Front End Alignment

[Randy'65]

I was real close to buying the vario-centric plates and welding them in to allow what I thought would be an easier way to get an accurate alignment on my '65, but after reading a couple posts about it, now I'm not so sure. My initial desire to do it was to be able to get as much tire under the fenders as possible by moving the upper control arms in due to no shims. The shims just seem like a total PITA to work with, and it seems like there aren't many cars out there these days that use them, making it hard to find someone in an alignment shop that knows how to deal with them.

I guess my first question is are there many alignment guys that still know how to make shim adjustments? Or is it still pretty common?

Second question, how good is it on the control arm bolts to be loosened, pulled out on the threads to allow putting the shims in, and retightened everytime you get an alignment? It also seems that it would be impossible to properly torque those nuts due to how close the headers are to the nuts, especially after doing the 'drop'. Am I reading too much into this???

 

[silverbluebp]

Am I reading too much into this???

IMO, yes.

I do my own alignment and have zero problems. I added the vario kit to add more adjustability into the front. With the vario-centric lower arm and using shims on the upper arms the range of adjustment skyrocketed!
I also have adjustable strut rods from Street or Track, which helps with the adjustments.

 

[65fastbackresto]

Be carefull choosing the shop to do it

Trust me, there are a whole lot more shops out there that dont know how to do it right then do know how. When you call, make them let you talk to the tech thats actually going to do the work, and quiz him yourself about how many he has done, and how long he thinks it`ll take him. It`ll take a guy thats real good at it at least 2 hours to do this right, 3 to 4 hours is probably closer to average. If he tells you its a 30 minute job, call someone else.

Find my old post a nightmare alignments, it was bad deal for me figuring out what to do.

 

[Decurion]

On a related note, what kind of alignment specs should you use with radial tires and no shelby drop? I was thinking about 0* camber, 2.5*+ caster, typical 1/16-1/8" toe in.

 

[silverbluebp]

I would still keep at least -.05 degrees camber.