Rough alignment after front end rebuild

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lilcuda

lilcuda

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I've got a dumb question about doing a rough alignment after a front end rebuild. I want to get it in the ballpark so I don't trash my tires on the way to the alignment shop. I can see one wheel has positive camber. Can I move the upper control arm eccentrics with the weight of the car on the wheels, or do I need to jack up the front end? Obviously, I would loosen them first...

Thanks for any input!
 
Heck, why not learn to do it yourself? There are "a few" threads on here, if necessary we can help dig them up.

You DO really need a caster/ camber gauge, but you can buy one for (probably less) than the cost of a shop alignment, AND you don't have to argue with some teen-ager and his computerized alignment thingie about whether it's what you want or not.

Otherwise, I'd rough the A arms in to whether the tires look reasonably upright, and then rough in toe, the most important part. Caster / camber is NOT gonna hurt your tires going a few miles to the shop.
 
Basically, you don't need the shop. Buy a 2' level. Take the tire off. Ball joint to ball joint centers is caster. Tire on, level on it is camber. Toe in is a tape from the rear of the ties ,to the front of the tires, Alignment guy free, now.
 
Lee, I've got an alignment tool if you've got a flat, level surface. I wouldn't mind working on that car again (it's only been 27 years since I sold it).

BUT, here's what you want to do. Set the front cam all the way out and the rear cam all the way in. Bring the rear cam out until you have about 1/2 degree negative camber (several ways to measure this, including an angle finder). That will be the max caster you can get with the current set of parts. Then set the toe to about 1/16" toe-in.
 
Jim Lusk said:
Lee, I've got an alignment tool if you've got a flat, level surface. I wouldn't mind working on that car again (it's only been 27 years since I sold it).

BUT, here's what you want to do. Set the front cam all the way out and the rear cam all the way in. Bring the rear cam out until you have about 1/2 degree negative camber (several ways to measure this, including an angle finder). That will be the max caster you can get with the current set of parts. Then set the toe to about 1/16" toe-in.
Click to expand...

Thanks JIm, I was looking for your post about this a LONG time ago LOL
 
Thanks for the input, guys. There is a shop not too far from my house that did my friend's 64 Barracuda and 67 Barracuda. I went to talk to the owner of the shop last week. I asked him if he would do the alignment to my specs rather than going by the book. He said no problem. He also said "You probably want more positive caster and negative camber for radial tires, huh?" So this guy gets it. He said he would get it as close to my specs as possible.

As far as level surface is concerned, I don't really have a proper level surface in my garage, but part of my driveway is mostly level. It's a long story that I won't go into here.

Jim, I did set the front cams all the way out and the rear cams all the way in when I put it together. They must have slipped a bit on the passenger side because it has some positive camber, visible with the naked eye. The driver's side looks pretty good.
 
Sounds to me like you have a good guy. I would not worry about "rough" too much as long as you can "keep it on the road" for "a few miles." If possible stay off the freeway
 
Ride height will affect things. I have also seen on some cars the front cam had to go in to get back to a little negative camber. Years ago (when somebody else aligned that car) it sat too low on the LCA bumpers and still aligned (kind of drove like a truck, though).
 
lilcuda said:
As far as level surface is concerned, I don't really have a proper level surface in my garage, but part of my driveway is mostly level. It's a long story that I won't go into here.
Click to expand...
hell, my driveway is gravel and not very level at all. When I got my car home last fall, after paint and reassembly, the alignment was so far off it wasn't funny (changed several front end parts, plus the k-member).
Couldn't get booked in for an alignment any time soon, and certainly couldn't let the car sit the several weeks I would have to wait.
I cut a straight piece of wood to fit just nice and flat inside the bead of the front rims, grabbed my ipod touch for a digital level, and went at it. Set the toe as well (a longer straightedge along the side of the tires, marking the spot on the ground in front of and behind the tires and redoing it until I had it set).
Then I never bothered going for the alignment, as I had it pretty damn good (and over a year later the front tires still look brand new).
 
As mentioned, toe-in is most important. Toe-out will make the front-end wander dangerously. Too much toe-in will wear out the tires quickly. As the car ages, the front end sags, which changes toe-in (goes toe-out), so check/adjust height every few years and best to check/set toe-in after any height adjustment. For a quickie adjustment, hold a long 2x4 against each front tire and sight at the rear wheels. If the same track width as fronts (not always true), adjust until you spot ~1" off each rear wheel, and equal L & R (steering wheel centered). A bit easier on a FWD where you want slight toe-out and thus aim "on-tire" for the 1st tread channel on rears. Better is using a tape measure on the fronts, subtracting fwd from aft distance across tires (should be ~1/16" difference). Easiest if you have straight tread channels. Or use the "sight point on ground, fwd and aft" method above. Light is straight whether a fancy laser alignment machine or your view along a board.
 
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