Published 2015
Front End Alignment by Nissanman
This all from memory, but I'm only 65, so we all know how reliable that should be :roll: Readings from the wheel alignment machine: -
Wheel alignment initial (Large).JPG
As you can see the camber on the RHS was up the putty as was the caster on the LHS.
Instruction sheet for the Longacre Camber Caster Gauge: -
Longacre gauge instructions (Large).JPG
- 1. Rolled the car to a point on my driveway where the front cross member read level using a spirit level.
- 2. Jacked up the front end and removed the front wheels.
- 3. With equal height wood blocks placed under the lower control arms at the same place side to side, I lowered the car so the weight was placed back onto the front suspension.
- 4. Checked that the front cross member was still level.
- 5. The Camber/Caster gauge was fitted over the top wheel stud and magnetically clamped to the wheel mounting flange.
- 6. I recorded the camber and caster values for each side at both full lock positions and dead ahead, 3 readings per side. This gave me the current settings and therefore how much I needed to adjust the degrees to get to my desired settings.
- 7. Jacked up the front end and rested the cross member on jack stands.
- 8. With the front suspension in full droop, I re-read the 3 settings per side which gave me a new base line on which to add the require degrees to get the settings back to what I wanted when the suspension was loaded. As you can see from the table, the camber setting hardly varied from loaded to unloaded.
Wheel alignment specs.odt
(11.59 KiB) Downloaded 12 times
- 9. Loosened the upper spindle mounting bolts and inserted shims between the spindle and the chassis.
- 10. Shims at both ends will adjust camber, shims at the rear only will adjust caster.
- 11. I re-read the settings at the 3 steering positions with the suspension still at full droop.
- 12. Once I had reached the required settings per side, I blocked up the front lowers again and re-checked with the suspension loaded up.
- 13. Below and hold, after I had adjusted the angles at full droop, the loaded readings were brought back to the desired settings.
- 14. I was mainly concerned about the camber settings, which I managed to correct, but the caster was also slightly adjusted.
I used the Tech Wiki section for a reference: - http://www.311s.org/pmwiki-311/pmwiki.php?n=TechSection.FrontEndAlignment
I now know why the "technician" couldn't be bothered. It took me quite a few hours to do the alignment since all I had was 2 jack stands, 2 blocks of wood and a trolley jack plus my trusty Longacre gauge.
No turn tables and certainly no laser alignment tools :roll:
I had to re-tighten the upper spindle fasteners every time before I could check my progress.
It was gratifying to see the logic and mathematics I applied, resulted in a predictable and repeatable result.
Well, it worked for me! Nissanman, just trying to help. 1965 SP310 Engine No. G-93326 Car No. SP310-10817 http://nissanman.shutterfly.com/117 McQueen! He's on the road again!