Center the driver side front wheel in fender opening

[doublemyv]

SFM5s444 is under reassembly now, and the front tire is too far forward.  I have searched and read all the old posts about UCA, shims, caster, and didn't find any definitive answer to center the wheel. Attached are the 2 front wheels, and there is a noticeable difference.  Driver side needs to go rearward about 1 and 1/4 inch to be centered.   I have checked the inner shaft in the UCA and measured the distance from the bolts to the edge of the bushing, and the inner shaft is already centered.  Should I remove the UCA, and adjust the inner shaft to move the control arm rearward on the shaft ?  Will removing a couple of shims from the rear bolt on the Upper Control Arm be a fix, or is there something else ?   Thanks for the tribal knowledge.  Mark

[tesgt350]

Don't you adjust that with the Strut Rods that go from the Radiator Support to the Lower A-Frame?

[98SVT - was 06GT]

Don't you adjust that with the Strut Rods that go from the Radiator Support to the Lower A-Frame?

Early cars did not have adjustable strut rods. The bottom line on where the wheel ends up is when the final alignment is done. Once the car is on the ground and settled do the final tightening of the lower bushings and strut rods. Then set caster/camber and toe to see where you are.

[kram350]

Measure the wheel base each side. Upper control arm lowered and redrilled same location both sides,  same # of shims?   

[doublemyv]

Well, thanks for the comments & suggestions.   The Shelby drop mounting holes for the UCAs measure out to the same dimension driver side to passenger side.   The same number of shims are installed on both bolts of the upper control arms on both sides of the car, and the pivot shaft of the UCAs is centered in the UCA side to side.  The car was dimensionally correct on a frame machine at the body shop using a 4 wheel laser alignment setup, so there is no crash damage, or diamond shape to the car.  All door gaps are consistent with OEM specs.  The front fenders are mounted correctly, and the trailing edges of the fenders have similar gaps to the front of each door, and align nicely with the cowl, hood, and core support.    At this point, I will have the alignment checked for camber, and negative caster, and use shims to get the negative caster accurate, and push the driver side wheel as far back as practical.   Thanks, Mark

[KR Convertible]

Check your strut rods.  Make sure they are the same length and the bushings and hardware are correct. Check the piece in the middle of the frame member that the bushings seat against.  They get bent sometimes. 

[OldGuy]

You didn't mention whether or not if you measured the wheelbase side to side(?) Use a string (centerline-to-centerline). Have you performed comparative measurements of the wheel openings of each fender? Is one or both of the front fenders aftermarket? Stranger things have happened.

Frank

[Brant]

Mark,

Since you have done your homework and checked everything there that you mentioned, I would just continue on.

Once you get the final wheels and tires mounted and everything on the ground with all components in the car and assembled, you can see where you are after the proper alignment.

I can double check some other cars here, and it sounds strange, but in my experience, on one side the tire will be closer to that front lip of the fender than the other in most cases.

With 205/70 x 15 XWX tires on a 7 inch wheel with a 4 inch BS, I will have a slight rub on the LH front fender lip when the weight is on that corner. You can visually see the difference. I'm not really sure exactly what the measurement difference is though.

[doublemyv]

Moderator: This thread got in the 1966 forum instead of the 1965 Forum, so if possible, could you move this thread to the correct place for 1965 posts ?
      Thanks Brant,  I appreciate the specifics on the wheel and tire size, and that some of the cars are not the same in the side to side wheel openings.   I had not considered that the Ford fenders could be different, and I guess the quality control of stampings in the 1960s might not have been as good as it is today.    Since both fenders are flat flange Ford fenders, I had assumed that they would be identical.  Maybe not.  As for the struts, I will double check the strut frame mounts again, the strut lengths, and loosen the bolts on the LCAs to see if I have any wiggle room to move the driver side rearward slightly.   When this car was on the frame machine at the body shop with the laser data tools clamped to the pinch weld in four places, we made sure the car was squared up to the correct OEM specs, so at least that variable has been eliminated.    I'll work on more double checks, more accurate wheelbase measurements, and continue with the restoration to see where I end up with centering the wheel in the opening.  Thanks for the advice so far, and I'm sure more questions are coming.  Here's a few photos of my progress so far.   Mark