Subscribed...I'd like to do this myself next time too, I have a little uneven wear on one side from the last alignment.

 

I have their toe in tool. It's really well thought out. I'm using the digital
Longacre camber /caster tool
Longacre Digital Caster Camber Gauges 78290 - Free Shipping on Orders Over $99 at Summit Racing @ $234 from summit

Some wheels needs this adaptor too

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/lng-78428



Z

 

Hi Kelly,

Haven't talked to you since FFF in April. That tool looks good, but the good old bubble tool like this one, is actually pretty accurate. A little bit of trigonometry and threads per inch on the knob screw reveals that this thing is spot on. I bought one years ago and checked it and was surprised on how accurate it is.

It's personal choice though...read a bubble or read a digital readout. The item your referring to is probably a good unit. I encourage everyone to learn how to do alignment...it's surprisingly simple and straightforward assuming you have a level garage floor to work with and it gives you great insight into steering and alignment. Besides, it seems that fewer and fewer shops know how to align these old cars correctly even with their fancy laser alignment platforms. :shrug:

Some pieces of sheetmetal or even plastic sheet under the tires is a great way to be able to turn the tires easily when performing alignment. Use whatever works...so long as it allows for easy turning of the tires while it's stationary.

 

Just because it's digital doesn't mean it's more precise. It may or may not be.
I've got nothing against digital but like everything you have to make sure you are buying a quality unit.

I use cheap plastic for sale signs under the tires that you can buy about anywhere.

 

I went with a magnetic spindle mount. I was going to make something like Tracy made but the problem I ran into, my steel rims weren't exactly true. Turn rotate the wheel to a new spot, got a new reading on camber With it mounted on the spindle, the spindle is machined true. Since you need to turn the wheels 20* in each direction for a caster reading, the spindle mount has a 140* angle which means you don't need to lay out 2, 20*angles on the floor and get the tire in the right spot. Here's my post a while back on doing an alignment. It's pretty easy once you have a couple bits of info. You'll see when I mean on the angles. I agree with Tracy 110% that everyone should learn to do their own alignment.

http://forums.vintage-mustang.com/vintage-mustang-forum/885066-setting-caster-camber.html

 

Kelly, I have the longacre bubble w/ magnetic mount. I like it, but I have to change rims to a set with a center cap big enough to get the magnetic mount onto the spindle. I also had to remove the bearing cap for the magnet to fit. Once I have my aluminum kindney bean rims on the car with the bearing cap removed, it is pretty easy to do. Just alot of back and forth with adjusting, measuring , test driving and then start over again. I also use the opentracker camber plates, and I really like them. I know you have an early car...so the camber plates set up may need to be welded for your car. You are welcome to borrow my magentic bubble gauge to test it out and see what you think.

 

I had a similar experience as Coupster. I have TTD's and swapped my steel wheels on. I'm going to make plates I can screw on to the center cup threads. As Coupster said, if you can install the camber kit from Opentracker. I have it on my car. It makes it a lot easier getting settings you want. With stock set up, you have to juggle caster and camber compromise.

 

The accuracy of a digital level depends on how it's calibrated. I made my own bubble version for less then $10 and it's very precise!

 

Kelly it doesn't matter which type you use, wether you make or buy it. What's important is you feel comfortable with using it. It doesn't matter how cheap or expensive it is, it's only going to be good as the person doing it. You'll be more attentive. It really is pretty easy and very rewarding feeling when done.

 

I think I have done 3 cars w/ it in the past few years...and I feel it has already payed for itself. One thing I have read, but not 100% sure about is the necessity of having a level floor. I have read- (with the bubble gauge that you re-adjust for level each time) doesn't need a level surface.
Now, understand I am not doing alignments on a slope, but I have never checked the absolute flatness/level of my garage floor. Just made some marks on it/ and use the same spots each time. I have been very happy with the results, and tires seem to be happy with it too.

 

A quick and cheap trick for easy to turn wheels during the process is to squirt some grease into a garbage bag. Lay the bag flat and pull onto them.

 

Alignments are like Horse shoes ,lawn darts and hand grenades, Close counts. If your angles are not extreme and are in the general range and close side to side the car will drive great and not wear the tires.

