Alignment excuse !!??

Made several calls for alignment. Told them i have 72 comet/maverick and got these excuse.

Place 1 said all his guys is young. (National chain)

Place 2 said our machine does not go back that far. I inquired about pluging numbers into computer. Guy said cannot input numbers.

Are these folks lazy or is an alignment on these old cars that difficult?

 

IMHO, it’s laziness & stupidity.

 

They would have to know what they're doing to align it and they have no idea. Only what the puter tells them. Find an old school shop and they'll know how to do it.

 

Mav front end is really no different than '65-'73 Stang, find a shop that works on those.

A good shop will know that positive caster should be increased to improve stability.

Assuming you have P/S, +2½-3* is good but excessive for manual steer.

 

I think Krazy means +2.5-3* Positive Caster........
https://opentrackerracing.com/technical/
David

 

You're correct!!! Must been asleep or at least the ole brain was.

I'll edit the post.

 

I searched and found all those various specs. Figured highly paid ASC certified mechanics should be capable of plugging numbers in putter and tell putter what he wants.

Now i,ve read bout guys buying tools and aligning themselves.

Limme see???? Hummm???

I,ve rebuild engines, trans, carbs, suspension, brakes and other small things on various cars i,ve owned.
And paint.... all self taught!

Alignment might be next!

Balance tires and gear swap left.

 

Yea, 'modern' alignment typically specs' Positive Caster and Negative Camber . Earlier cars without PS and marketed to the 'family' were set up with very neutral alignment for easier slower steering with dated Bias Ply tires. My Non-PS '74 Mav had slow but easy steering so @ 3+ degrees positive Caster and @ 1/2 degree negative Camber and it's like riding on rails at speed.

I have good fortune to have an 'old time' alignment shop nearby willing to check out and confirm my attempts at alignment with the old faithful Bubble , Strings and Laser.

. .



have fun

Typical performance alignment settings and OEM Ford specs:

.

 

Found a place in area that can align. I,d have to drop car off for them to tinker on as long as necessary (in shop training probally).

Anyone thinks those DIY alignment tools a bad idea?

I got comet pretty close driving straight with string and tape already.

 

Got camber eliminators put in..... Then I decided to measure the slope of my driveway where each tire would sit. The tape lines are where the wheels will sit and with the square on the spot, I measured the slope in degrees. Then I measured my camber angle and used the driveway slope to correct the reading. But wait a minute, a smart person on this forum (Tom) once said that caster should be set first, then camber. So, I stole ideas from across the web, and put plastic bags under my front wheels and cut a piece of 1/8 plywood to give me a 20* angle. I then measured my camber at 20* turned out and 20* turned in. It looked like this. So, I used my strut rods to even up my caster at 1.5* each side. I thought I built in much more than that when I installed my upper control arms, but maybe not. I still need to go to an alignment shop, but wanted to get my camber eliminators in first. According to my somewhat crude methods, I have .1 degree of negative camber on each side. I was fairly wore out, so I only did a crude toe adjustment with my square and I think I left it with a tiny bit of toe in. It drove nice and straight when I was done. It was more stable on the freeway than before, and lane changes can be done without the car feeling twitchy. So, the driveway alignment shop did well even without a level driveway.....lol. This was about my fourth try, and my methods, and results, kept improving.

 

A young Guy did mine,I gave him the specs. and he set it.
same Kid did a 4 wheel alignment on my 06 Honda Ridgeline ...

 

I crank the strut rods till they are maybe four threads from being maxed out. Next set camber with a digital, magnetic angle gauge for ½-¾* negative. Finally set toe-in using a 1940's Weaver toe board. Shown aligning Fairlane, board indicating maybe 1/8" toe in. This was in final stages of P/S install, started with toe-in off scale.

 

Buy one of these and do your own alignments. Does caster, camber, and toe. I bought mine with a discount coupon. Two alignments and it pays for itself.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/tnh-3300

 

lol.....80 year old equipment, that is awesome. Toe in is my weakest link. Me and the tape measure are never right. I need a rod and scribe my tires. Maybe I will wrap tape around the tread and scribe it with a sharpie.....shoot, I love making things difficult.

 

Look at that!!!! lol...a whole wave of brainstorms are hatching now.