Afternoon all,

I am trying to correctly set up the steering geometry on my 1980 5.3 V12 XJS,

Can somebody with knowledge advise the correct settings for :

Front
Correct Castor, Camber and Toe in / out angles

Rear, Camber

Additionally, are there any reccomended speacilalists that could carry the work out for me if I choose to not do the work myself, I am fully aware that the Suspension requires Shimming to achieve tolerences etc. and quite happy to do this ( time permitting ). I would also carry out the work at mid load with the wheels on the car using a four post lift with front turntables for the front wheels. Or maybe choose plan B and send the car to somebody who is familiar with these vehicles and how to carry out the work.

Any advice gratefully received

Cheers

Ian.

 

• Toe: 1/2 a degree or 0.5 to 1.0 mm toe in. Each side must be adjusted separately and the rack held centrally while his is done.
• Castor (controlled by moving the shims each side of the top wishbone ball joint): 3.5 degrees positive (ie sloping rearwards at the top).
• Front Camber: The correct camber is 0.5 degrees negative - ie wheel sloping inwards at the top. Adjusting this is a bit of a performance:
• Adjusting the front camber: The top wishbone fulcrum pin is bolted to the subframe by two bolts and the fulcrum itself is sited on the INSIDE of the subframe. To adjust the camber the wheel must be removed and a jack placed under the spring pan which must be jacked up until the top wishbone bump stops are clear of their subframe stops. Reinforce the jack with an axle stand for safety. Then the top wishbone arms can be unbolted from the top balljoint, and also from the fulcrum pin. This allows the dog to see the rabbit and the fulcrum pin bolts to be unbolted. If this has never been done before the bolts may well be a bear to undo; best to have new ones on hand. There is just room to place a short spanner (wrench) on the nut on the inside to hold it while your impact wrench goes at the bolt head outside. There are shims between the subframe (outermost part of the assembly) and the pin (innermost). Thus ADDING shims pushes the fulcrum pin inwards, this increasing the negative camber. Removing shims lessens the negative camber. This camber adjustment is not something your average alignment shop will want to do, so with cheap measuring you can accurately and easily do it yourself.

This thread describes how I did my front camber:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...t-data-237195/
Rear camber: 1/2 degree negative, Ok up to 3/4 degree negative. This is adjusted by undoing the four metloc nuts securing the inner end of the driveshaft to the output flange of the differential (this also sandwiches the brake disc on inboard braked cars). You will find large square-ish shims there, removing them increases rear negative camber.