wheel alignment

what are the recomended specifications for wheel aligment, both front and back. I have a swing arm rear suspension with a king pin front end.

My car wanders around a touch at speed (+- 70mph) Ithinkits a good place to start.- Thanks

I just took my car into a local tire shop where they looked up the specs for a '74 bug (the year of my pan) and dialed it in. Seems to work just fine.

I am concerned with a shortened pan would the specs stay the same. I also wonder if the car had cross ply tyres when new would this change with radial tyres.

I think "alignment" here is speaking to toe-in, which is an easy adjustment to make, just kinda difficult to measure the result unless you have the right equipment. [Note: you can fake it w/ a long pipe and magic markers if you know its bad and need to get it about right.] You just work the tie rods to get what you want. I bet there is an old thread here somewhere that tells how to do this. Camber and caster are pretty much set w/ the geometry of the parts. Unless something is bent, these will be what they will be. King-pin arrangements have shims that set the camber angles, but is a pain to assemble/disassemble the pieces to work the shims. Biggest effect for tracking is toe-in.

I believe that the correct toe-in is 1/16-1/32" per side front and rear. Dunno what that translates to in millimeters. Also, you should verify those numbers, just to be safe.

I use 1/32 to 1/16 inch split equaly from center line.....Consider a front end shop if major work has been done...

Don't pay more than $40 for just a toe-in/toe-out alignment since you can do that with a piece of string. On ball joint front suspensions there is a camber nut on the upper ball joint that can be adjusted too. (It's basically a stock piece with an offset drilled center hole that the ball joint fits into --- that you can trist to change camber). Additionally caster shims can be purchased (you'll often need longer bolts too!) if you have an adjustable front beam.

Kelly Wrote: "Camber and caster are pretty much set w/ the geometry of the parts."

No so, Kemo-Sabe.......As Leon mentioned, camber can be set on ball joint front ends with the eccentric adjuster right on the upper ball joint, while caster on the front end can be set on both link pin and ball joint front ends by adding shims between the torsion bar tubes and it's corresponding frame mount. The existing bolts are fine for one or two caster shims, but any more and you'll need longer bolts. You can buy caster shims, but you can easily make them from a short piece of standard 2" ID electrical conduit. Just make them 1" wide by 2" long and they'll fit fine. Loosen the torsion tube mounting bolts, slide the shim in between the tube and the mount and tighten the bolt back up.

Camber is set on Link Pin front ends by using a combination of mount shims to set the geometry to what you need to be in spec.

If your chosen alignment person tells you that the caster and camber are set by the geometry and can't be adjusted then it's time to find a better alignment shop. they simply don't understand what they're working with.

Same goes for the rear end. Caster can't be set on rear ends, but camber (especially on Swing Arm cars) and toe-in can be set simply by using shims.

The biggest problem you may encounter is finding an alignment person who is familiar with 35 year old chassis geometry and can work with it. For example, there is NO ONE within an hour of my home here in Beaufort whom I would trust to do this on my car. If the car is more than 15 years old the locals are lost. I'm still looking and may have to borrow the tools and do it myself.

Lane: Who did your recent alignment??

gn

There's a crusty old fellow named Sam who has an alignment shop in North Charleston. He does things the old-fashioned way, and all of the local street rodders use him. Carey has the replacement spring plate ready, so I'll be making another trip to Sam's before Carlisle.