ae71 suspension noise!

[Cerby86]

Hey all.
I just finished installing most of my front suspension today and it's making heaps of noise :(
Basically it's a ae71 with ae86 front struts and ae86 ps arms. Today i pulled out the ae71 control arm and put in a pair of xt130 corona arms and some ajps rcas.
Anyway got it all back together and gave it a vague wheel allignment, just the toe since i didn't want to bugger around with the castor. Took it for a drive and it's making a knocking noise on each strut.
Now i put it back up on the ramps and noticed that the end of the control arms touch the dust shields that covers the discs.
My question is 1. is it normal for the arms to touch the covers? and 2. would that be whats making the noise?

I'm planning on attacking it with a hammer and angle grinder to "fix" the dust shield tomorrow. Is there anything wrong with this plan?

And another question, i was "underwhelmed" at the amount of camber after the arms were put in. Am i meant to be using a particular set of struts tops? I'm using the ae86 ones at the mo. Would i get more neg camber with the ae71 strut tops?
Anywho i'll be fixing it tomorrow hopefully and getting a wheel alignment on wednesday.
Cheers
Cerby

[blinded]

Knocking noise would almost certainly be a loose strut gland nut thing, the nut that clamps the insert into the strut tube. If it isn't done up FT, then the insert will clunk around over every bump.

[Cerby86]

mmm yeah i thought that too BUT i only undid one side and not the other but they both knock. I tightened that nut too but i'm pretty sure not enough cos it was spinning the whole strut!! Ah well i'll try and find dads bloody vise grips and tighten the bastard with the rattle gun!!

[Jonny Rochester]

To tighten the nut on the end of the shock, you don't need vice grips. Just a rattle gun is ok. Vice grips will munt up the shock anyway.

The big gland nut that holds the shock body in the strut has to be tight obviously. A hex style one can be tightened with a vice. The low profile style with 2 holes need circlip plyers, or better a fixed style spanner with 2 pins in it.

The brake disk shield should only be touching the strut and brake bracket of course. And should not touch the disk or another member which is moving in a different plane. Thankfully, you don't need the brake shield, and I don't use one. (Ford Falcons don't have them, but this means nothing to me).

You can calculate your own camber change with grade 6 maths. Trigonometry at it's most basic. If you know the effective length of the strut, and the difference in control arm length, surely you can find the approx change in angle?

[Cerby86]

yeah but is there a camber difference between the ae71 tops and the ae86 tops?? I didn't change the shocks over yet still running the gay munroe ones!!

[adam]

I don't think there's any change in camber from 86 to 71/70 strut tops, only castor. Less castor with 86 strut tops installed.

[blinded]

2919

Sound may also be caused from the nut that holds the strut top onto the strut.(the one that spins the whole insert when you try and tighten it) If there isn't enough thread on the strut to clamp down tightly on the strut top, and there is freeplay, it'll clunk. I had this problem when I got new inserts for my setup. Had to make up a spacer to go between the nut and the strut top to remove the freeplay. I'd say check the gland nut, as it sounds like you were confused with the wrong nut in your reply.

[rthy]

did u check the wheel bearings

[Cerby86]

nah the top nut that you tighten in the engine bay is the one i'm talking about. and yeah it was loose, pushed down on the body and the nut moved up and down :P
Hit it with the rattle gun and it's all fixed!! Didn't end up modding the dust covers though, i reckon its a mission for another time.

[blinded]

Word. That was the second part I was trying to get at :P Glad it is fixed.:thumbup: