K-Member off? Body? Front wheels not tracking correctly ...Need serious insight/help

[ATFPat]

Long story short, purchased a cobra through the forum here. Theres nothing on the Carfax and theres a clear/clean title. I ended up taking the front bumper off and noticed that the foam backing was "Taped" and some of the hardware is incorrect. Also, there appears to be a new radiator support/beam. Went to the local Ford dealership and purchased all the correct rivits/hardward. Safe to say this terminator has had front end work.

I just lowered the car and noticed that the driver side wheel sticks out about a 1/2 inch and the passenger wheel sits in 1/2 inch. Basically, the two front wheels are off set to one side. Looking underneath, there are subframe connectors installed and nothing appears to be bent/welded etc. Looking at the K-member, on the one side it appears that the bolts don't align up right and that if aligned, it would push both wheels in the direction needed to possible fix the issue. There are long tube headers installed so my belief is that the K-member was dropped and not installed properly.

Question is could a K-member through off both front wheels 1/2 inch? I'm freaking out that this issue may not be fixable for some reason. As of now, I would going to loosen the K-member and try to pry it over, if that even is possible. Also, does anyone have the TQ. settings for the eight bolts underneath?

Any insight or knowledge would be appreciated while I try to fix this one issue .......

 

[JuStAkId]

Quick answer, No the K-member does not have that much adjustment to it. It has a little but not 1/2 like you are saying. You can see in the picture below. The bottom right bolt hole is small then each hole gets a little bigger. How are the body lines? are the hood/fender/door gaps all the same?

 

[ATFPat]

Yea, thats exactly what the K-member looks like with the bolt holes with the right side having larger holes. The body lines look good. I'm trying to upload a few pictures to show the off set.

 

[ATFPat]

Driver Side

Passenger Side

Passenger Side K-member bolt - if I could get it to the other side of the slot, it would be close, if not, correct the problem.....

 

[ATFPat]

I'm hoping someone can push it back over to the other side ......... I was going to use a come along to see if I could put enough pressure just to get it into specs but I think I'm out of options and it may have to get into the shop. Guessing this is a fixable item? Can't imagine its done for .....

 

[jbrown1238]

It is difficult to tell from the photos. I am just going to throw this out there, any chance there is something else causing one wheel to sit further out or in than the other? Wheel spacer on one side and not the other? Different back spacing on one wheel compared to the other? Have you tried swapping wheels from one side to the other to see if you have the same results.

 

[gamatt]

It is difficult to tell from the photos. I am just going to throw this out there, any chance there is something else causing one wheel to sit further out or in than the other? Wheel spacer on one side and not the other? Different back spacing on one wheel compared to the other? Have you tried swapping wheels from one side to the other to see if you have the same results.

along the same lines, check the rotors too, on the foxbodies the 93 cobra front rotors push the front wheels out compared to stock. I'd also measure the a-arms and other suspension pieces and compare side to side.

 

[ATFPat]

I haven't measured anything as of yet. I did replace the rotors/brakes and this is the second set of wheels with the same result, left wheel out further with the right side in more.

I may just bolt the K member back up and look at a few shops tomorrow. Not to familair with body/frame repair. If I can get the k member over 1/2 inch ish, I'd be set! Curious if they could toss it onto a frame machine and measure if everything is within check.....

 

[Blkkbgt]

I'll start off by saying that if the car was in a collision bad enough to push the wheels to one side your would see other damage where the frame rails meet the body. A half inch is huge and wrinkling/bending of the metal would be obvious.

Now with that said these cars have HUGE manufacturing tolerances. I have been told more then once ( twice my MM) that these cars can be off my half an inch corner to corner. Ford allowed this when making these cars.

If I were in your shoes I would compare parts side to side and with pictures you can find on the net. From there I would check the k to see if it is square with the rear torque box mounts like MM has you do when you install their k member.

With all that info you can probably see where I am going next. If the k is square to the rear torque boxes you may have to live with the wheel situation or try to figure out how to move the body panels around to minimize it. If you simply move the k to where it "looks" right you could possibly run into a situation where the handling is right and the car kind of tram lines.

Best of luck.

 

[John M]

I worked for Ford as a Master Tech for 8 years, the tolerances might be right where they are, I have had to look at vehicles off the transport that had the same look and it was just the tolerances were large I guess and nothing was wrong with them other than the look of it. there are a few things you can do if nothing is bent. Just an fyi an alignment shop or a dealership can do the alignment and the machine will measure the angles of the suspension as the tires turn side to side if something is bent you will see it I think the test is combined angle inclination. on another note if you don't have the mm cc plates I would get them also specialty shims makes a offset bolt that is installed on the lower bolt of the strut that can give you some more camber to bring the wheel out, if your thrust angle is good from the rear tires to the front tires the car will track right and you might have to live with the looks or it might get expensive imo, hope that helps

 

[I'D WIN]

Perhaps someone can repost the optimal alignment specs so he can take them with him to the shop.

*I have 1-bar and for whatever reason, I am on a crappy connection so it's timing out during my search.

 

[John M]

I have the Ford factory service manuals the shop book and the wiring diagram books from Ford when I get off work ill post a pic of them if you need

 

[ATFPat]

I appreciate the help and responses!

I ended up taking it to a recommended shop near-by. All three shops I took it to said that it looked like the cobra took a shot on the right side. This one shop, recommended by others as well, is going to toss the cobra on their machine (Laser machine?) to get all the measurements. They said it could be a combination of the frame and suspension parts or one or the other etc. but appears that it's fixable. I did get a low/high number that I can live with spending to fix it.

