jack64

Thanks GTO Guy. Coming from your real world experience, the advice is credible

RatDog

Old school alignment shops that know what to do with older cars seem to be going the way of the dinosaurs.

The May issue of Car Craft Magazine that's just out has a hands-on feature article showing how to use the Tenhulzen Automotive wheel alignment tools available from Summit Racing.

Front wheel alignment only, though.

Steve

jack64

To the owner of the '64, formerly of Duxbury, Ma., sorry, lost your 'e' mail.

The values I took to the alignment shop were for radial tires, manual steer, and were garnered from the Forum.

Best of Luck

Panama 58

Jack64, that was me. No problem. As I mentioned in my PM to you, I am in the same situation you are and am looking for advice. I just put new radials on my '64 and am looking for accurate alignment settings for my car with Power Steering. I will be having them aligned soon an would appreciate some guidance that I can take into the shop doing the work. Thanks.

SWCDuke

Touring settings, radial tires:

Front camber, zero
Caster +1.5 to 2.5 deg. (higher setting preferred with PS, but may not be attainable)
Front toe, 1/32" per wheel, toe in (0.13 deg.)

Rear camber, -0.5 deg.
Rear toe , 1/32" per wheel, toe-in (0.13 deg.)

Sport settings, radial tires:

As above, but with up to -1.0 degree camber, all four wheels and install urethane front anti-roll bar link bushings.

All cross readings should be as close to zero as possible.

For bias ply tires, set toe at 1/16" toe-in per wheel, all four wheels (0.26 deg.)

Duke

Panama 58

Thank you. Touring only.

jack64

Alignment update
Have been back to dealer. They tried for three hours, unsuccessfully, yesterday to achieve front alignment parameters for each side of:

Caster 1.5
Camber 0
Toe 0.21

Left side is fine, but each time they change the right side Camber it throws the Caster out of whack.
I finally gave up due to the threat of rain, and agreed to go back next week.
By way of example, a Camber of 0.3 produced a Caster of -0.4 (right side)
Toe is not a problem

GTOGuy or others, any thoughts or recommendations I might pass along to the shop?

Thank You

SWCDuke

Something may be amiss on the RH side, and I would suspect a bent frame or control arm. Achieving what you got on the LH side should not be a problem unless something is tweaked out of factory spec. Assuming you now have +0.3 deg. camber and -0.4 deg. caster on the RH side, the upper control arm ball joint center needs to move to the rear and inboard.

So you should see a lot more shims on the forward stud than on the rea stud, and to get the alignment equal as close as possible to the LH side you will probably see lots of shims on the front stud and maybe even NONE on the rear stud.

An interesting feature of the C-2/3 alignment adjustment is that if you move just one shim from the forward to rear stud or vice versa it will change caster with little effect on camber. Way back when my SWC started exhibiting a pull to the right. Swapping the front tires side to side had no effect, which eliminated them as suspects. To correct the slight pull I needed a bit more caster on the RH side (or a bit less on the LH side), so I moved one 1/16" shim from the rear to front stud on the RH side. This rotates the upper control are slightly clockwise, viewed from the top, which moved the upper balljoint slightly to the rear and the pull disappeared. That slight change made it track dead straight on a minimally cambered road.

Snap a photo of the current shim stack on both sides and post it.

Duke

jack64

Well, taking a third bite at the apple-
Appointment Tuesday AM to try, once again, to align the front end. In particular, Camber & Caster right side.

With respect to possible damage to the car, that is a non starter.
Have owned for 49 years
Has never been hit
Just completed a frame off restoration, with new upper and lower control arms, ties rod.
Frame is straight/undamaged

Any thoughts or suggestions I can pass along to the shop would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

tbarb

Can you describe what new upper and lower control arms means, GM parts?

jack64

tbarb,
Means a set of upper and lower control arms, both left and right.
Pats made in U.S.A.. Purchased from Zip Corvette.