Front end just gone through, new moog bushings, offset style in UCA's installed as per moog instruction sheet. New UBJ, LBJ's bearly have 2k miles on them give or take, same for KYB gas-a-just shocks. New 0.890" MP bars.

So I end up with 4 new BFGoodrich 205/70R14 Control Plus's (I mentioned Radial TA's as per a recomendation on here - by SlantSixDan I think, but he said while its a good tire the tread life is half that of the Control Plus's, 320 vs 600, and they are more prone to feathering).

Shop attempted to make ride height level - said he got 3 corners at 8" high, rear left was 8.5". He measured with an ordinary tape masure from the rack up to the vertical lip along the bottom of the rocker panel, at the front of the rear tire and rear of the front tire. Said this is as close as its going to get, can't do anything to adjust rear, and adjusting fronts to compensate will make the alignment off.

Alignment specs:

left front:
Camber = 0.50deg, caster = 1.75deg, toe = 0.07"

right front:
camber = 0.30deg, caster = 1.75deg, toe = 0.07"

left rear: -.015 camber, -0.45" toe

right rear: +0.15 camber, +0.30" toe.

So now my questions - guy said the difference in camber is minimal, adjusting them to match is possible but will significantly lower caster. Is this true, and is it ok to leave it as is? He said as long as I keep rotating every oil change everything should wear even. Said also the higher caster will help pull the tires straight and offset the difference in camber. How are the specs overall?

I know nothing can be done about the rears, but those numbers seem fairly off to me. I had the housing checked for straightness and was told it is good. Are those numbers still acceptable?

The car drives pretty nice now, other then the typical power steering loose-ness.

They sound OK, but I'd shoot for 0 deg camber with as much caster (equal) as possible. Rear alignment is moot, you have a solid axle, don't know why he even bothered. It is possible to have a bad tracking condition due to worn spring eye bushings, which can be corrected with new bushings. Were it me, I'd adjust the right front to compensate for the rear height anomality. A .25" difference in ride height at the front end "making the alignment off" is hogwash. One other thing to consider is your weight as driver and whether or not you typically carry passenger(s). If you are "large" like me, you may want a little extra height on the port (driver's) side!

D/W

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If it ain't broke, fix it!

Those figures are OK. The rear stuff is useful to determine if the car or axle is bent. For whatever reason our Valaint is straight.
A lot depends on the roads you drive. I use more positive camber and negative caster. My ride height is lower and tires wider. I drive winding mountain roads with poor pavement and a lot of road camber. If I stayed in my own lane more negative camber would be in order. I have manual steering which is helped by negative caster.

I would drive it hard and see what you think. After tinkering and trying I ended up at an almost factory alignment but with a tictch more camber and a titch less caster....aggressive.

Lou has tried some alignment stuff as well.....

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

Did you rebuild the rear as well?
If not this should be your next step.New springs and bushings certainly would help.
Then try to dial the front in as close as possible,but if she drives nice and goes straight what more can you ask for.

JZ

The center chunk in the 8 3/4" was a junkyard piece, but new green bearings on the axles, and new espo springs/bushings a few thousand miles ago (about same time as the disc brakes)

So I shouldn't be worried about the rear being that far off from straight? I don't want to start any premature tire wear issues on the rear.

The only beef I had with the front numbers are how camber was off by 0.2deg. It is still within specified stock range though so it shouldn't be too big a deal.

The printout didn't have a specified range for the rear so I didn't know what was acceptable. I know nothing can be done about it but if I have to replace the rear to make the new tires last......

Well, if you've got one rear wheel "toed in" and the other "toed out", I'd suspect the tracking is off slightly. New spring eye bushings may correct, or just simply loosening up all the U-bolts and shoving the axle one way or the other, taking up any slight slack between the spring mount and the locating pin may help. I'd bet if you checked 100 old Mopar rearends, 99 of them would be "off" in some dimension to a certain degree. I'd also bet the factory tolerance was pretty sleazy.

D/W

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If it ain't broke, fix it!

Dennis, the bushings are new, infact the front spring eye bushings came pressed in direct from espo, and I bought the rear shackle bushings with the springs.

I just wish there was some way of checking alignment masurments this accurately w/o paying $70/alignment.

I'll have to drive that car a bit more before I make a final judgment.

Then I wouldn't worry about the rearend. The frame could be off slightly, but well within Detroit's sleazy specs. Pierre, sometime's ignorance is bliss. Next time the guy goes to attaching alignment equipment to your rear wheels, tell him if you wanted that, you'd have brought him a BMW.

D/W

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If it ain't broke, fix it!

Hm, I thought the alignment machine still needs to be attached to the rear wheels just for a point of reference?

Side topic: if one wanted to convert to manual steering (all this talk about the 20:1 boxes make it tempting) or one of the stiffer firmfeel ps boxes, does it need re-alignment? This isn't something I'll be doing now, just pondering for future reference.

Those specs look OK. I have mostly used more negative camber and less positive caster on my cars (all manual st).

Rear camber is not bad, and toe says you need to bring the left of axle forward or right rear or combo. Might try calculating how much shim to put between the right front spring mount and the frame (1/8"??) to make the suitable angle change. Still, it's not bad.

I say, just drive the car and don't worry about it. You will probably not notice anything, esp if you rotate tires every 5k or so.

Should not need realignment after st box change, but toe could be off slightly, or steering wheel centering.

Lou

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