Does anyone have any issues with their suspension while driving your 510 on the freeway or on crappy roads

[old_dirty_dime]

So my car has been upgraded in all areas. So currently I have Troy Emrish Stage 2 coil-overs with camber & caster plate, Troy Emrish KA/SR front sway bar & rear 3 way adjustable sway bar, T3 GTX2 front control arm & tension rod, T3 5/8” outer tie rod, T3 Evolved RCA’s, T3 evolved steering knuckles, T3 lightened billet hubs,  and my rear cross member has been modified by DP racing for camber and BRE style 5/8” toe adjustment with an enlarged hole for a 3” exhaust, and my rear trailing arms have been modified by DP racing with all heim joints. I also have an idler arm with derlin bushings, T3 steering gear box brace and also T3 idler arm brace. I’m running wannabe 15x8 r type rims -5 offset front and -25 offset rear. My alignment for the front is -3 camber, and rear is -2 camber, front toe is .5 out, and rear toe is .5 in. With castor I made it as more positive as I can do drive better in a straight line. I also have wilwood front and rear brake with drilled and solid rotors. SO MY BIGGEST ISSUE IS MY CAR DOESNT FEEL SAFE TO DRIVE. It’s the only car I’ve owned that it’s a little scary to drive. So on the freeway all the grooves in the road my car wants to steer turn left or right into the grooves like my car is on a rail like a train. So if their grooves in the line my car may want to steer towards the right or left. So my cars kinda all over the road. I am able to correct but at any moment or if I’m going faster than 70mph it’s nerve racking that my car will have a mind of its own and will want to follow where the line in the road are. Idk if this has anything to do with having the T3 gtx suspension parts bc the ball joint sits 2” higher. So what I did is find my old front Lca and cut the ends off and welded in a heim joint similar to jbcoachworks kit, and I ordered oem ball joints, and I’m gonna see changing my front control arm will help my car suspension better. I also have the stock tension rod but the bushings are worn out and I need different style end links bc the T3 comes with end links and 5 mounting points. What I want to do is sell my T3 gtx kit and buy FUTOFAB or Troy Emrish front Lca and tension rods to more of a stock oem set up. If this doesn’t fix it then I want to buy a rack and pinion set up from tsr or datsport or whoever has one for sale and possible electric power steering kit from silver mine for future steering and suspension upgrades.

[datzenmike]

Front, definitely try toe in slightly and camper at zero. Rear slight toe in. I don't think any stock car runs toe out.

[thisismatt]

What struts?  Are you flared with those offsets?  I also was going to say it should be toed in, not out, about 1.5mm/0.06" total.  1 deg neg camber up front should be fine.

[Icehouse]

Like the guys above said for sure do toe in up front.  I would also add you have a million adjustable comments.  Which is awesome for a racecar. There is a million wrong combination for a street car.  Have you done a bump steer test and adjusted the bump out?  Your -5 offset wheels are killing your scrub radius.  I agree with the late Baz (of Datsport) when he said usually the issue with most 510’s is the scrub radius. With our narrow cars riding on the crown of the road it makes it pull all over the place.  
 

when James, Sam and I designed the rack and pinion kit we used to sell we wanted the least amount of adjustment possible.  Just design it right.  Leave a little room for tuning and that’s it.  
 

Could you do some testing?  I would say adjust toe to toe in.  Then borrow some wheels with a more positive offset and run them on the same route as the -5 wheels and see how it drives.  
 

Keep us posted.  

[fiveoneO]

A little toe in might help, but your biggest problem, like Icehouse said, is your scrub radius. 510's like a positive offset wheel.

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

You have all the trick parts, but did you have it professionally aligned? There are so many adjustments that can make a car scary to drive. Caster, camber and toe. The rear doesn't have caster, but both front and rear have camber and toe that can dramatically affect how the car goes down the road.

 

As a basic rule, a couple degrees of camber front and rear are enough, even in racing applications. Toe should be almost straight up in the front, but a little toe in at the rear can help go straight. Say 1/16" in the rear.

 

Bump steer and ride height can also affect how the car feels. If it's so low that there isn't any suspension travel, ie- the car is bottoming out, that can be scary. If the parts weren't assembled right or not properly adjusted, you can get bump steer that can also make it scary to drive.

 

My advice is to bring it to someone with an alignment rack, but if you don't want to take that advice, someone who knows 510s would also be a good place to start. A lot of the stuff can be eye-balled, but toe should definitely be set with tape measures and toe boards.

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

I forgot to mention tire choice. If the tires are stretched onto wide wheels, then that can also make the car twitchy.

 

Got any pics of the car?

[datzenmike]

Tire pressure also. Lower seems to follow 'ruts' in the pavement and higher seems to ignore them more.

[old_dirty_dime]

Thank you guys for all the responses. I really appreciate it bc this is the only thing me not loving my Datsun. I haven’t done a bump steer test. How do I do that? I have love2bee fender flares and I cut my firewall in the front about 1.5” back for clearance my tires would rub at full turn in sometimes but not anymore. And if I adjust my tension rod and bring the rim forward then it would rub on my fender. But now I have no issues rubbing at all. I am not running stretch tires nor will I ever. I want more meat on my rims not less and I’m not about stance or hella flush look.  My rims are 15x8 watanabes offset 0 but I put spacers on so I’m -5mm up front and my rear is -25 but will go back down to -15. Tire size is 15” Toyo proxies 8RRR’s up front is 15/50/205 and the rears are 15/50/235 but with fender flares I may go 245. But that depend on how much camber I can run or not. With the front T3 evolved RCA’s I have set on negative camber mode which is -3 plus my camber plate up front I can adjust it even more. B

[old_dirty_dime]

23 hours ago, datzenmike said:

Tire pressure also. Lower seems to follow 'ruts' in the pavement and higher seems to ignore them more.

