68 front wheel alignment

diverdaveman

New Member
Feb 19, 2004
45
0
0
I’m just now finishing up the final touches on a 6 year restoration project. I’ve put all new (stock) suspension and steering parts. I was wondering how difficult would it be for me to do my own alignment. I’m afraid to take it somewhere what will beat and bang on the parts and chip the paint. The car is show quality and will be driven very little – but will be driven. Any help on why I shouldn’t do this or any help on how to do this would be appreciated.

Thanks,
David
 
Summit sells an alignment fixture ($149) so you could do it yourself. I was thinking about getting one but have not do so yet. The biggest problem with alignment shops (besides the beating and banging and wild test drives) is the older cars are not in the new computerized alignment systems. The guys don't have the old manuals to look up the specs and they have never done an older car before with it's eccentric cam and spacers.
 
I eyeballed mine and it turned out close to perfect. Give it a shot, it isn't that difficult.

Edit: I just reread this. It is not hard to get a decent eyeball alignment that is temporary. Get a tool for any perm. align.

Have we seen pics of that yet? I want to see it!!!!!
 
Where are you located? I have aligned my car with my machine, and it has never been better. I enjoy aligning old cars because it feels good when the customer can see and feel a difference. I usually ride shotgun in cars which the owners feel more comfortable driving. After going from the old caster/camber gauges and toe board, there is no comparison to a laser machine.
 
Thanks for the replys. I did eye it some last night and measured the distance between the wheels, but you know that goes.

I live in Hickory, NC. The car will not be driven a whole lot and with that HP, I'll probably we rotating my tires a lot anyway.
 
diverdaveman --

I recently completed some front-end work (GW UCAs, springs) .... I bought a triple bubble caster/camber gauge from Longacre Racing .... get the "Pinto" spindle adapter (3/4" x 16) for V8 spindles .... it works well once you have the car leveled (use plastic trash bags under the front tires to ease turning) .... you can also check camber with a roofing square and a tri-square -- set the roofing square on edge vertical through tire/wheel center and measure distance from edge to rim top and bottom .... you can compute the angle knowing the difference and rim width .... but the c/c gauge is a lot nicer .... for toe, cut two sections of 12"+ wide MDF long enough to match the overall tire diameter .... then cut slots (one on each end) about 4" up from "bottom edge" and one inch deep (long) using jig saw .... hold these boards up against the tire using blocks or something (a wife will work sometimes too) and pull a one-inch wide metal measuring tape throug the slots and note the distance on front and rear slots .... difference is toe .... sometimes tire buldge at bottom may be problematic, so you may have to radius out the bottom edge some -- the board should lie flat against the lower mid section of the tire .... roll the car back some and take another measurement or two, then average .... this is the same principle as the bent metal gauges, but a lot cheaper .... and there are articles around on the web on this subject .... it's all doable, but takes time .... but a pro-alignment is probably best **IF** you can find someone to trust .... hope this helps ....

-- 67GTFB