which alignment to use?

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7demon2

7demon2

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ok this may be a dumb question but i have never seen it answered, or asked. if you have a pre 73 a-bodie and change the front spindle out to a 73-76 a-bodie setup (drum to disc conversion) what do you align the front end to? for instance i have a 72 with a 73 front spindle setup. no k frame change. do i align it to 72 disc specs or 73 disc specs? seems the geometry would be alittle different to me, or am i wrong? :scratch:
 
that is all i need to know. i was just wondering if the addition of the 73 brake setup would change the settings enough to where you had to tell the guy to align it as if it were a 73-76 not a 72 . thanks 68gts340
 
The stock alignment specs would be basicaly the same but if you want it to handle better add a little more positive camber. (approx 1/2 to 3/4 more degrees). Back when these cars were made they were designed for biased ply tires so the alignment specs were slightly different for that. A little more pos camber will help handling due to the radial tires. If I remember right the reason was the extra camber helps so it don't follow tracks in the road as bad. I'm no suspension or front end expert at all. I've just been doing my homework since I'm about to get my Cuda together after the same modification you just performed and have confered with a couple of very knowledgeable/experienced front end alignment techs and they both told me the same. One tech even suggested putting slightly more camber (1/4-1/2 degree) on the passenger side to make up for the crown in the road to keep it from pulling to the right but I think that is cause he lived in a rural area where the roads aren't very good. The other said he dosen't ever do that cause he is from the city and never hears any complaints of "pulling" due to the crown in the road. I also read a good article on the web that backed it up and would have posted it here but unfortunately I couldn't find it. Sorry. I'll search again tonight after church and if I can find it I'll post it.
 
thanks fishy68. the problem that i have now is the driveability. the car drives straight as an arrow with no pulling. the car is real squirrly on the road though. sawing the wheel type stuff. goes in the direction you point it right then. i had it realigned again, and the caster was way off. the guy told me this is for "driveability". this is what he called "memory steer". in other words making a turn an letting go of the wheel, the wheel should return to front and center. mine since the rebuild dosen't have much if any memory steer. the wheel tries to stay the direction it is turned to , so i have to bring it back myself. the sawing effect. i figure the front end maybe still be out somewhere. it is better than before since the second alignment. maybe everything is just stiff and needs time to loosen back some. it drove fine before the rebuild but just tired feeling (little loose) not squirrly. jury is still out on this one
 
If your car has manual steering it will call for some negative caster. This reduces steering effort at the expense of the self centering of the wheel.

A little positive caster will help with the self centering but will make the steering effort a higher. A good front end shop should be able to get this the way you want.
 
it is power steering. i figured there was something to be adjusted. it will take some trial and error to get back i guess. it is much better now. when i sent it back for realignment it read: left wheel as 2.7 (red) right wheel 3.3 (red). the guy set to left 0.7 (green) right 1.0 (green). this helped alot. i guess he needs to go a little more with it.
 
The most positive caster you can get with slight positive camber and about 1/16-1/8" toe-in. Make sure the ride height is correct FIRST.
 
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