DIY alignment thoughts
#21
Drifting
I'm tending to agree now. Didn't know that kit existed until today. The Hardbar studs are $90! I can make stainless studs from the local hardware store for under $15 I bet. Gonna have to look into that idea...
I'm thinking buy SS bolts, cut the heads off, install with red loctite and you're about the same as the Hardbar setup. Am I way off?
I'm thinking buy SS bolts, cut the heads off, install with red loctite and you're about the same as the Hardbar setup. Am I way off?
#22
Melting Slicks
Member Since: Oct 2007
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St. Jude Donor '10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16-'17-'18-'19-'20-'21-'22-'23-'24
How about grade 8 set screws? (not sure what size is needed?) Might be a safer option than hardware store threaded rod. There are all sorts of matls and grades of threaded rod, from junk to really good.
#23
Track Junky
Thread Starter
If I were to make my own, it would most likely be Zinc plated grade 8 bolts with the head cut off and threads cleaned up. I'm having a hard time justifying $90 for the same thing. I like the U shaped washer / fender washer idea for ease of adjustment. I will look into the set screw idea, but think it will be tough finding one long enough.
Thanks for all the responsed and ideas.
Sean
Thanks for all the responsed and ideas.
Sean
#24
Track Junky
Thread Starter
68sixspeed, where are you from? I grew up in Groton... Small world.
#25
Melting Slicks
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St. Jude Donor '10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16-'17-'18-'19-'20-'21-'22-'23-'24
looks like Mcmaster has M12 set screws in stainless, or alloy steel (my preference on hardware) up to M20. Although I might actually go with Fastenall or MSC supply to make sure I get Holokrome or a US made screw for sure.
taken19- I'm up in Torrington, kind of cold but at least Lime Rock is a very short drive!
taken19- I'm up in Torrington, kind of cold but at least Lime Rock is a very short drive!
#26
Track Junky
Thread Starter
looks like Mcmaster has M12 set screws in stainless, or alloy steel (my preference on hardware) up to M20. Although I might actually go with Fastenall or MSC supply to make sure I get Holokrome or a US made screw for sure.
taken19- I'm up in Torrington, kind of cold but at least Lime Rock is a very short drive!
taken19- I'm up in Torrington, kind of cold but at least Lime Rock is a very short drive!
#27
How is caster adjusted on the C6?
#28
Track Junky
Thread Starter
I thought it wasn't adjustable on a C6 but I could be wrong. Caster is a black box for me, most likely because you can't "see" the adjustment while looking at the car. Never paid much attention to it since most cars do not need faster adjustment.
Anyone care to give a cliffnote version?
Anyone care to give a cliffnote version?
#29
Melting Slicks
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St. Jude Donor '10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16-'17-'18-'19-'20-'21-'22-'23-'24
Easy way to understand caster- think of an old straight axel front suspension or what is under the front of a semi-truck-- kingpin angle when looked at from the side. Or in independant suspensions the angle off vertical of the line drawn between the upper and lower ball joints when looked at from the side. Usually adjusted by unequal shim stacks on the upper a-arm, or using the eccentrics on the lowers.
#30
Race Director
Here's an old thread about it:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/auto...he-caster.html
If I were racing and trying to work my way up to better rides, more podium finishes, more big bucks sponsors, etc., then I'd worry about it.
I'm doing HPDE track day events - no competition, no prize money, no sponsors giving me lots of money.
So.....I'm not worried about doing race car setups on my car - mine is a street driven car that I take to the track for fun.
All I'm interested in is a safe car that gives me good control and feedback.
I quit using Hoosiers because I'm just out there to have fun in my street car. I do all my own prep and just got tired of changing suspension settings so often.
I do check and adjust the alignment a couple times during the HPDE season, but caster is not something I'm concerned about - I just run what ever it was built with.
Bob
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/auto...he-caster.html
If I were racing and trying to work my way up to better rides, more podium finishes, more big bucks sponsors, etc., then I'd worry about it.
I'm doing HPDE track day events - no competition, no prize money, no sponsors giving me lots of money.
So.....I'm not worried about doing race car setups on my car - mine is a street driven car that I take to the track for fun.
All I'm interested in is a safe car that gives me good control and feedback.
I quit using Hoosiers because I'm just out there to have fun in my street car. I do all my own prep and just got tired of changing suspension settings so often.
I do check and adjust the alignment a couple times during the HPDE season, but caster is not something I'm concerned about - I just run what ever it was built with.
Bob
#31
Track Junky
Thread Starter
Easy way to understand caster- think of an old straight axel front suspension or what is under the front of a semi-truck-- kingpin angle when looked at from the side. Or in independant suspensions the angle off vertical of the line drawn between the upper and lower ball joints when looked at from the side. Usually adjusted by unequal shim stacks on the upper a-arm, or using the eccentrics on the lowers.
#32
Drifting
I don't change caster from street to race settings and typically remove the same number of u-shims from all four studs on each side on the front to change camber. Toe adjustment is then pretty consistent going between settings. Every 3-6 months I'll check rear thrust angle as it gets off slightly each time you change camber just as the steering wheel will move.
#33
Tech Contributor
Member Since: Oct 1999
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I purchased a set of studs/nuts online although haven't installed them yet. All you need to know is size/thread pitch and length of the stud and where you want the non-threaded section. The shims can be purchased on line as well.
