I have noticed that it is becoming more and more difficult to find shops that know how to Align these older cars. The alternative is to DIY.
The problem is that most people don't know how to properly do it - including me. People will say "just do a search here on the forum"- but in my searching I have found that people do it differently - some with special devices, some with string. Its confusing to me.

If someone will write up an Alignment procedure for Dummies- from start to finish, in easy to follow terms, with pictures, I would be willing to pay this person for their time and effort.

 

I wholeheartedly agree................

mk's 78

Mike

 

For camber I tape 2 sockets to a level. Sockets are spaced so they rest at the lip of the wheel rim. Sockets are used to space the level away from the tire.

 

I'll throw in a few bucks if need be. Let me add that it would be good to see a procedure from scratch. I have a completely redone front end, No shims at all.

 

If you want to find a shop with the expertise to do the alignment, try checking with your local frame repair companies. Auto shops are in the volume business and generally don't have the level of expertise or time to do a C3 alignment.

 

Call your Chevy garage. Some of them do alignments.

 

I just switched over from power steering to manual and replaced the front tie rods, so I needed to reset toe for the front. This is what I did.

1) Loosened the tie rods sleeve clamps

2) Used some cheap ceramic tiles, and spread grease (lots of grease) between the smooth sides to make a sandwich, and put them under the front wheels. This allows for the adjustments to be made with full weight on the front suspension.

3) Tied a piece of string between 2 jack stands - made the string long enough to reach in front of the front tire, and behind the rear tire.

4) I have a 72, the front is .7" narrower than the rear. I placed the jack stands so that in the rear that string was 2" from the center hub, and the front was 2-11/32" from the hub. This will make the string parallel to the centerline of the car.

5) Reached under and turned the adjuster sleeve until the front portion of the tire measured 1/16" longer than the rear portion.

6) Carefully tightened the clamps, making sure that they didn't turn while I was tightening them.


The car is driving VERY nice, and I'm loving the feel of the manual steering.

 

I have done a bit of home alignment as well.

Built up this tool to help with toe adjustment



Have a look in my thread I cover aligning my rear as well.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ourney-36.html

This and next page as well

Drives better than ever before and an alignment check shows it was very close using this method.

Shops have to charge a lot to do a full rear alignment due to time but my local shop checks it and advises me how many shims to move between sides and then i do the work at home and take it back and check again.

 

Try this for the rear:


http://www.ncrsmac.org/garage/AlignmentSchool.pdf

When i do the rear camber, I just put a level on the wheel, top to bottom. You can cut a straight piece of wood and attach it to the level giving you a perfect fit to the wheel rim. I just made the wheel perfectly horizontal and never had a problem with irregular tire wear.

 

I appreciate all of the advice so far but some of these replies are just partial tidbits - a lot of which I have seen already. I don't want to take it somewhere because frankly, I don't trust others to work on my car. If I have something to work with then I am in control of the outcome. I don't care how long it takes to complete the job if I know its done right.

So, Is there anyone willing to write up a complete Alignment procedure to do the front and the rear - with pictures - for dummies?
I'm willing to pay

 

I posted a similar thread a few months back. Despite the vast knowledge on this board (and my own substantial experience) I found that responses ranged from A) way to simple to be precise, to B) Way to mathematically complicated and involved too much home fabrication. (for my own use....other may be more apt than I...but Ive been wrenching on these cars for about 20 years)

I dont trust anyone else to work on my car, but tires and alignment are the one thing I HAVE to farm out. I suggest that you get some specs from guys here and take it to a local shop that has some experience with older cars. Even here in the washed up town of Syracuse I found a place. My guy set the car to factory specs and Im still not happy with it, but he spent damn near 4 hours getting all my new parts aligned. (I had replaced everything suspension related) Next season Ill take it to him to fine tune it.

 

See post #13
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...n-opinion.html

How much money are you willing to spend on equipment / measuring tools. Camber / Caster gauges are required to do easily and accurate with no fuss. Other DIY Camber / Caster method's require math calculation's etc. It can be done.
My equipment list:
camber / caster guage : ~ $300.00
laser level : $30.00
48" pastic levels : $24.00
72" alum bars: $50
laser level bars: $12
bungi cords: ???

I spent about 2 years starting with strings, to what I do now.
After my alignment testing I would take the car to a GM Dealer and have them only take measurements to compare results. I am very happy with the results. I have also compared my results on my 2010 GS Corvette to the GM Dealership. I have not done any complete procedures but I would be willing to help you out.

post #19 shows my results vs the Alignment shop.

 

Send an email to Lars and ask him for his alignment paper.

V8fastcars@msn.com

 

 

Southwestspeed.com sells a nice toe guage part #lon79620. I think for $110. Longacre digital camber caster guage $180. Equal to the price of 3 wrong alignments. T

 

The forum has very detailed write ups on how to Rebuild a RearEnd with pictures. Detailed engine rebuild steps and Carb R+R writeups with pics.
I'm surprised that we don't have (and can't get) an Alignment for Dummies. Oh well - I tried

 

Without the proper tools you cannot do an alignment. When I was younger GM trained me in alignment and have done a lot of alignments over the years. The rear aligmment on our vettes due to the toe setting must be correctly set as with the front otherwise the rear wheels might be pointed one way and the front going the other. Also every time you change the camber that affects the toe setting. Caster can be changed in the front without affecting the camber or toe setting by moving a shim from the front to rear or rear to front. Camber is changed by adding or removing shims. Front toe is set by adjusting the tie rod sleeves, but like I stated without being able to read all 4 wheels at once you don't have a clue where you're at or where you're steer wheel will end up. Rear camber is changed by the cams and the rear toe by the shims at the front of the trailing arms. You are so right about having shops do the alignment and not getting it right. What I've done is have a shop do the first align and then do my own tweaking to get rid of the pulling. Make sure they give you the computer readout sheet of before and after specs. Depending on your use of the car there are different alignment specs you can have your car setup for {Van Steel, VP&B}. They are good alignment shops out there find one you can work with.

 

There are videos on You Tube.