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Finished my alignment today. It came out pretty good. I Used my lasers, digital levels and the compass on my iPhone to dial it all in. The rear was pretty straight forward. It was easy getting the thrust angle, camber and toe dialed in. I have smart struts with heim ends, makes adjustment a breeze.
The front was a little more work going from one side of the car to the other and then under the car and also under the hood. I didn't get as much caster as I wanted. I was hoping to get 6 degrees, but only ended up with 5 degrees. I set the front camber at negative .25 degrees as well as the rear. If I would kick the camber a little more negative I could get a little more caster. I wish I had spread my shock towers a little while I had it down to the bare frame. They were only sagged in about 1/6" total both sides, so I didn't do it. My VB&P tubular a-arms with offset crossbars helped get the 5 degrees, but I don't think you get as much caster added with them as they claimed. These are the a-arms I beefed up with some triangulation using moly tubing.
I am just going to be driving on the street for now, so I was fairly conservative with my alignment specs.
Front
Toe 1/16" in.
Camber .25 degrees negative.
Caster 5 degrees positive.
Rear
Toe 3/16" In.
Camber .25 degrees negative.
Thrust angle dead on straight with front.
Mike
Last edited by v2racing; Aug 19, 2018 at 12:55 AM.
I (and possibly others) would be interested in hearing more about the accuracy and how you used it. Thanks!
The iPhone compass is not know to be too accurate on pointing to north. I had some trouble trying to put the phone up against the wheel to clock how many degrees I turned it. There is so much iron and steel in close proximity to it, it would just start to act really odd and changing direction while it was sitting still. This was my new iPhone 7, my old iPhone 5C seemed quite a bit more stable, but still had problems at the wheel area. What I ended up doing was putting the phone on the floor where it settled down and and using a magic marker scribed a line for straight ahead and then twenty degrees each direction. The car is on dollies, so off the floor enough to not affect the compass. I used my laser to get each wheel pointing straight ahead and then full left and right to get the axis for where my lines should cross. Funny thing is, my Steeroids has almost exactly 40 degrees lock to lock, so after discovering this, all I had to do was go lock one way and then the other way to lock to check caster.
Mike
Last edited by v2racing; Aug 20, 2018 at 03:25 AM.
The iPhone compass is not know to be too accurate on pointing to north. I had some trouble trying to put the phone up against the wheel to clock how many degree I turned it. There is so much iron and steel in close proximity to it, it would just start to act really odd and changing direction while it was sitting still. This was my new iPhone 7, my old iPhone 5C seemed quite a bit more stable, but still had problems at the wheel area. What I ended up doing was putting the phone on the floor where it settled down and and using a magic marker scribed a line for straight ahead and then twenty degrees each direction. The car is on dollies, so off the floor enough to not affect the compass. I used my laser to get each wheel pointing straight ahead and then full left and right to get the axis for where my lines should cross. Funny thing is, my Steeroids has almost exactly 40 degrees lock to lock, so after discovering this, all I had to do was go lock one way to lock and the other way to lock to check caster.
Mike
Cool, thanks - every alignment I read about here is just so creative
Cool, thanks - every alignment I read about here is just so creative
Cliff/Ignatz
You work with what you have! Using these inexpensive modern conveniences shure makes doing alignments easier and more accurate at home.
I should make note that I ran a little more toe in on the front just to add a little more stability on the less than perfect roads around here. I put more toe in on the rear because the axles are close to level. I figured on hard cornering the outer wheel would go toe out as the weight shifts and the axle goes up past level. I'll have to watch tire temps and wear to decide if this was a good idea.
Finished my Alignment today!
