I just got back my 72 and have not driven it yet,working on some steering boxes in my free time!
I was told it drive straight but alignment is one thing I always farmed out and wanted your experienced opinion on these settings and what to lok/feel for.
Thanks guys,
Gary



Left Front Right Front
camber -.1 camber .3
Caster 2.8 caster 2.9
Toe .13 Toe .13

Rear

Left camber -.1 Right camber -.1
Toe .11 Toe .13

 

It's perfect.

the reason for the diff. between left and right camber settings is to compensate for the crown in the road (roads are not flat so that water can run off them)

The settings are very close to what I use.

 

Are the roads here in San Diego crowned? They seem pretty flat where I live, but I've never gone out there and measured or anything.

I'd imagine in CT they'd definitely be crowned, though.

 

Gary,
I've answered a question like this before and got shot down but for you I will reply again.
Camber is hi and caster is low on the right front wheel. Add an 1/8 in. shim to the rear bolt on the right upper control arm. This will add more caster and drop the camber a little and then reset toe in. Paul is correct. You are having to compensate for road crown. .1 degree seperation here in Texas is a garanteed right pull. I like to see approx. .25 additional on the right for each 1 degree on the left. In your case 3.3 - 3.5 would be good. Or,
Camber is a little low on the left wheel. You could remove 1/8 shim from the rear bolt on the left upper arm and reset toe. It will bring the camber up to aprrox. 0 and lower the caster to 2.3 - 2.5. and you will have difference needed. You might not have any shims left on the rear bolt of the upper arm due to worn bushings, frame sag, etc. in which case you will have do the right side. Your alignment is well within specs but now you are trying to compensate for a drift.
Your rear specs are good but going by thrust angle your wheels are slightly turned left. If everything else was perfect it would turn the car to the right after some distance. You only option is to remove a 1/16 shim from the inside of the left trailing arm and put it on the outside. Then take a 1/16 shim from the outside of the right trailing arm and put it on the inside. This won't change camber or toe setting. You're just turning both rear wheels slightly to the right. A 1/32 shim will be better but they don't make them. I'm sure you could make some.
Mike

 

Thanks guys,

Mike why were you shot down before?, I know you know your stuff. I certainly appreciate all the help from you and all the others. I'll print this out too for my records.

Like I said, I have not driven the car yet. I sent my son over there and that was the first 20 miles on the car. I've been working on this car in between other jobs and forum members cars so it's been about 7 years since I drove it. We have all kinds of roads here, all the major highways are heavily travelled and crowns are certainly part of them.

I know this guy spent 2.5 hours working on it and he just did my son's 75 a few weeks ago. That car tracks fine and it was just driven at the track a few passes.

If this was a big problem would it tend to drift or have a poor feel through the steering wheel? I have to lower the rear body height as the new spring, as most new springs, sits the rear too high.

Here is a side view

 

It looks pretty good to me. If you had an alignment problem, you'd notice a pull or wander or odd tire wear or something of the sort.

 

Hi gary,
Someone over in C2 posted the same question. I basically told him the same thng. I was told, by one of the respected members there, that staggering the caster was incorrect and that road crown would not cause a drift. Even though that is the proper adjustment by every auto manufacturer since IFS was invented. I just let it go, no sense causing friction.
It sounds like it is just a small alignment problem. If it was a power steering problem the steering wheel will continue to turn until locked. An incorrect thrust angle on the rear wheels, yours is slightly off, will cause a consistant turn. Yours being only .01 off to the left would barely be noticable. If the drift becomes worse on high crown roads and less on flat roads then figure caster. Camber will also cause a drift but it would have to be way out of spec. For street driving I would like to see your camber closer to 0 on both sides and make the changes on the caster.
The rear is just a little high. Lowering the rear will raise the caster on the front but evenly on both sides. Not more than .2 degree.
It was good talking to you Friday.
Mike

On a bad note a mechanic can easily trick the align machine to show good numbers on the final printout if he needs to "fudge" the actual settings. Gary, I'm not saying this happened to you but it can be done. For everyone else getting their vette lined up by someone they don't know or trust don't leave it and pick it up later. When they go to print the final spec sheet make sure no one is near or touching the car. Exspecially the guy doing the aligment. Always go on the final test drive before he turns in the ticket. Be satisfied before you pay the bill. If you do trust the guy doing the work then he should take care of you if there is a problem.

 

Thanks Mike,
I will drive the car to see how it feels before changing anything. This is the 2nd vette I sent there and the 1st one tracks fine.

It was also nice speaking with you last week. The forum gathers people from all over so it's nice to talk to one another at times too.

Take care of the back,believe me I know exactly how you feel.

Gary

 

I just lined my 79 up on our new Hunter at work. They are not fun. As far as your specs go tracdogg2 is on the money. I would like to see the camber even. The hard part on a vette is the rear toe. I was lucky and my trailing arm bolts were free. I was very hard to get the rear toe close. I also had a bent rt rear trailing arm which I had to pull and put in the press to straighten. Just see how it drives. If you have a problem any reputable shop will have no problem fixing an alignment issue after they aligned it.

 

Thanks Windsor.
Mike