Re: Alignment techniques

[AUDIDUDI@delphi.com]

>        A friend of mine is an engineer at Rockwell in Troy, where they 
> do big truck suspension pieces.  They did a study two years ago to find 
> out what was the best alignment method in terms of accuracy and 
> repeatability.  Know what?  They found out that a sharp mechanic with 
> some string, levels, and tape measures and calipers could do a much 
> better job than the fancy laser systems!  I have done all of my own 
> alignment since then with very good luck.  Note, that this is how many of 
> the Indy teams do their alignments (basically)

I've been doing my own alignments this way for several years.  One tip I've
come up with makes the job much easier: buy eight pieces of floor tile from
your nearby home improvement store and spray two of them with a lubricant (I
use silicone).  Put each of these back-to-back with another tile and tape
the pair of them to the floor with duct tape directly in front of each front
wheel. Stack the other four tiles in piles of two and tape these to floor in
front of each rear wheel.  Now, slowly roll the car onto the tiles until the
wheels are centered on them and cut the tape -- voila! -- you've got a cheap
pair of swivels that will allow you to adjust camber, caster and toe WITHOUT
having to roll and/or bounce after each adjustment to settle the suspension!

If you use fishing line instead of string (it's thinner and I find it easier
to work with) and a machinist's rule that reads to 1/64", you can easily do
a much better job than the local alignment shop in less than an hour.


                /| | | |\  |   |\  | | |\  |  AudiDudi@delphi.com
               /-| | | | | | = | | | | | | |  Jeffrey Goggin
              /  | |_| |/  |   |/  |_| |/  |  Scottsdale, Arizona