 

Coupster, with the bubble gauge the floor doesn't have to be level. The gauge is basically calculating the difference in angle between L&R turn for caster. On my gauge you can adjust for the floor being off. I think it's all just to make it easier to read more than anything else. Same goes for caster to some point. I would say you're would have to know the exact amount and calculate from what the camber reading is. When I did my car for the first time it was just dumb luck the spot I was in was dead flat. I know because I took a long straight edge with a digital level and it read 0.0°!

Cmefly, I don't doubt for a second what you said is true. I bet you literally could align a car with a piece of string and a simple 1' torpedo level in your garage.

 

Tom, I think the longacre directions say to have a level floor, but I have read otherwise, just can't remember where. So I decided to just wing it. I had read your write up on BANGSHIFT & watched several vids. I saw a guy who was checking for level at the 4 corners using a home made water level. He then used vinyl tiles to adjust the 4 corners to equal heights, and then proceeded with his alignment. I liked the idea, just was too lazy to check. Or maybe it was because the new bubble gauge arrived from Brown santa, and I just had to try it out.

 

Coupster, my gauge is basically a rebadged Longeacre. If and I'm pretty certain on the middle bubble you have a unscrew to level the gauge, that all you need and it shouldn't matter if the floor is level front to back. I'm glad what Cmefly said about getting it close, that's how I feel too. Let's face it. You and I are going to spend more time on getting it right then a line monkey at Pep boys or Wal-Mart, true?

 

You betcha! I would not want them taking the multiple test drives that I have been doing!
As far as the adjustable struts...they are on the list. The 68 has a factory adjustable strut, but I found that I needed to use the "washer trick" ala opentracker, plus a few shims on the upper arm. If I used the strut only, the wheel was pulled too far forward in the wheel well. I did not like the look so used the shims to get it close and fine tune w/ the strut-as cmefly has stated.

 

Good thread. Figured I'd probably fashion one myself at some point, but gee-whiz Mustang Sally, if I can get one that'll work OK for a couple of hunskies or so, I'm all in.

 

Woop, thread got away from me! Thanks for all the responses.

Zray and others who have the magnetic spindle-mount tool - how does this work? I've never quite seen how it attaches. Would it work on Jane with styled steel wheels? Can't see how I'd manage to mount it on the spindle with the wheels still on the car, and can't see how I'd align it with the wheels off!

The thing I like about the Tenhulzen tool is that you can zero it on a nonlevel surface so that you still get a good alignment. I know that my garage is tilted towards the back. I don't want to mess with stacking tiles and stuff to get a perfectly level surface because I move locations a lot so chances are every alignment I do, I'll have to relevel differently. Seems like a simple zeroing mechanism on the tool itself would be easier!

As far as caster/camber adjustment itself goes, I intend to also pick up a set of adjustable strut rods. That should take care of me for caster adjustments so I don't have such a hard time of it trying to use shims to do both caster and camber.

I currently have a really, really good alignment on my car and I know that I want to keep the exact (or close to exact) specs that I have. I've got 20,000+ miles on the alignment and the tires and the tires are showing zero visible wear (well, you know, except for the normal amount of wear on the rear tires ). So the plan was to get this tool, go to my local shop and have them print out a reading of the current alignment specs, and then use the tool to get a readout and make sure it's similar. That way I'll know that I'm using it right.

I just found this tool as well which apparently acts as a pair of toe plates and a caster/camber gauge - Zray, think you've used this as I just did another search and came up with you referencing it. Would you say this is better than the one in my original post? Seems like it might be harder to use accurately.

 

Woop, thread got away from me! Thanks for all the responses.





As far as caster/camber adjustment itself goes, I intend to also pick up a set of adjustable strut rods. That should take care of me for caster adjustments so I don't have such a hard time of it trying to use shims to do both caster and camber.

