any northern califorina reccomendations for shops to do front end alignment?

[67cougnut]

would prefer someone in the vallejo ,benicia,fairfield,napa area but all reccomendations are welcome.

my 67 has the gateway strut conversion
street or track tubular lower control arms and strut rods
baer bump steer kit.



looking for a season'd shop mainly cause i will need them to adjust the outer ends correctly for the bump steer, and also most of your run of the mil shops will scratch their head when they get underneath to adjust the front end and see there is now a coil over strut setup.I will go to one of the these run of the mil shops if they have a seasoned front end guy.

yes bump steer will be an issue i slammed the front of the car and the bottom of the tierods are above the steering axis so i know it will be an issue. Thanks in advance!

[JRouche]

would prefer someone in the vallejo ,benicia,fairfield,napa area but all reccomendations are welcome.

my 67 has the gateway strut conversion
street or track tubular lower control arms and strut rods
baer bump steer kit.

looking for a season'd shop mainly cause i will need them to adjust the outer ends correctly for the bump steer, and also most of your run of the mil shops will scratch their head when they get underneath to adjust the front end and see there is now a coil over strut setup.I will go to one of the these run of the mil shops if they have a seasoned front end guy.

yes bump steer will be an issue i slammed the front of the car and the bottom of the tierods are above the steering axis so i know it will be an issue. Thanks in advance!

I dont live up there so I dont know.

But Im posting to say you might have to have the specs you want it dialed to ahead of time. Some better shops might be able to pic yer brain to find out what type of driving you will be doing, what type of handling you want and come up with some specs that "might" work.

Problem with a custom suspension it sometimes takes a few different times on the table to get it dialed in for what you want. And if you knew of a car that was very similar to your car you might be able to get their specs and have a good setup. But even with a car that is very close, unless its identical its still gonna be in the ball park. And really, thats just fine also.

But the reason "standard" shops will look at it like its foreign is because it is. No book or computer data base to go to. So then its up to you to tell them, you want so much caster, camber and toe. And I think if you go in with those numbers it will get you off on the right foot. And it may still take some work, and learning for the alignment guy to figure out your suspension to get to those numbers. But if the numbers you have in mind are within the limits of the suspension they should be able to pull it off.

Ever think about doing your own? I never did before I started work on my project car. But I didnt feel comfortable taking the car to a shop knowing I prolly knew more about my suspension than they did. So I gained some knowledge and some basic tools and got to dial my front end in to exactly where I wanted it. And I can tune it for better handling in my garage pretty simple if my original numbers were not ideal. Something to think about. Home alignments are not that hard. Some of the tools are expansive, I tend to make what I can and refurbish old stuff instead of buying expansive tools. Its doable for most guys. Just a thought. JR

[67cougnut]

I have contemplated doing my own and watched some videos on you tube. the front end kit and rack kit i used both came with alignment specs for various types of driving. i suppose my real concern is will the shop i chose adjust the bump steer? dont really think the the average alignment guy really thinks to look for change in toe while the suspension travels. doing it my self is starting to look more and more apealing!

[JRouche]

doing it my self is starting to look more and more apealing!

If you think you might want to go that route I think I posted a few pics and a description here on how I did it.

Much easier than trying to figure out how to cool off a core that went off the grid. Compared to that its child's work. JR

I couldnt find the post. It was some of this.
http://www.stevesnovasite.com/forums...73#post1372973

[67cougnut]

i guess my only other issue would be now that my car is slammed I cant fit under it. lol so i would have to make my setup elivated off the ground in order to reach all the adjustments well... mainly the camber. with my tire and rim size plus 13" rotors in the way not sure i will be able to reach the camber adjustment.

[SLO_Z28]

Do the alignment yourself. I did it in a friends garage with less than $100 in tools and got it set easily and quickly.

I wouldnt take it to a chain type alignment shop ever. I wouldnt take it anything less than someone that specializes in building race car chassis. Even at the dealer I worked for, out of 45 "technicians", only me and one other person even knew what bump steer was.

[MotorCityMuscleCarz]

I can recommend West Coast Muffler in Concord. Their name is really misleading since mufflers is only one of many things they do. For example, my car (also a '67 Camaro) is in the shop right now for a variety of mechanical fixes, and they are diligently ticking off a list of about 17 items. ;-)

The owner of the shop, Steve, has been there for many years, and the shop is known to be trusted to repair and handle all repair aspects of hot rods, muscle cars, etc. They have quite a good reputation, from what I've heard. I was originally referred to them by the owner of Matt's Classic Bowties, Matt Gossett, who uses them to build his own cars. And from own experience taking my car to them a few times, I have not been disappointed.

Anyways, if you're interested, you can reach Steve by phone at (925) 676-8376 or by e-mail at [email protected]. They're located at 2090 Market St. Concord, CA 94520. You can also see their website at www.westcoastmufflers.com.

Hope this helps.

[67cougnut]

I have heard that west coast muffler is great but as of today i have a solution.I contacted cortex racing(who is building max effort cougar in popular hot rodding)and they are going to hook me up with tim barber and get the alignment done with him. apparently tim has a new state of the art laser alignment setup and does tons of race cars. living about 10 mins from the race track it had never occured to me till today to see if any of the shops at the track could handle this. after i get this initial alignment done i think i am going to go ahead and start doing them myself in my garage to experiment with different values as i get this thing out to the auto cross or race track.

[Dee T]

I have a 69 Cougar that is fairly low 24" front (measured from the ground through the center of the wheel to the bottom of the wheel arch) and 25.25" rear (measured same way). I consider myself a spirited driver. I set mine up with the following specs -1 deg camber, 3.5 caster and 1/8" toe in. I set all mesurements the same from side to side ( most shops will tell you to set caster 1/2 deg negative on the left to compensate for the crown of the road but most of the roads here dont have that much crown) to make the handling more predictable side to side. I do alot of street driving and a little across/light track days and car handles really well for stock front end components. I will be getting the street or track coil over system and 13" brake kit very soon.

[robertjra]

Come see me at les schwab in eureka ca I will fix you up

[Flash68]

Roger Kraus Racing in Castro Valley. Real deal racing tire, wheel, alignment shop. I just talked to them on the phone today actually about my Camaro.

http://www.rogerkrausracing.com/

[67cougnut]

thanks guys but eureka and castro valley are alittle out of my range. I may have to have the car towed to get the alignment and then drive it home.
Dee T I will keep that in mind but,imy front end may vary different since i now have a coil over strut front end the spindles are different then stock i have no upper control arm etc.

[67cougnut]

here is gateways alignment suggestions:

caster positive 4.5 deg. plus or minus 1 deg.
camber negative .5deg-.75 deg
toe in 2-3mm the steeroids rack im using calls for .125 toe in so they are pretty much in line with each other
toe out on turns outer-17.75deg inner 20deg