On another note, I did notice that MM K-member appeared to have the adjustment (Side/Side). The holes for the top four bolts look as if the whole MM unit could be slid either left or right .........

 

[xtreme_exploder]

What exactly makes them think it was hit? Like you everyone's said, these cars have crazy wacky tolerances from the factory. My car is perfectly squared up to the rear suspension, and it looks like the passenger side wheel sticks out further than the drivers side. If you go squaring the wheels up to the body, then you're going to mess up the handling and tracking of the car (like previously mentioned). Now if you go to see if the k member is square to the rear torque boxes, and its off, you can dremel out the OEM k member holes where you need more adjustment. That's what I did before I bought a mm k member.

 

[ATFPat]

The car had to have been in an accident unless there's another reason someone would replace a front radiator support. They were looking at the body lines as well. They can't tell where it was hit at but it was a guess until it gets into a rack. I can tell it has had front end work due to the weld job they did on assembling/welding on a new front radiator support as the welds aren't as "clean" from as they usually are from the factory. Also, when replacing missing/incorrect hardware on the front bumper, sitting/stuck on the front beam/radiator support, was a package slip, still in the clear plastic sleeve ...... It was sitting behind the foam impact piece which was being held on by tape. Ended up going to the dealership to get the rivits needed to install/secure it properly.

With all this and the wheels shifted to one side, it make me think it's from some sort of impact. I figure at this point, if everything is within spec, I may order up the MM k member and just Aline it over to where it needs to be. Hoping for good news or just a minor fix!

 

[01cobravortech]

OP does your car pull left or right?

I have exactly what you have going on, except its my front passenger side wheel/tire that sticks out like yours.

Mine is a result of a front end hit though. Somehow the autobody 'forced' the alignment after multiple cracks at it. And after replacing tie rods, ball joints, etc. as preventive maintenance, I'm having a heck of a time getting the car to go straight through an alignment.

I'm reluctant to take it back to the autobody for an alignment since apparently they hid these issues 2 years ago and I have no recourse to get the autobody to make amends for not giving much attention to this issue when assessing the damage from my hit.

 

[ATFPat]

Mine didn't pull when I first purchased it, drive it home 200 miles, no problem. It does pull now but I just lowered it and haven't had it aligned yet. I'm confident that the wheels are over to the one side more due to a front end accident as well. I'm hoping the shop is able to straighten out the front, they sounded pretty confident and they were recommended but a few people/places.

 

[01cobravortech]

Mine didn't pull when I first purchased it, drive it home 200 miles, no problem. It does pull now but I just lowered it and haven't had it aligned yet. I'm confident that the wheels are over to the one side more due to a front end accident as well. I'm hoping the shop is able to straighten out the front, they sounded pretty confident and they were recommended but a few people/places.

I just got mine successfully aligned today and my passenger side pull appears to be gone.

I'll try and take pictures of mine so you can see how mine sit in each wheel well.

 

[SlowSVT]

The car had to have been in an accident unless there's another reason someone would replace a front radiator support. They were looking at the body lines as well. They can't tell where it was hit at but it was a guess until it gets into a rack. I can tell it has had front end work due to the weld job they did on assembling/welding on a new front radiator support as the welds aren't as "clean" from as they usually are from the factory. Also, when replacing missing/incorrect hardware on the front bumper, sitting/stuck on the front beam/radiator support, was a package slip, still in the clear plastic sleeve ...... It was sitting behind the foam impact piece which was being held on by tape. Ended up going to the dealership to get the rivits needed to install/secure it properly.

With all this and the wheels shifted to one side, it make me think it's from some sort of impact. I figure at this point, if everything is within spec, I may order up the MM k member and just Aline it over to where it needs to be. Hoping for good news or just a minor fix!

If the accident was bad enough to tweak the whole front end and you don't see signs any of the metalwork has been straighten chances are they welded a new (from a donor) front clip (A-pillar forward) onto the car which is what's usually done if the front end damage is too extensive. If it's not welded on straight with the rest of the chassis the car is no longer square. A body shop is best equipped to determine what's going on.

It's hard to determine how bad the off-set is due to your camera angle it should be square with the rim/fender lip but from what I can see it is noticeably "off".

A possible fix is to slot the mounting holes in the K-member and move the whole K-member over and re-square it with the chassis/rear wheels. This is best left up to the professionals at a good body shop. I would use big caution here as if this is not done right could make things worse with the alignment to the rear wheels. I would make plugs to fill in all the metal removed from the mounting holes and weld it in place to fill the voids. Keep in mind the IRS is off-set "inward" 1/4" on the drivers side from the factory as everyone with an NE Cobra and fat tires knows that side needs the shaved IRS bolt. I suspect this was a mistake with the IRS sub-frame welding jig.

Nothing worse then driving a car that's not straight and reminds you of that fact every mile you drive it

 

[ATFPat]

^ yea I would hope they didn't weld a new clip. My theory is who ever did the work, welded a new front radiator support up and repaired/painted fenders etc. without trying to straighten anything out. The gentleman at the shop didn't seem like it was a big issue to fix and they've been recommended by a good amount of people/companies so hoping it all works out. Hopefully Monday I'll have better answers and a solution! I don't mind spending the money if it gets fixed correctly.