Something to keep in mind is that even with the adjustable strut rods you will still want to get as much Caster as you can from the shims then use the rods for any additional gains. Liker you are saying once your initial alignment is done you will be able to just use the strut rods for minor changes without shimming. You should also install the lower control arms with the bearing in them like Opentracker sells or Tracy has when using adjustable strut rods 1965-1966 Mustang ? Pacific Thunder Performance Engineering Inc

 

I just have their toe-in tool,
Toe Plates - Tenhulzen Automotive
not the one that does the camber /caster. I like the electronic camber/caster gauges like my Longacre model for the reason you mention about the leveling feature so your garage floor doesn't have to be perfectly level. I did buy that Longacre 3 arm attachment for wheels that have poor access to the flat spindle. Of course, as already mentioned, if your wheel is bent, the attachment isn't much help as far as accuracy goes.

Z

 

That's what I did too, fine tune with the adjustable strut.The SoT upper arms have rod ends that you can adjust how ever you want. Shaun as usual does a great job of shipping ready to use parts. The uppers looked like he had dialed in about 3* caster. When I checked I had 4* on the left and 3.5* right. I backed off the left to 3.5* Since then I have added an additional .5* caster on both sides with shims. It doesn't take too much pulling on the lower arm for more caster to start showing up with the front wheel getting close to the fender.

The stock Ford service replacement arms I took off, the bushings were totally trashed. I have SoT lowers with the mono bearing. Kelly, if it's in the budget, a lower arm with a bearing is the best thing since sliced bread. It's going to give the car a more precise feel and you don't have to worry about the bushing falling apart. I think my car rides much smoother too. It seems to just glide over bumps, no harsh impacts you might think. I think it also kills spring rate too. I have GT coils and the car rides softer then the stock suspension with regular springs.

 

No matter WHICH kind you end up getting, if you get one that has a rim clamp make sure that there is a method engineered into the clamp to zero the runout or else you'll never get an accurate reading.

 

Could I get that in layman's terms please?

As far as other suspension components go - Shaun's SoT items are far, far beyond my budget unfortunately. They look beautiful and the quality looks superb, but that means they come with a price tag I just can't pay on my wages. I'm definitely going with them for the strut rods but just can't foot the bill for the rest! I'll have to retain my factory stuff (well, except for the ball joints which are totally trashed) for many years to come unless I can find something more mid-range.

I already like Jane's suspension and am blissfully ignorant of how much better it could be, so that helps

 

If I was on a budget I would buy these strut rods and lower control arms 1965-1966 Mustang ? Pacific Thunder Performance Engineering Inc
If you are going to replace the lower ball joints anyway I would just spend the extra money and do it right the first time. The money you save buying tracy's strut rods will offset the cost of the new lower arms. Plus you will gain a little more adjustability with the Camber for fine tuning.

 

Yes, they are cheaper than Shawns product. However for the money saved ($150), I think it's bad economy to cheap out on a very highly stressed part. Shawns products have proven to be a great investment , both in performance and safety.

Street or Track Adjustable Strut Rods

Z

 

Sorry Kelly, got a little carried away. But yes, they're nice step towards opening up a lot more options in alignment as well as being durable. The Ford shop manual is pretty handy, it'll give you the values for the shims and knowing that demystifies how many shims you need and makes sense of it all. I'm by no means an expert in this area but I'm a good example of what the average person can do. I can relate to your questions because I was there. The biggest PIA of it all is setting the toe. It can be a bit tedious. Do 1/8 turns at a time on the tie rod sleeves. It may seem like it wouldn't make a big difference but it does. I found it helped a bit by putting a piece of tape as a reference point. Again the shop manual is great on explain how to set them. The more you know, the easier it is.

 

Did you end up doing this yourself Kelly?

 

I just used the toe tool, not the combo toe-caster-camber tool. I have the Longacre digital tool for the camber caster and am satisfied with it.

I'm not too hard to please when it comes to the toe tool, as I'm used to using a piece of string and getting it just as close.

Z

 

Kelly did you get that alignment tool for Christmas? Which one and, how do you like it?
I see now you're a fellow Austinite. Have you done the Oasis Coffee and Cars?

 

Unfortunately I did not! I got toe plates but not the alignment tool that I really needed, so still saving up for that. The Tenhulzen's price has gone up recently (now $220) and the Fastrax has gone down a bit (now $135) so that's making me kind of lean towards the Fastrax. I have yet to tackle the front end so it's been on the backburner for now.

I'll get back on this once the month of March is up! I am gone for the next 6 weeks, more or less, so Jane is going to be a little neglected for a while.