alignment issue

[jc70chevy]

i have a 1972 chevy chevelle.. have all cpp controls arms upper and lower. went to have the wheels aligned.. and the shop said the upper arms where to short... has any one come across this issue... and do you think adjustable arms. may fixs this issue.. any help would be greatly appreciated

[Jim Nilsen]

What specs were they trying to align it to? You did give them the new specs for what it should be didn't you? They might be trying to give you positive camber and you don't want that.

Call CPP and ask them about the problem and the specs they advise.

Good luck and go to another shop if they are not able to understand how to and why you don't use stock specs anymore.

[jc70chevy]

thanks i actually didnt know that i wasnt looking for stock specs. ill have to call cpp. thanks alot..

[JEFFTATE]

The upper arms are probably shorter to give a tilt inward ( to the top of the wheel ) , resulting in negative static camber .
Get the specs from CPP and try the shop again , or find another shop that can do a non stock alignment spec ..

[jc70chevy]

called cpp today they seem to think its crossmember sag.... i never thought bought that.. but i guess off to frame shop...

[JEFFTATE]

Oooo , that stinks ..
Good luck .

[UMI Tech]

Hey jc70. Let's e-talk before you head to the frame shop!

Do you know what specs you're shooting for? Did CPP give you any ideas?

We recommend neg 1/4 degree camber for street use which means the top of the tire is tilted in ever so slightly toward the engine. If the crossmember truly is sagging it probably brought the upper mounts closer together resulting in too much negative camber? One half neg to one deg neg isn't too bad if you're driving aggressively.

Cool tip of the day to remember camber and caster: CAMber is the tilt of the upper ball joint toward the CAMshaft while CASTer is the fore aft location of the upper ball joint, like CASTing a fishing line.

The trick will be to know what you are expected to align to and what the shortcoming is. After you get the numbers, hit us up and I can help you find a solution.

Is the car going to be a daily driver? Pro-tour? Auto-x? Grocery machine?

ramey

[beau@ridetech]

We see this a lot to with customers. You can always go to a frame shop and have them fix it if you can't get your alignment right. Not a great option but it is an option.

[jc70chevy]

umi they never gave me the exact specs he told me there arms are based on factory geometry. and the alignment shop i went to said the machine want to take 13/32 of shims out on each side. but problem is theres no shims at all.

[jc70chevy]

daily driver drivin hard.

[BMR Tech]

umi they never gave me the exact specs he told me there arms are based on factory geometry. and the alignment shop i went to said the machine want to take 13/32 of shims out on each side. but problem is theres no shims at all.

Does CPP use reversible cross-shafts? Most companies arms have a cross-shaft that can be rotated to the backside to provide more or less camber, depending on your requirements. This may help a little but I doubt it will get you .40". Do you know how much camber the shop was shooting for? OE specs were very conservative but you can easily go to -.5 degrees before you start creating excess tire wear (I run closer to -.75" on my street driven 70 Chevelle).

Another thing that doesn't sound right is the fact that you are almost 7/16" short. That's a lot if they are blaming the issue on frame sag. I have seen frames with the mounts twisted inward but never this far. Generally 3/16"-1/4" is the max unless the previous owner was jumping railroad tracks or something...

I would check the cross-shafts, check the camber specs they trying to achieve, and if both are correct look into fixing the mounts at a frame shop.

[jc70chevy]

i bought this car. as a project the previous owner had hydraulics on this car. this was the reason i bought it was to bring it back to its hot rod status. couldnt see it. be shamed as it was. this is the reason i think theres so much crosmember sag...

[UMI Tech]

Hydraulics as in bouncing down the street like a pogo stick? Can you measure between the upper a-arm mounts? You may have to get creative with the engine in the car.

Do you have the printout for where the settings are at right now?

ramey

[jc70chevy]

got a new used frame looks a hundred times better then mine bend spending to day s cleaning and seam weilding just waitng on my por 15 to arive

[BMR Tech]

got a new used frame looks a hundred times better then mine bend spending to day s cleaning and seam weilding just waitng on my por 15 to arive

That was probably the best idea. Hydraulics are brutal on a chassis, there is a very real chance that the upper A-arm mounts (and other mounts as well) were beat out of spec. Let us know how it turns out...