DIY Alignment

Completed a front end alignment on the 68 Barracuda, The numbers that I got are
Toe 1/16 in each side
Camber + 1.031 Passenger side
Camber + .916 Driver side
Caster +2.525

For comparison, Barracuda alignment settings from a 1968 FSM
Toe 1/8
Camber Left +1/2
Camber Right +1/4
Caster Manual 0 to -1
Caster Power 1/4 to 1 1/4

I used the formulas for the calculations of caster and camber that are in this post.
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=65513

The car has the 73 and up large ball joint upper control arms with the Moog off set bushings, stock lower arms, C body tie rod ends.
The upper control arm adjustors were set with the front bolt rotated all the way out from center and the rear adjustor bolt set all the way in.

I worked a while setting up a string frame to measure toe setting against. I just could never get comfortable that I was really setting up two parallel lines.
My extension tape had flex. I was working alone in the garage. So I made a hard frame of PVC pipe. And I like that. Easy to center around the car, move one side an inch in and the other side moves an inch out. I think it is really robust and will be easy to set up again. I glued one side on each 90 degree fitting and lightly sanded the non glued pipe to allow a full depth fit that can be pulled apart.
I also verified that the rear wheels on the car are square, with no toe. They are.

I also made a set of turn plates, used for checking caster. Basically two plates of steel with the bottom plate being a bit wider and marked with the 15 degree angle targets. These are not slide plates, so the car has to be rolled up on them, but that was not difficult to do. The problem that I found is the epoxy floor in my garage is so slick that the entire plate assembly would turn with the tire. I could probably fix that by gluing some rubber to the bottom side, or I may just let that go and make up a set of angle extensions to mark the 15 degree extensions. In the photo I did that with tape.

So I am satisfied with the garage alignment project, between the PVC pipe and the steel plates I spent a little less than $80.00 a shop alignment would cost at least that much. I plan to use this same set up to check and adjust the alignment on the D150 and then maybe again on the 68 B if I swap in aftermarket upper control arms.

A couple of days in the garage, a couple of days of fun.