Re: Front end alignment questions

["John Basel" <basel@domain.elided>]

Alan,

Thanks to Alan Lambert, Russ Neely and Brian Shorey for their advice.

I use the car as a daily driver.  I might try autocrossing at some 
point though.

The consensus seems to be:
             STREET (FACTORY)              RACE
  Toe in:   .06 inch, each wheel           0
  Castor:   1.5 deg (positive?)            1.5 deg or max negative
  Camber:   0 deg 50' (positive?)          1-1.5 deg negative

I guess I'm confused.  Are the factory setttings for castor and camber 
negative or positive?

What are the pros/cons of the two setups?

Also, I plan to have two sets of tires: 165-15 Dunlop SP-20 on stock 
4.5" steel wheels and 185/65-15 AVSIs on 6" alloys.  (The two sets may 
have slightly (7mm) different offsets.)  I assume that the alignment 
is independent of the tires/wheels and can be done just once for both 
(?). 

Thanks again,

John Basel

On Sat, 5 Jun 1999 10:34:25 -0700 (PDT), Alan Lambert wrote:

>
>You need to tell us what you will be using the car for--If for the 
track, 
>max castor possible, and about 1 1/2 degrees negative camber--very 
little 
>toe at all.
>
>If for the street, factory specs should be fine.
>
>On Sat, 5 Jun 1999, John Basel wrote:
>
>> My 67 GT Junior is ready for a front end alignment.  Everything is 
>> nice and tight now - new tie rod ends, castor bushings, caster 
sockets 
>> and rear bushings.  Front tires were getting eaten up pretty 
quickly.
>> 
>> As usual I've got a lot of questions:
>> 
>> 1.  Is it better to go to a general purpose alignment shop?  Or to 
go 
>> to an Alfa shop?  (Alignment shops seem to have fancy/expensive 
>> equipment that alfa shops may not have.)
>> 
>> 2.  Do general purpose shops know how to do everything?  Toe-in and 
>> caster look simple.  But do they generally have shims for the 
a-arms?
>> 
>> 3.  Any good/bad experience with shops near Marlborough, 
>> Massachusetts, USA?  Gaston Andry, Ellis Imports, or ???
>> 
>> 4.  Should I get everything set to factory specs?  (I have original 
>> early type front and rear suspension setup.) 
>> 
>> My Autobooks manual shows:
>>   Toe in: .06 inch, each wheel
>>   Castor: 1.5 degrees (+/- 0.5 degrees)
>>   Camber: 0 degrees 50' (+/- 30')
>> 
>> 
>> TIA
>> 
>> John Basel
>> 60 Spider Normale
>> 67 GT Junior
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>
>=====================================================================
===========
>Regards,
>Alan G. Lambert___________________________________<gerard@domain.elided>
>           *******Los Altos, California (office)*******
>
>

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