Tell me what you guys think about this...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Caste...item335f1e45fb

Has anyone ever used it? What do you think?

Or should I just buy a decent angle finder and call it good?


I just licensed my 69, and after having both the front and rear suspension completely apart, it certainly needs to be lined up. Amazingly, the car does go very straight down the road, and is not twitchy! Just used a tape and string with a friend of mine to get it close.


Thanks, Joe

 

Interesting, looks to be a cheap version of the Longacres stuff.

http://www.longacreracing.com/catalo...st.asp?catid=5

 

Looks like a digital level http://cgi.ebay.com/Digital-Protract...item4cf08bc253 , some square stock and two tape measures.

The directions are basic and don't cover thrust angle for the rear and does not cover caster. That tool would do caster if you knew how, but the trust angle could be off after you do the rear wheel toe without an accurate center line.

If you got it going straight with a tape and string then you know the concept. Get a good digital level, two 10 foot straight edges and some aluminum square stock and make the equipment yourself.

If you needs help, PM me and I will explain how to use straight edges to determine thrust angle and toe. The dig. level will give you caster/camber.

Many people think its crazy to align your vette with basic tools and insist that lasers and mirrors are needed. Just remember that the C-3 suspension was designed and set up by mechanics in 1963. They would fell that they were king of alignments if they had a digital level to use.

 

I gave up on having alignments done at shops a long time ago. It takes me the better part of an afternoon to do an alignment, but they turn out right. I have a longacre gauge for camber. Strings for toe and thrust angle. Caster is not a big deal to me. I dial in pretty much as much as it can take and only adjust side-to-side in case the car pulls.

My longacre will do caster if I get a set of turn plates, but so far I haven't felt the need.

This is the gauge I use:

 

This is a copy and past from a camaro site. Hope it helps.

I don't go to shops anymore. I can do just as accurate of an alignment (and I will take far more time to dial in target specs than a shop) at home.

Tools required:
*4 jack stands
*neon colored, heavy gage fishing line
*24" digital level with 0.1 degree resolution
*plastic machined bushings from the hardware drawers at Lowe's home center
*8 plain lineleum tiles, the kind they use for floors in public buildings
*wheel bearing grease
*ruler w/ millimeter resolution
*foot long 2x4
*sharpened 12D nail

Drive the 12D nail through the foot long 2X4 and bend it at a 45 degree angle. Jack each wheel of the car up one at a time, just about a half inch off the ground. Use your home made tire scribe, held stationary, to push lightly up against the tire somewhere prefereably on a smooth section of tread. Scribe a clear line around the circumference by turning the tire against the tip of the scribe.

Do this for all 4 tires. You now have taken any runout in the wheels, hubs, or tires out of play for the accuracy of your alignment.

Spread grease between each pair of linoleum tiles. You now have near zero reistance float plates so you can adjust camber and toe w/ the weight of the car on the wheels, and get accurate results at ride height.

Measure your wheelbase and track and figure out where each float plate will be placed on your garage floor. Mark the floor at these locations. Using your digital level, take a reading on the level of the floor in the direction that will be perpendicular to the wheel face. Record these readings, I write right on the floor.

Now bring the car up to where you marked off for each of the 4 wheel locations. Jack each corner of the car up and drop each tire down in the middle of each home made float plate (each float plate will be sitting at the marked location where you know the level of the floor perpendicular to the wheel).

Camber can be read using plastic bushings of the exact same length, as stand-offs from the level to touch on the wheel face at the edge, one at the top one at the bottom of the wheel face (12 and 6 o clock positions). The bushings need to be long enough so that the level stands clear of the tire bulge. The plastic bushings that home stores have in the specialty hardware drawers in the hardware aisle, are usually manufactured to extremely exacting lengths. These are what I use for stand offs, get a few different sizes so you can pick ones that are long enough.

Camber can be measured by factoring how far from 90 degrees your wheel is standing, and in what direction +/-, and then factor in the slope and direction of the slope of the floor to get true camber readings.

Caster can be measured by marking off 20 deg sweep left and right of straight ahead in front of each wheel location (you can use the corner of each linoleum tile, when the wheels are straight ahead, to make a ZERO mark and then you will have to do some math and mark off 20 deg sweep in either direction. Sweep the wheel to the 20 deg. to the right mark, measure camber, then sweep the wheel past zero to the 20 deg. to the left mark, and then

Caster = 180/ pi* (T2-T1)* Camber change

Camber change is the difference between the camber you measured at +20 deg and -20 deg. T1 and T2 are your predetermined angles. In my case T2-T1 will equal 40 degrees.

To set toe after you have set camber and caster, tie fishing line between two pairs of jack stands, long enough that each strung pair of jackstands can be a few feet past the nose and tail of the car. You need to set the string running the length of the car on each side to be parallel to the vehicle's actual centerline, and square around the vehicle. I reference off of machined hub centers or machined center faces around the hub of an alloy wheel if possible. Make the strings the same distance from your refernece hub or wheel center on the same axle (won't be the same on all 4 wheels due to track width) then with a helper adjust your strings until they are the same distance apart from each other in front and behind the car, making sure each string is the same distance from the hub or wheel center on that axle.

Toe each wheel off the reference string then. You can perform an extremely accurate 4 wheel alignment this way.

Piece of cake.

 

That gauge from Longacre looks good, and since Longacre is only two blocks from my house I think I'll check them out.

 

I use the Fasttrax alignment tool with the toe adaptors. Does caster, camber and toe. Only thing needed is a string ran down the center of the car for toe measurments.