What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

Positive castor moves towards the front of the vehicle. Negative castor moves to firewall.

 

potato - po tAw to

 

wellll.....actually...

 

That depends on if you're adjusting it via the LCA or UCA.

 

Not sure where yours are currently set, going to guess position "G" since you mentioned 0 degrees of Caster. Then again, the ball joint @ 0 degrees would add +2 degrees of Caster. Anyway, when I installed mine, I set them at position "D".

Took it into the alignment shop and had them put me at these numbers (my UCAs are still set to position "D") -



Edit: not saying this is the best route or the correct route - just putting out there where I'm at in terms of numbers

 

D = 0° of ball joint setting (see the little 0° under)

Edit *** That's where mine are set. 0° of ball joint setti g is what I mistakenly called caster.

 

Using the UCA to add castor won't push your tire further from the firewall. It just moves the top of the spindle closer to the firewall. To accomplish the tire moving away from the firewall you need to adjust the LCA.

 

Yes, I mentioned that

 

And that would mean I need less caster at LCA correct?

 

I love when new parts show up.

 

Carefull of too much caster and tire clearance. When I installed my LR UCA's and got my allignment, I found I had a bit more trimming to do for 33's.

 

SPC mentions this in their pdf as well -

 

Ok... so tell the alignment tech to peg out my LCA caster and fine tune at the UCAs.

I'll do that and then cut again if needed

 

Question for you guys.

Along with the install of my supercharger, I'm going to be doing some light top end overhauling. My valve cover is currently covered in soot and oil and I attribute that to a bad valve cover gasket and/or PCV valve. They are original as far as I know, and have roughly 101k on them. 3RZ-FE 2.7l I4.

This is what I plan on replacing:

1. Valve Cover Gasket
2. Spark Plug Tube Seals
3. PCV Valve
4. EGR Tube Gasket(s)
5. EGR Base Gasket(s)

I already have a Teflon Throttle Body and Intake Manifold gasket that came with the SC. The rotor case is joined to the intake manifold with gasket maker.

Am I missing something, and is there anything else I should replace while I'm in there?

 

We set the UCA to the "D" position and set the desired caseter (2.5*) using the LCA's. Tighten those up the used the UCA to fix camber. Alignments were very quick and easy for me. In hind sight, I had to trim a lot off my front bumper and could have used position C to help center the tire in the wheel well but I've since replaced my LR with some uni-ball UCA's.

 

Yes, assuming you have a competent alignment tech, and those seem few and far between.

Adjust cams for maximum caster - front cams all the way in, back cams all the way out, and then use the uppers to fix camber.

IMO - and especially so with SPC arms, there's no reason not to learn how to do your own alignments.

 

Here's how I do my alignments with the SPC UCA's. Max out the caster in the LCA using the cams. The bolt in on the front mount should be as far inward as possible and the bolt on the rear mount should be as far out as possible. This is as far forward as you can get your tire. (some will dispute that this is bad for your lca bushing because it twist them a bit). I've considered tacking my cams to the frame since I shouldn't need to move them again other than to pull the LCA off but they haven't moved.

Now set your camber, then your toe and the calculate for castor and see where your at. I think mine are in the D position and I was north of 2°. Maybe @Squeaky Penguin remembers the exact number.

 

Check the valve lash while you're in there. Exhaust valves tend to get tight.

 

Will do. Anything else I should consider?

I don't know if I should be changing any vacuum lines/PCV lines or EGR lines or anything.

 

When I did my VC gaskets, all my lines etc were good. But, some of the xoolant lines to the Tbody do go bad and cause leaks that are hard to find.