I believe tire pressure is about 32psi

[old_dirty_dime]

On 3/31/2024 at 10:58 AM, Stoffregen Motorsports said:

I forgot to mention tire choice. If the tires are stretched onto wide wheels, then that can also make the car twitchy.

 

Got any pics of the car?

Not sure how to? I’m new to this forum but I figured to get some answers is to post on here with fellow 510 enthusiast like myself. 

[old_dirty_dime]

On 3/31/2024 at 10:57 AM, Stoffregen Motorsports said:

You have all the trick parts, but did you have it professionally aligned? There are so many adjustments that can make a car scary to drive. Caster, camber and toe. The rear doesn't have caster, but both front and rear have camber and toe that can dramatically affect how the car goes down the road.

 

As a basic rule, a couple degrees of camber front and rear are enough, even in racing applications. Toe should be almost straight up in the front, but a little toe in at the rear can help go straight. Say 1/16" in the rear.

 

Bump steer and ride height can also affect how the car feels. If it's so low that there isn't any suspension travel, ie- the car is bottoming out, that can be scary. If the parts weren't assembled right or not properly adjusted, you can get bump steer that can also make it scary to drive.

 

My advice is to bring it to someone with an alignment rack, but if you don't want to take that advice, someone who knows 510s would also be a good place to start. A lot of the stuff can be eye-balled, but toe should definitely be set with tape measures and toe boards.

I haven’t gotten it aligned anywhere bc I wanted to take it to a 510 alignment place or someone who knows about these cars bc I heard they’re not like most cars. I was gonna take it to motoiq seems one of the guys knows about 510’s.

[datzenmike]

54 minutes ago, old_dirty_dime said:

I haven’t gotten it aligned anywhere bc I wanted to take it to a 510 alignment place or someone who knows about these cars bc I heard they’re not like most cars. I was gonna take it to motoiq seems one of the guys knows about 510’s.

 

Well there's your problem. Almost certain to be an improvement after it's aligned.

 

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

Any shop can do a 510, but you'd need to find a shop willing to adjust it to specs other than what the book says.

 

3 degrees camber in the front is starting to be a lot.

 

If you have all the right parts, and they are assembled correctly, bump steer shouldn't be an issue. If you have something installed wrong, like the T/C rod, then bumpsteer could be a problem. You measure bump steer by removing the springs and then cycling the suspension while checking the toe. Both wheels up and down at the same time. Measure at ride height, full bump, full droop and in between.

[thisismatt]

Getting rid of the front spacers and instead lengthening the LCA would help push the wheels out while reducing the scrub radius, if they'll clear the struts

[datzenmike]

Would add negative camber.

[thisismatt]

18 minutes ago, datzenmike said:

Would add negative camber.

Push strut tops out

[datzenmike]

It would have to be the same amount. How thick were the spacers?

[Icehouse]

These  are what he has Mike.  They are a design that came about from the Corolla drifters.   I would never run them on any car I wanted to drive on the street.  Like Matt said they are just adding more scrub.  
 

There are all kinds of good YouTube videos going over how to adjust your bump steer.  

 

[datzenmike]

Agree. Not everything for 'race cars' translates for use on the street.

[old_dirty_dime]

11 hours ago, datzenmike said:

It would have to be the same amount. How thick were the spacers?

There the ones that t3 made. I’ll measure them. But I also have 3 modes on them which are negative camber mode, regular mode, Ackerman mode depending on how they sit on the strut but that can be changed. I do have some old rca that will fit and they’re about 1” tall and not adjustable. So to me the front end is my biggest issue. I’ve brought my toe from out to zero ish. But will need an alignment done to be sure. My tire pressure is 34psi up front and 32 psi rear. 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

12 hours ago, datzenmike said:

Agree. Not everything for 'race cars' translates for use on the street.

Drifting in NOT racing.

 

Some may disagree.

[Icehouse]

Post some pictures of your setup.  Would be nice to see exactly what's going on.  

[old_dirty_dime]

Still don’t know how to post pictures I just took…

2 hours ago, Icehouse said:

Post some pictures of your setup.  Would be nice to see exactly what's going on.  

[old_dirty_dime]

17 hours ago, datzenmike said:

It would have to be the same amount. How thick were the spacers?

My spacers currently are 34mm. I used a dial caliper to measure it. I also have my old rca spacers from dp racing as well which I believe are 1” which were on my previous 280zx coils by tsr. If you meant my wheel spacers are only 5mm up front. I maybe be able to clear my strut without the spacer if that will help. I also have my oem lca and tension rod. My outer tie rod is the beefier 5/8” so I had to drill out my center linkage and steering knuckle. Sorry and the t3 evolved rca on negative camber mode is negative 2. As long as my camber plate up front is set at zero