[Shotimes] Camber, and I got nutty again

[Zach Leahy]

Lee,

Yes if I aligned wheel to centerline of the body this is feasible, but
gettign that centerline is the hard part.  Since there are a lot of
dimensional tolerances in the body finding something symmetric asross the
body is hard.  I tried several points and nothign seems to good of a
reference, especially since my car has been rear ended in it's life.  I may
revisit the process later on and try again, or I may just pay to have it
done.  Once it is aligned I can mark the body centerline a lot easier :)

Z


On 2/15/06, Leigh Smith <leighsm@comcast.net> wrote:
>
> Great job Zach.
> After I saw Roger Penske align his Indy cars with string I know it was
> good
> enough for me.
> The thrust angle could be checked too. Find the true centerline both front
> &
> rear on the frame or body by measuring from a suspension mounting bolt.
> Mark
> it in ink / paint, and you'll never have to do it again, and you'll always
> have your reference points to measure from. On our cars the subframe can
> move all over the place!!
> PS: If your toe "bars" are twice as long as your tire is, 1/16" difference
> at the tape means 1/32" at the tire. Good enough for Indy.
> Lee
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Zach Leahy" <leahyz@gmail.com>
> To: "shotimes" <shotimes@autox.team.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 7:56 AM
> Subject: [Shotimes] Camber, and I got nutty again
>
>
> > So I wasn't really bored, I was just intrigued by the idea of realigning
> the
> > rear of my 93 myself now that it has new struts and lower control arms.
> > (again).  So I sat around and built my own alignment tools.  Basically I
> > have build a plumb bob off of the wheel face to measure camber and hve a
> > piece of angle sticking past the tires on both sides to measure toe.
> (I'll
> > take pictures sometime).  Results so far show the ability to align to
> about
> > 0.25-0.5 degrees camber, and as close on toe as my tape measure
> is.  Both
> > the camber plumb bob and the crossbar to measure toe are mounted to a
> piece
> > of 1/2 MDF and then strapped tightly to the face of the wheel (centered
> > obviously).
> >
> > Anyway, so I'm all set up now.  The toe is not set yet, I'm sure it's
> way
> > out, I am trying to get the camber close first. On a fist cut I am
> measuring
> > -0.25 degrees on the right and about -1.5 on the left.  I have not yet
> > cranked the control arms all the way in on that side 9but they are
> close),
> > but I may not be able to get any more positive than about -1 degree...
> I'll
> > keep you all posted.  I figured on setting up to about 1 degree negative
> > anyway, with maybe about 1/16th of toe in.  Thoughts?  Car will be
> driven
> on
> > the street and track.
> >
> > BTW, so far it has cost me about 7 dollars to build my alignment
> tools...
> > Although I may eventually check them on a laser machine I have access to
> > (Just not all the time).  It'll be interesting to see how accurate they
> > are.  My biggest fear right now is that I may end up with a static
> thrust
> > angle, as I am limited on how to measure that.  Best I can do is to
> measure
> > from my cross beam to a body reference (like the strut rod mount) on
> both
> > sides and set them ths same.
> >
> > I'll play around some more tonight... maybe I'll take some pictures of
> my
> > homebrew setup if anyone is interested.
> >
> > Oh, and the Koni rear strust do fin in the Tokico rear housings, but you
> > have to do some measuring and cut a spacer to go underneath them.
> >
> > Z
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