[Yeti]

I was checking under the car after my last track day and I found the outer left toe link twisted to nearly the full forward postion. I assume that it should be in a more neutral postion like the right one. Is the position set during the alignment? Is it something that could have moved since the my last alignment? Can and/or should I move it back without an alignment? Anything else I should know about this?

 

[fitfan]

FIRST !!

hahaha...

seriously though... (check the position with the car sitting and relaxed) and yes it should be neutral - you can verify if the entire arm is twisted simply by checking the inner link. if the are not 90deg to eachother (the outer out of phase) then it COULD change your alignment to set it back - i say could because obviously it can be put in any position with any degree of change, but if you chang eit will you get it exactly right unless your measuring it.

i would take off the diffuser, drive the car int othe garage, inspect, you can grabe to tie rod and ball ends to twist it back to neutral if needed. if not, then i would say - reset the ball end phases (and check / verify for any alignment changes)

 

[apk919]

^^^ rotfl

EDIT: I didn't see your edit when I posted Rodney... but basically: +1

The most important thing about the position of the outer ball joint/inner heim joint is that they are 90 degrees out of phase... if they're not, the toe link is not completely free to move with the suspension. My links tend to rotate forward a bit as well...

If the two joints are not 90 degrees out of phase, you'll have to have your rear toe realigned. It's a bit of a tedious operation to lock down both jam nuts while simultaneously keeping the toe adjustment accurate and keeping the two link ends in their proper places... see this thread for details on my solution: http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f91/use-laser-level-adjust-your-rear-toe-69658/

Here's a photo of the left side rear toe link... you can see that it's rotated a bit clockwise, but that the inner and outer joints are very close to 90 degrees out of phase...

 

[Yeti]

Thanks for the help. I'll drop the diffuser panel this weekend to check. If this has been in this postion for an extended period of time could it have done some damage?

 

[apk919]

Thanks for the help. I'll drop the diffuser panel this weekend to check. If this has been in this postion for an extended period of time could it have done some damage?

It's unlikely... as long as the joints are well lubricated and properly out of phase, there shouldn't be any significant rotational force on the joints.

EDIT: As fitfan says, you should be able to rotate the toe link either by hand, or gently with a wrench on the flats of the link...

 

[Yeti]

They are not a perfect 90 degrees but closer than I thought they would be. The left side inner top is fully rotated to the top. The right side is fully rotated to the bottom. This is obviously something that is not set by eye and even less by camera.

The more I look and learn about these cars. The more I find I really don't know a thing. I hope that doesn't start to get to me on the back straight of Watkins Glen.

 

[apk919]

They are not a perfect 90 degrees but closer than I thought they would be. The left side inner top is fully rotated to the top. The right side is fully rotated to the bottom. This is obviously something that is not set by eye and even less by camera.

The more I look and learn about these cars. The more I find I really don't know a thing. I hope that doesn't start to get to me on the back straight of Watkins Glen.

The left link has either loosened or was not adjusted properly, that's too far from 90 degrees... I'd look into that. The right looks fine (but might as well check the jam nuts there too).

 

[Yeti]

How much of a turn is significant? If I loosen the jam nut and turn the 1/8 of a turn, does that throw everything out of wack?

 

[apk919]

How much of a turn is significant? If I loosen the jam nut and turn the 1/8 of a turn, does that throw everything out of wack?

Yes. According to the manual, 1/6 of a turn is 1mm of toe (depending on suspension/purpose, normal toe-in is around 1.5mm on each side, with 0.3 mm of tolerance side to side: that's ~1/18 of a turn!). First, I'd check to make sure the jam nuts are tight... then I'd take the car to have the rear toe readjusted properly (or do it yourself)