The top strut mounts on my 91 RS are adjusted in a way that worries me. The drivers side strut is set in roughly the middle of the alignment slots while the pass. side is set to almost total outward adjustment. What gives?

 

IIRC, my IROC is like that (or vice-versa). As long as the alignment is in spec, you should be okay. The only problem is, that as things wear (not necessarily wear out), you might lose some adjustment and the front end might not be able to be brought back into specs.

 

Recently aligned? Unless you know that both sides have about the same camber, the difference in position doesn't mean much of anything. Assuming your alignment is right, it may have been in a fender bender at some point. Are both sides of the car the same height--that can effect the alignment. As long as the alignment can be completed--enough adjustment exists to get the alignment correct, you shouldn't have any problems.

 

Yeah 82, it was aligned recently. The dude said nothing about it and the printout looked good. As for wrecks, aside from doin' a little Dukes-o-Hazard jump one night... its ok I guess and the tires have a normal wear pattern but that right front always has a vibration. It's occured with different tires and different wheels.
The height measurement is a good idea and I'll do that this evening. Actually I was going to do it any way as a prelude to installing some lowering springs which, to complete the circle, is why I was worried about possible lack of adjustment on that side. I'll post those numbers later.
And I agree with paulo that as long as its in spec I won't care. But I theorized that the lower springs might bring the a-arm up enough to cause the bottom of the tire to kick-out a little more. Then to stand the tire back up straight I would need outward adjustment at the upper strut mount and not have enough.
If not I guess it'll be time for the frame guys to look at it.

 

Got those measurments w/old springs and shocks:

LF - 27 1/8"
RF - 27"
LR - 27 1/8"
RR - 26 3/4"

Not to great eh? Opened MY eyes!

Actually on that D-o-H car jump, it landed so hard on it's belly that it flat sided three of the four factory rims! Although the shocks were replaced, maybe the springs were "sprung" that night and the new Hotchkis's and KYBs will repair its tilt. Wish me luck.

 

... as far as the springs go, they may 'settle' a lil, but they don't get 'sprung'. They still have the same rate that they had in the beginnin.
Those height numbers seem to indicate that on your D o H jump, the car came down more on the right side. Do you have SFC's?... or a STB?

 

Yeah I think it came down pretty flat with a slight attitude towards the right front but that was about nine years ago and I've burned a bunch of brain cells since then. Good info on the springs and no, the car doesn't have a sfc but that sounds like it should be the next puchase.
Will have new measurements Monday. I started this morning with the install of 1" lower Hotchkis springs, KYB shocks/struts, end links, brakes, and a lot of other related parts while I was in there. Have the pass. front left to do Sunday. The car's attitude looks better already but the big thing will be to see if it helps the alignment deal. And I was wrong the way I stated the adjustment position of the pass. front, the bolts are in the farthest outboard postion which would mean the strut is way to the inboard.
Man, it's freakin' amazin' how shot suspension components are after ten years..end link bolts chewed half in two, etc.

 

You could take it to a body shop that has a frame straightner and have them check the frame for straightness, and if it needs it I would have them straighten it and then weld in some good SFC.

 

I agree and double on the sfc.

An interesting development though is that when I was disassembling the pass. front and got to the point of swinging the a-arm down it had alot of resistence as if the bushings were frozen in place. Same thing coming back up, the driver side had swung free and easy. And this is the side that has been giving me vibration problems for some time. I'm thinking that while I've got it torn down this far, better replace the a-arm bushings and see what that does.

Whadda ya think?

 

You might also want to check for a bent spindle. I bent mine up when I hopped a "new" curb.. you know, one of those curbs that is about 5 feet tall? Anyway, it popped the sidewall of the tire, so I had a bubble there, and when I went to get the car aligned, the guy told me I bent the spindle. He said they were able to get the car to "just barely align". Sure enough, on that side, the strut was all the way to one side for the adjustment. I replaced the spindle with one from my parts car, and it's been fine ever since.

Don't ask me how they knew the spindle was bent, though! At the time, I also had a bent center link, and the "common" worn-out idler arm, so maybe they were checking everything with a fine-toothed comb.

 

Man i know what you mean, BTDT. A hop is damn near a jump and I don't even want to know what a skip is.

Great info though. As you can see this is the first time in over ten years that I've done more than brakes and grease when under the car. It is amazing how many parts are really just plain worn out in that time. To casually look at these parts you wouldn't really think they were in that bad of shape. I really hope alot of our younger members read this thread or one like it and take away that very fact. It's not only the safety aspect but you're losing the performance advantage of a properly performing suspension. This is on a '91 model that is always garaged and only has 74k on it. Just think what shape older thirdgens are in.

So next step is to take it all back apart and replace A-arm bushings. While I'm at it I'll check the spindle and probably replace the ball joint.

BTY what kind of bushings for the a-arm, stock or other? and WHY?