alignments

[svocudd]

Let me preface my question with a statement. I consider myself to be a pretty mechanically inclined guy and do most of my own mechanical work.

With that said, has anyone ever had a four wheel alignment (thrust alignment ) suggested for your SVO or any 79-93 mustang for that matter? I understand a four wheel alignment for cars with independant rears but with a live axle? What could they possibly adjust in the rear with factory components?


I am trying a local shop (no personal experience with it, but have heard they are o.k. and would like to support my community business') for an alignment, but I want to make sure they know what they are talking about.


Cudd

[vrinner]

Four wheel alignment

Having just had an alignment done on my 86 I asked the tech why he put the wheel alignment thingy's (technical term) on the rears, and he told me that it's because they talk to the ones in the front and helps with checking the toe.

[SVOeric]

I'm in the same delima.

I am about to have my SVO aligned, and I dont know who to go to.

Believe it or not, I had planned to take the car to K-mart to have it aligned there, because I knew the guy that ran the alignment rack, and he would have let me "help" him, and he would have tweaked anything I wanted (like a bit-o neg camber).

But when k-mart filed bankruptcy, they closed the penske auto (which they weren't suposed to do!) .. anyway, I digress

so, now I dont know where to take it. I wouldn't trust most of the mechanics in this town to change my oil, much less adjust the alignment on my SVO!!


UGH!!!

[vrinner]

Funny story (long)

So they guy I took my car to came recomended by another place that preps race cars.

So when he put the car up on the rack, he couldn't get the two front alignment thingys (another technical term) to talk to eachother. He was getting really confused then he realized I had soooo much negative camber that the laser beam thingys between the two devices were not even pointing close to each other. So we adjusted the camber out to about negative 2.0 on each side so they could talk but as soon as we went any more negative the machine would complain.

The problem is that they need to talk to each other to adjust the caster and toe. So me in my brilliant thinking just said, "Set the toe first." to which he said "Sonny, go back to typing on your computer or something" And I got another quick lesson in aligment 101. The order that you do the alignment is first camber, then caster, then toe. If you adjust the toe first, when you adjust the camber it will throw off the toe.

So what did we do, we just got it as close as we could on the rack, then drove the car, made some more adjustments, drove the car, made some more adjustment, bla bla bla. Well, the car was driving fine at about 40 mph on the street but when I got to the track and really got some speed up, it was obvious that the alignment was waaaayyyy off.

Moral to this story, if you want anything out of the ordinary, take it to someone who really knows what they are doing. This guy obviously didn't. So I'm stuck in the same situation as the everyone else...cant find someone to give my car the special attention it needs.

I had posted before about a place that does race car prep and alignments in Orange County, CA but none to be found. I'm still looking if anyone has any info.

[SvoTy]

Re: alignments

Originally posted by svocudd
Let me preface my question with a statement. I consider myself to be a pretty mechanically inclined guy and do most of my own mechanical work.

With that said, has anyone ever had a four wheel alignment (thrust alignment ) suggested for your SVO or any 79-93 mustang for that matter? I understand a four wheel alignment for cars with independant rears but with a live axle? What could they possibly adjust in the rear with factory components?


I am trying a local shop (no personal experience with it, but have heard they are o.k. and would like to support my community business') for an alignment, but I want to make sure they know what they are talking about.


Cudd

Mike about the only thing that you gain with the 4 wheel alignment is making sure that the fronts and the rears are parallel with each other.

The engine cradle has slots cut in it and you have around an inch or so of play that you can move the front wheels with.

As far as being able to do anything with the rear suspension it would only tell you if you had a control arm bent or maybe one of the attaching points pulled away from the floor pan.

As far as paying a lot extra for a 4 wheel alignment you could just break out the trusty measuring tape and measure from the center to center of the wheels.

Ty

[cobra0478]

I did frame & suspension work for about two years in a very buisy shop.
I am only home for lunch, but this evening I will do my best to answer your questions.
Don

[SVOeric]

umm, unless your car is race only, -2 camber is probably a bit much. You're going to wear some tires, and at high speeds, your car will want to dart.


I believe for a street car, you want somewhere around -.5 to -1.5

[vrinner]

camber

Originally posted by SVOeric
umm, unless your car is race only, -2 camber is probably a bit much. You're going to wear some tires, and at high speeds, your car will want to dart.


I believe for a street car, you want somewhere around -.5 to -1.5

My 86 is a race only car and never driven on the street.

http://hometown.aol.com/vrinner/mustangs.html

[cobra0478]

OK,
here is what I know.
The purpose of the four wheel alignment is to verify the fact that the car is tracking straight (we are talking only about live axil cars,such as ours),If your car has been in an accident,or you have worn rear suspension parts,or maby you have unbolted your front crossmember for any reason,your car could stand a four wheel alignment. if you are shure none of the above apply to your car,then you can probably opt out for front end allignment only.
I am not sure that the specs I have for mustang are correct for SVO,so I won't go there.
About the only thing you can do to insure that you get a good correct alignment,other than asking around for recomendations
is this. Ask the store manager if he will guaranty that once his store has alligned your car, that it will not wear tires,&if it does show to be wearing within a resonable amount of miles,he should readjust it free of charge.
You must understand that the given specs for frontend alignment is ballpark,I have had on more than one ocasion to readjust cars,some times beyond book specs,in order for them to drive straight down the road&obtain proper wear.
Hope I helped.
Don

[Casper]

One reason is to find out how square your chassis is. When I started autocrossing (about 89?) I got a 4 wheel alignment - and it wouldn't align. Never had been in an accident, but I had to have the frame straightened. Ever since it has held alignment beautifully. I asked the guys who straightened the frame if there was any risk it would bend back. They said no way - it was extremely hard to straighten. And the 84's are not as stiff as 85s and 86s.

Another thing- I had the shop mark the camber adjustments right on the shock tower. This is an old SVO autocross trick. Drive it to the track with 0 camber. Lift it up with your floor jack, loosen the nut, and adjust to -4 (or whatever). When you are done, put it back to 0 and drive it home. A decent shop should be able to do that for you.

Good luck.