Bill
Bill
#34
Track Junky
Thread Starter
Measured the garage this afternoon - pretty good side to side. Fronts are equal, rears within 1/4" or each other. Front to back is about 1-3/4" low. One question...
I know that perfectly level is ideal, but is front to rear leveling absolutely necessary? I understand that it will affect corner balancing slightly, but I don't think it will have much of an effect at all. I would prefer not to level front to rear because i would either have to make a pretty elaborate setup to drive onto or jack up the car (unloading the suspension in the process).
Thoughts from the experts? Without running the math, I bet the 1-3/4" height difference would make less than 20 lbs difference front to rear in corner weight. If I compensate with half of a fuel tank or counterweight in the front I think I'll Still be pretty close with suspension loading.
Sean
I know that perfectly level is ideal, but is front to rear leveling absolutely necessary? I understand that it will affect corner balancing slightly, but I don't think it will have much of an effect at all. I would prefer not to level front to rear because i would either have to make a pretty elaborate setup to drive onto or jack up the car (unloading the suspension in the process).
Thoughts from the experts? Without running the math, I bet the 1-3/4" height difference would make less than 20 lbs difference front to rear in corner weight. If I compensate with half of a fuel tank or counterweight in the front I think I'll Still be pretty close with suspension loading.
Sean
#35
Tech Contributor
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I don't bother with front to rear level differences although my garage floor is fairly level about an 1/8 of an inch difference across the car width and a little more from front to rear. Watch for dips and swales in the concrete that can vary from 1/16 to an 1/8 in deep. I parked the car in the garage where I thought it would be the closest to level, marked the spots where the tires touched the floor, backed the car out and used a 6 ft carpenter's level set on two small 3/8 drive sockets to see how many asphalt floor tiles needed to be used to bring the low side up to the height of the high side. I used one tile on the high side to set the baseline and it took 3 tiles to bring the low side up to the same level. Then I spray painted a line around the outside of each set of tiles to mark where I had to put the car when doing an alignment.
Biggest issue with doing your own alignment is raising and lowering the car. Everytime I made an adjustment I would jack the car up, change a cam or remove a wheel to change the shims and then lower the car followed by driving it around the block to settle the suspension, then remeasuring and so on until I had it set. It usually took me about 3 hours of which most of the time spent was raising/lowering/parking/driving around the block.
Bill
Biggest issue with doing your own alignment is raising and lowering the car. Everytime I made an adjustment I would jack the car up, change a cam or remove a wheel to change the shims and then lower the car followed by driving it around the block to settle the suspension, then remeasuring and so on until I had it set. It usually took me about 3 hours of which most of the time spent was raising/lowering/parking/driving around the block.
Bill
#36
Race Director
By front I mean the entire front wheel upper A-arm, and by rear I mean rear suspension. The C6 Z06 has the same dogbone mounts for both the front wheel and the rear wheel upper arms.
I've never even measured caster, but I guess I should - it's easy enough using David's method of turning the steering wheel 1/2 turn right of center and 1/2 turn left of center and measuring camber change and multiplying by 2.62 to get caster.
Even though I don't care, I probably should know what I'm dealing with - and then I'll probably feel some need to square up the car, corner weight it, go back to Hoosiers, start measuring tread temps, etc., etc., etc.!!!!
Geez - one thing always leads to another!!!!
Bob
#37
Drifting
I always remove/replace an equal amount of washers - 3 from each bolt up front, and 2 from each one in the rear.
By front I mean the entire front wheel upper A-arm, and by rear I mean rear suspension. The C6 Z06 has the same dogbone mounts for both the front wheel and the rear wheel upper arms.
By front I mean the entire front wheel upper A-arm, and by rear I mean rear suspension. The C6 Z06 has the same dogbone mounts for both the front wheel and the rear wheel upper arms.
#38
Burning Brakes
I drive my car to track events, and I got tired of adjusting alignment in the motel parking lot when I got to an event, so now I just set up an aggressive street alignment and run street tires at track events. If I were trailering the car, I'd just set it up for the track and leave it alone - well, check it every once in a while, but I never found if changing.
I did what he said above. My Z06 I ran with street tires and drove to track, so I had an aggressive alignment that turned out not to wear the tires too badly. My C4 track car with track tires was trailered, so it was pretty radical, but even when I returned it to street use, tire wear wasn't bad.
I never had the ***** to do all of the setup myself - I'd just take the car to my tire shop and give them the specs. Although I did tweak toe a bit, just by feel (we don't need no stinkin' string!).
#39
Track Junky
Thread Starter
I had every intention on bringing it to an reputable alignment shop but after ciphering on the total cost involved ($140 to setup for track, another $140 to return to street specs), I couldn't justify NOT trying it myself. Whats the worst than can happen? I mess up, can't figure out how to fix it, and take it to a pro anyway? I'm only $60 in tools (digital level, aluminum square tubing, floor tiles) and I will most certainly learn something along the way even if I can't get what I want.
I'm a firm believer in buying the tools to do the job yourself rather than pay somebody even more money...
I'm a firm believer in buying the tools to do the job yourself rather than pay somebody even more money...
#40
Le Mans Master
That is a great plan.
I have been doing that since my first car 40 years ago. I took it to a dealer for service and later that day I was with a friend across town and saw my car running parts for the dealer at a parts store. ( I took it back from the parts store and then went to the dealer in my friend's car to ask if my car was done.)
Buying the tools has been a great way of learning about the cars, getting the jobs done right, and saving a lot of money too.