I was wondering how difacult it was for a alignment shop to do the alignment on vettes ! I guess what im asking does it take someone who only works on vettes or can any shop do it ? I know from the past its hard enough finding a good alignment guy for moms grocery gogetter

 

Shop around, ALL shops can not, or may not be willing to do it. Check with the local club guys and get a recomendation. The 4 wheel alignment on a vette does require some special knowledge.

 

It has as much to do with the competency level of the individual doing the alignment as it does with the particular shop, i.e., as long as the shop has the correct equipment a competent technician should have no problem aligning your Vette. Do be advised beforehand that it is essential that ALL the moving components of your car's suspension be free of any looseness or play. That includes the balljoints, all 14 bushings, tie rod ends, pitman and idler arms, and half-shaft U-joints. Also, if any of the three springs are sacked out they should be replaced as it will be much more of an adventure to get a proper alignment if the static ride height is too low. Once you have verified and/or corrected all of that, you'll probably want to find a shop that has a known good reputation and when you talk to them you'll want to make sure that they'll be willing to do whatever work it takes to get the car correctly aligned, including making toe changes to the rear and caster/camber adjustments to the front. Also be aware that if your car needs those kinds of adjustments it will TAKE TIME and therefore COST MONEY. If all it needs is a simple toe change to the front or camber change to the rear then you might get away cheap but if much else is required you're likely gonna have to spend a few bucks.

 

Nothing magical about it, it's just a rather unusual design that a lot of shops haven't dealt with. A decent tech who will read the directions should have no problem.

 

Batman... where does one get a copy of those directions to give to the tech? I live in a small town and only have a couple of small shops to choose from. Although one of the mechanics has been doing alignments for over 20 years and "says" he can do my car (68). He does have a 73 nova and prefers to work on older cars.

shmoky

 

They told me bring it to the family owned shop in town been in business 100 years new state of art machine they can't screw it up guess what screwed it up couldn't turn right but about a turn and a half when I brought it back the guy told me what I needed to do?? I brought to a guy who worked on an Old A-Bear alignment machine. Perfect ! 40 bucks. Then the guy brought me into the pit and showed me what was going on. knowledge and experience is the ticket

 

I know what you mean i called the only shop in phone book that said C.C. Corvettes and talked to the owner ! I asked him if they do alignments and of course he said no we send them to goodyear they have the state of art machine so i kinda said what kind of work yall do then he tells me we work on turbos, gruondefects, mostly rice burners ! And then he tells me thats hes there till late every night reading up on how to work on vettes ! So im still in the same boat looking for a alignment guy ! What im going to do is go to the local corvette club informal meet this weekend and rub sum elbows !!!!!!

 

The biggest problem I see is setting the rear toe. Are the old shims factory original and rusted? Do you have new shims? I'm sure the average alignment shop doesn't have any in stock.

Ask about this before you drop your car off.

Before you drop your car off put a white paint stripe on all of the bolts that need to be moved to do an alignment. Then before you pay your bill check each bolt to see that it's actually been moved.

Too many shops set the front toe and charge for a 4-wheel alignment. Don't let this happen to you.

Also check your tire pressures before you drop the car off. The alignment tech is supposed to do this but most don't. Just do it yourself.

Richard Newton

How to Restore and Modify Your Corvette, 1968-1982

Wheel and Tire Performance Handbook

 

The shop manual has everything that the tech would need to know. Anyone with a modern computerized Hunter aligner or with the Hunter books should have enough tech information to get the job done, too. The rear is easy, once you figure out what's going on - the shims control the rear toe, the strut rods control camber (and toe, to a degree). Make sure your shims are removable and the T/A bushing will slide on the bolt before you go in, or you're going to end up with a very expensive repair job to take the T/As out and install new bushings.

Rear shim kits are available in stainless from all of the Corvette vendors. Only a Corvette specialty shop (or someone who works on a number of C2/C3 cars) will have them in stock.

 

Try a heavy truck shop. We have one here in town and the mechanics are all old school. They are used to working on whatever comes in the door. No computerized equipment, no lazers, just OLD stuff to work on OLD trucks (and some cars). A little spray paint on the treads, scribe a line or two, a couple of hand tools and they are off and running.

I pay a lot, I wait a long time, but I get the car done right.

-Mark.

 

In my experience some shops, depending on their different equipment, may not be able to do a proper 4 wheel alignment of your vette due to issues with the lower front end facia. Some will tell you that they can give you a 4 wheel alignment, but they don't do it or don't take the time to do it properly. Be careful. A good one should cost $$$ and take a few hours.