Taking the 93 in for an alignment Thurs/Fri.
I am going to do Vette Vrakes advanced street settings as I dont care for the tires, but I like to drive the curvy roads here in Hawaii.
But, I have heard of disconnecting sway bar? Put weight in the car? etc etc to get a real good alignment.

 

check the autocrossing area...

I have never heard of removing sway bars... is this for the alignment only? Adding weight does make sense... preload the suspension.

 

Cool, going to the autocrossing section.

 

Disconnecting, and preferably removing, the front sway bar is useful for drag racing. While it wouldn't affect your alignment, it would be counterproductive for driving the twisties.

RACE ON!!!

 

When I was referring to removing/dsconnecting the bar it was for the alignment. I had heard it affected something during the alignment process.
I know better than to go to the twistys without a sway bar connected

 

I can't imagine how the alignment settings or the setting of then could be affected by whether the sway bar was connected ir not.

RACE ON!!!

 

I couldnt either, but thats why I posted it hear because I thought I had read it somewhere on the forum here. Remember there is no stupid question, just the one not asked (well most of the time)

 

I have been using Vette Brakes advanced street settings on mine and have no unusual wear. I am going to use the autocross settings next. You may want to just skip the advanced street setting and goto the autocross.

 

Wont the autocrossing alignment cause undo darting on bad roads? I have 275'd up front and 315's in the rear, and wonder if this will cause it to dart more as these wider tires tend to follow everything irregular in the road.

 

What are the advanced street settings? I'll need to get my car re-aligned after I put my bushing kit in.

 

Here's their specs:

http://www.vbandp.com/instructions/h...ruct/align.htm

There is no darting on mine with the advanced street.

 

Did you notice a change from "factory" to advanced street?

 

[QUOTE=steve40th
But, I have heard of disconnecting sway bar? Put weight in the car? etc etc to get a real good alignment.[/QUOTE]

sway bars are disconnected when setting ''corner weights'' for racing, as the action of the ANTI-ROLL BARS adds a variable that only makes fine tuning more time consuming.
add weight to the car as req'd to simulate the exact conditions of use, i.e. sandbags to equal the drivers weight (or handcuff the actual driver in his seat while the alignment is performed)--simply leaving the drivers door open while setting alignment will affect the set-up due to the leveraged outboard weight of the open door vs its ''driving'' condition, if the alignment tech is proficient

 

One tip that I learned was to see if the guy doing the work will let you go under the car while he is doing the adjustments. I asked the last time I did my 89 and learned what to do so I can make minor changes myself in future.
I made note of the amount and thicknesses of the shims(on the front) and how they would change the settings.
I also cleaned the faces of the adjustment "cams" on the rear and added degree marks and an opposing reference mark so I could visibly see the settings. Works great.

 

The place I am going to is very customer oriented and has lots of experience in Vettes and lowered cars. They are more than happy to use "your" alignment settings you bring in. Maybe they will let me put some weight in the car. I know it wont make much of a difference in reality, but you never know. I will be doing a little autocrossing.

 

My car was way off when I got it, so I can't speak of a difference from stock to advanced street. I am looking for more from the car so will be trying the next step up.

 

Here's the alignment I did a few weeks ago before our club's local autocross:

Camber: -1.0 deg all four
Toe: 0 front, 1/4" total toe-in rear (1/8" toe-in each side)
Caster: 6.5 deg positive

I originally wanted -1.5 camber on the front and -1.0 on the back, but with all the shims out in the front, -1.0 was all they could get on the worst side. "Worst side" will be the left; the right is able to achieve slightly more camber, so I just had them match it to the max on the left.

0 toe on the front was a compromise. Stock specs call for slight toe-in to aid in straightline stability; autocrossers add toe out to make turn in sharper at the expense of very "darty" handling on the street. Toe out will also wear your tires quickly.

More rear toe in was added because the car had a tendency to try to oversteer on rebound in a tight corner. Adding 1/8" toe-in to each side in the back eliminated this problem and now the car is very easy to throttle steer and catch if the tail comes out.

Caster is basically whatever it comes out to be. Not a whole lot of adjustment, just make sure the two sides are even or the car will pull to one side.


My car went from being very vague in corners and somewhat scary with the unpredictable oversteer, to now feeling like it is on rails. Very easy to drive now.

If I were you I'd just have them take out all the shims in the front, figure out which side has the least amount of camber (it will be the left), and match to that side. Stick with around -1.0 camber or less in the rear or you'll lose straight line bite. Make sure the rear is toe'd IN or you'll have scary oversteer.

Good luck!

 

Weight in the car is good, but another thing people forget about is the amount of gas in the tank. If you're going to be really **** about it, then try to have the alignment done with the amount of gas you think you will autocross with. A gallon of gas is roughly 6 pounds. Adding or removing that weight to the rear of the car will change the alignment.

Just something else to consider.