setting your own alignment

zm830101,
Setting the toe in is fairly straight forward/easy, but getting accurate measurements/settings on caster and camber can be tough without the proper equipment.
Gene

I found that no one cares more about my alignment being right than me. Google diy alignment. I use one similar to this. ECONOMY CASTER / CAMBER GAUGE

brianj,
Well ain't that just slicker than snot! I stand happily corrected. Now I NEED one!
Thanx,
Gene

Yeah,
I know/understand how to align a front end, I learned on an old Hunter setup in the early 70s. I just didn't realize that we could get reasonable measurement devices for the purpose so cheaply.
Thanx
Gene

My car drives great. No hands at 80mph, no problem. Two rulers, clear hose and wood blocks can make an accurate hydraulic level to get 4 pads for the tires level in the garage. 1'x1' floor tile make good shims.

I used 2 plastic bags under the wheels to let them turn smooth when checking the caster.
I used the alignment tool from Summit and then took it to a shop to confirm it was correct. I was dead on with my set up
pictures and information:
Alignment


On the 65-66 most shops cut corners rather doing the back and forth adjustment with shims. They also set it to the original factory specs rather than performance specs.

i have an alignment gauge similar to this one;

Deco Magnetic Caster Camber Gauge

the nice thing about this one is that you dont need the degreed turntable to set the caster. if you look at the end of the gauge you will see two angled ends, these are set up so that you line them up with the car to get the needed steering angle to measure caster.

I like that economy guage but I noticed it uses magnatism to attach. Does that mean wheels are removed for the alignment? Especially if one has aluminum wheels?

Subscribing, great thread saved the links.

BrianJ I may have to give you a holler when I attempt this the first time as I have a feeling someone giving you tips along the way would turn an 8 hr. alignment job into 1hr. or better when you get good at it. I think my roller spring perches, adj. strut rods and set it once eccentric kit will make this much more repeatable once I know what I'm doing.
Jon

gjz30075 said:

I like that economy guage but I noticed it uses magnatism to attach. Does that mean wheels are removed for the alignment? Especially if one has aluminum wheels?

Click to expand...

no wheels stay on, I used a magnetic one with my aluminum torq-thrust wheels. The magnet was pretty big and strong.

chris66dad said:

I used 2 plastic bags under the wheels to let them turn smooth when checking the caster.
I used the alignment tool from Summit and then took it to a shop to confirm it was correct. I was dead on with my set up
pictures and information:
Alignment


On the 65-66 most shops cut corners rather doing the back and forth adjustment with shims. They also set it to the original factory specs rather than performance specs.

Click to expand...

I too have this exact tool and you cant get a better setup. It did not take very long and I need to do a write up as well. I used plastic bags for ease of turning. The only thing I would change (and will in the future) is the oblong 'bolts' used on the lower control arms of the 67's, and 68's. They have those that are sqaure and definately hold them in place with no flex... that will be much better.

Great job folks

Set your steering wheel inline first before you do anything, I plan to loop and tie mine to the brake.

I had a homemade 2x2 wood setup I made when I had my 68, it attached to the wheels from behind and I used the outter longer (about 4') for front to back measurements on the wheels. It used 3" screws to set in place with a screw gun. It worked OK. Used a 2' level for the rest.

From what I read here years ago on this subject you might as well DIY, the results will probably be better from everyones experiences that posted about a shop doing it.

How to attach

I'm not clear on how the Economy gauge and the deco magnetic gauge attach to the wheel - do the magnetically stick to the bearing dust cap? Or some machined surface on the hub? Do you pull your center caps off to do the alignment? The instructions linked in the ordering page didn't make it clear to me.

Also - what wheel diameter range does the economy gauge work for?

Thanks,

Andrew

I just used this on my Heidt's front end and it worked great. I used two pieces of wax paper for turn plates. The car handles awesome and tracks down the road straight as an arrow!

SPC Performance 91000 - SPC Performance Pro Series FasTrax Adjustable Caster Camber Gauge Kits - Overview - SummitRacing.com

68Jcode said:

I'm not clear on how the Economy gauge and the deco magnetic gauge attach to the wheel - do the magnetically stick to the bearing dust cap? Or some machined surface on the hub? Do you pull your center caps off to do the alignment? The instructions linked in the ordering page didn't make it clear to me.

Also - what wheel diameter range does the economy gauge work for?

Click to expand...

I don't have one, but I'd assume the small economy gauge is to be used at the outer part of the rim (not at the center of the wheel). It would have to be oriented vertically, so the two contact points are one directly above the other. It doesn't seem to show a level for doing that, so using a separate level or maybe rigging up a plumb bob would be the way to do that. It could just be held in place by hand for the measurement, probably no real need to attach it.

I was wondering about alternate ways (read: cheap ) to do this, and thought of a method using just a simple small level (it just has to be smaller than the diameter of the inner rim points- a 12" level probably would be universal enough to use on all cars).

Using the level vertically and the bubble level going front-rear of the car, locate two points on the rim that are perfectly vertical, and dab it with a sharpie or otherwise just remember where it is.

Then flip the level so the bubble level goes left-right of the car, keeping the top tip of the level at the same point, and move the bottom of the level out until the bubble level is centered. Using a digital caliper, measure the distance from the tip of the level to the wheel contact point. This assumes negative camber, if it's set up for positive camber, then just hold the bottom tip of the level at the rim and move the top out until the bubble's centered.

This measurement (call it X) and the length of the level (calling it L) can now be used to calculate the camber, based on the formula for the inverse cosine of :
(2 x L squared - X squared) / (2 x L squared).

Or avoid all the math and just use this online calculator, selecting the "3 Sides" calculation.
Enter the length of the level into A and B, and the caliper measured distance into C. The calculated value of C should be the camber angle.
If you're always shooting for a particular angle, you could use the S-A-S mode and enter the angle you want, and calculate the required Side c. Then just get a fixed shim or something of the right length, and adjust things until it shows level with the shim in place.

Now this is only something I've just thought up and just found this forum while poking around looking for ideas, so if anyone can take a look and see if this is reasonable, let me know

edit- Well, just looked at the wheel and realized this won't work by itself because the wheel is convex and won't allow a straight edge to be put between the two points on the rim. So that's why all the real tools have extensions to reach the rim-
Otherwise that economy gauge seems the most cost effective way to go about it, so I may get it to try out anyway-

68Jcode said:

I'm not clear on how the Economy gauge and the deco magnetic gauge attach to the wheel - do the magnetically stick to the bearing dust cap? Or some machined surface on the hub? Do you pull your center caps off to do the alignment? The instructions linked in the ordering page didn't make it clear to me.

Also - what wheel diameter range does the economy gauge work for?

Thanks,

Andrew

Click to expand...

I have a similar magnetic gauge, and it attaches to the hub after you remove the wheel bearing dust cap. I was lucky and bought a pair of swivel plates and magnetic caster/camber gauge off eBay for 250.00. Beats the heck out of paying somebody a lot of money to misalign your front end.