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122s wheel sizes (what fits?)

This shake at speed sounds fishy to me as well. Is the suspension in good condition? The only time I've ever had an issue was with a poorly made wheel bearing...and they died on a tight twisty mountain road while on a trip with my wife. It wasn't really the best start to the trip to be changing wheel bearings in a parking lot.
 
It's all a compromise.

More caster improves stability and road feedback and self centering, also adds camber as steering angle is increased, at the cost of increased steering effort.

5 to 7 degrees is not too much caster but your going to need a large steering wheel. (Some OEM specs are as high as 10? caster)
On an Amazon you are not going to get that much caster without shimming the back side of the crossmember.
OEM shims are placed in front of the crossmember to remove caster.

Do not stagger the shims on the upper A arm to gain caster on an Amazon as this will bend the bolts and lead to breakage.
Caster must be equal or the car will pull to one side.

Low caster settings are more susceptible to shaking (like a shopping cart).
 
Dirty Rick said:
It's all a compromise.

More caster improves stability and road feedback and self centering, also adds camber as steering angle is increased, at the cost of increased steering effort.

5 to 7 degrees is not too much caster but your going to need a large steering wheel. (Some OEM specs are as high as 10? caster)
On an Amazon you are not going to get that much caster without shimming the back side of the crossmember.
OEM shims are placed in front of the crossmember to remove caster.

Do not stagger the shims on the upper A arm to gain caster on an Amazon as this will bend the bolts and lead to breakage.
Caster must be equal or the car will pull to one side.

Low caster settings are more susceptible to shaking (like a shopping cart).
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I was told. Jack the car up and remove the stock shims on the front side of the crossmember. Drive it, if it shakes, add equal shims to both of the rear mounting points of the crossmember. Drive and test again, continue adding shims until the shake is gone. Yea the more caster you add the more difficult it will be to steer at slow speeds especially. Like you said, its all a tradeoff. Luckily its so easily adjusted You can try it and undo it if you dont like it fairly quickly.

As for camber I was told between 1 and 3 degrees. And that it was up to me on how I wanted it. I think 1.5- 2 is plenty.
 
If I could give you some advice, map your suspension's curves and make the changes and map them again. It's not hard and would provide you with actual data. I can't see how wearing out the inside of your tires with 2 degrees of camber gains you much at all. The suspension is challenged by having a roll centre on the ground with migration characteristics that are sub-optimal. You could even use an online calculator http://www.racingaspirations.com/apps/suspension-geometry-calculator
 
Canuck said:
If I could give you some advice, map your suspension's curves and make the changes and map them again. It's not hard and would provide you with actual data. I can't see how wearing out the inside of your tires with 2 degrees of camber gains you much at all. The suspension is challenged by having a roll centre on the ground with migration characteristics that are sub-optimal. You could even use an online calculator http://www.racingaspirations.com/apps/suspension-geometry-calculator
Click to expand...

Certainly a good idea to map and document before and after data.

Anybody else have some pics and information on the wheel/tire setup they're running on their amazon?
 
On my '62 Amazon sedan I currently have:

--4 Bilsteins,
--VPD 1" lower springs, progressive in front,
--All poly (best Australian stuff),
--1" front bar, no rear bar,
--Older idler arm (no rubber bushing, less play),
--185/70 X 15 tires on 5.5 X 15 alloys spaced out 1",
1/2? neg camber; caster--1/8th" more at rear posts than front; trace of toe-in.

Works for me,
But I'm old, and have other things to drive hard.
 
northNH said:
On my '62 Amazon sedan I currently have:

--4 Bilsteins,
--VPD 1" lower springs, progressive in front,
--All poly (best Australian stuff),
--1" front bar, no rear bar,
--Older idler arm (no rubber bushing, less play),
--185/70 X 15 tires on 5.5 X 15 alloys spaced out 1",
1/2? neg camber; caster--1/8th" more at rear posts than front; trace of toe-in.

Works for me,
But I'm old, and have other things to drive hard.
Click to expand...

Great, Do you have any pictures of the car you could post here?
 
Squeezed one out...

<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1333.photobucket.com/albums/w629/northNH/62%20Refurbishment/imagejpg3_zps56ab6d87.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo imagejpg3_zps56ab6d87.jpg"/></a>

And another:

<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1333.photobucket.com/albums/w629/northNH/62%20Newest/imagejpg3_zps754130c5.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo imagejpg3_zps754130c5.jpg"/></a>
 
Wow, nice ride man! Looks like an old gasser with everything out of it riding high haha.

Hopefully we can get some more posts on here of different setups and pics! Thanks for the addition.
 
15" Ford Ranger Wheels?



Ok, after reading everything, it looks like 15 x 7 wheels will work nicely. I like several of them from the Ford Rangers. Does anyone have any experience with them?

I was thinking of running a 195/65 low profile tire on a Amazon. Thoughts?
 
hooligan169 said:


Ok, after reading everything, it looks like 15 x 7 wheels will work nicely. I like several of them from the Ford Rangers. Does anyone have any experience with them?

I was thinking of running a 195/65 low profile tire on a Amazon. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

depends on the offset, but a XXX/65 is not a low profile, that's a stock tire but a bit wider. With that section width the overall height would be just about the same.
 
Redwood Chair said:
:wtf:

Since when is 165 & 195 about the same width?
Click to expand...

165mm and 195mm would not be about the same, they would be 30mm different, but a 65 series with a 195mm section width would come out to an overall diameter close to the stock 165/85 or whatever it is... right? since the 65 series or 85 series is really not a measurement in mm but an aspect ratio of the section width. Right?

More info: what the letters and numbers on you tires mean
 
Last edited:
I'm currently running 16x7 +22 with a 205/60/16 tire.

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/masterof1/16352090132" title="2015-01-23_23-37-02 by DL3L Photos, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7412/16352090132_3a1a675894_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="2015-01-23_23-37-02"></a>


<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/masterof1/16165616970" title="2015-01-23_23-38-25 by DL3L Photos, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7404/16165616970_d6e5aa16e0_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="2015-01-23_23-38-25"></a>

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/masterof1/16327015906" title="2015-01-23_23-37-50 by DL3L Photos, on Flickr"><img src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7460/16327015906_048a2c3514_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="2015-01-23_23-37-50"></a>

Just ordered some new smoothies with lower offsets: Front 16x7 0 offset, Rear 16x8 -12 offset

I'll post some pics when they are on
 
Although not easy to find any more, I have been happy with the look, ride and handling of 205/65-15, on 15 x 7 Ford wheels. Keeps the speedo almost accurate and with OD, 65mph is barely 2000rpm. However, when I was running Yokohama AVS intermediates (semi-sticky street tires from lates 90s, 160 treadwear) at an AutoX with KYBs, slightly stiffer springs and stock ride height with ipd sways, I went through a slalom and folks could see the underside of the car - I was on two wheels!! After that, I went to Bilsteins, V-performance 500# front springs, ipd rear, poly bushings and around 0.75 neg camber, as much caster as I could dial-in, and almost no toe. For track and Auto-X went to 14" wheels with a 205-50 14 slick - much lower center of gravity and a bit of a gearing drop also.
 
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