame twist or do you have the incorrect combination of brackets? It may be that you simply need to change one bracket. Maybe one bracket is upside down and needs to be flipped. Steven I admit I did not touch this area as I took my 6 to have both front and back aligned etc. Maybe if someone answers the question of what bracket does what (raise or lower)then you have a choice of doing it yourself or taking the part(s) with you and having the rear corrected profesionally for all three things. Maybe your front needs aligning also?
Regards
Rick
Rick Crawford

This thread was discussed between 26/10/2001 and 20/11/2001

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