Today....I became a man

[Tudorwagon]

I just recently bought a FasTrax alignment tool so I can do my own alignments. For roughly $200 including the toe adaptor I suspect it will pay for itself after about 3 alignments. I have to put new struts in the MR2 very soon so there's one and whenever I get the wagon on the street I expect I'll be doing the alignment and may even experiment with various settings so there's at least one more.

It's been 5 years or more since the other Chevelle or the pickup got alignments and at the very least I can now check them to see if they need any attention not to mention I can keep the other daily drivers in good alignment.



I was just playing around with it and it seems pretty easy to use and read. I'm sure the first few alignments will be a struggle to complete since one adjustment will affect others but then I guess that's why they include a toll-free tech line on the instruction sheet!

[Norwoodx55]

I have been wanting one of those too. Let us know how it works out.

[Norm Peterson]

Having a place to set up on that is flat cannot be understated. That it also be truly horizontal, or can be made so by shimming, is better yet, although you can mathematically compensate for small deviations in the camber and caster directions if you know how much they're off.

Inflate the tires to what you'll be running them at. An eighth of an inch difference in sidewall height caused by unequal inflation is about an eighth of a degree that both front wheels will be "off" by if left uncorrected.

Norm

[Blown353]

Pay particular attention to Norm's advice!

You can quickly and cheaply level the car with some clear vinyl tubing to use as a water level. Pick one corner of the car as a reference (i.e. wheel centerline) and go check the other 3 sides to see if you're level, then cut shims to bring the other 3 wheels up to the same level as the highest one.

Mark the location of the car on the floor and the shim amount needed at each location and use them in the future.

Rich, one thing to warn you about for your MR2 is that DIY alignments for 4-wheel alignable cars can be a PITA due to thrust angle variations. This is where it pays off to have (or have access to) a 4-wheel computerized system as you can very quickly and easily determine thrust angle. You can do it on your MR2 with the FasTrax gauge and toe adapters but you will need an accurate vehicle centerline determination to set the rear toe properly. You'll need to get the car level then run a stringline down the vehicle centerline and determine rear toe via that centerline. If you get the thrust angle wrong the car will "dog track" going down the road.

[Tudorwagon]

For the time being all I'm doing to the MR2 is replacing the struts which will only affect camber. If I measure the camber before I start and assuming it's not out of whack (it drives fine now, was computer aligned when I got tires recently) all I'll want to do is to readjust the camber back to the original setting. I should be able to get it really close by marking the camber bolts prior to starting the work and using those as a reference upon reassembly. I've done this in the past and got it so close upon reassembly that the alignment shop only had to tweak it a bit to get it right on.

Am I overlooking any other complexities?

By shimming I'm assuming you mean placing small blocks of wood under the tires to get the car sitting perfectly level. The garage floor is new and exceptionally flat, but it does have a slight slope toward the door. So, I'd have to determine the amount of slope and then roll the rear wheels up on shims to get them sitting at the same level as the front, right? Should only be an inch or so given this car's short wheelbase.

[Norm Peterson]

By shimming I'm assuming you mean placing small blocks of wood under the tires to get the car sitting perfectly level.

Yup. Actually, anything that won't "squish" under the wheel load will work. Just make sure that your contact patches are fully contained within whatever you use, as a tire whose contact patch hangs over an edge will deflect slightly more than one whose contact patch is fully supported.

The garage floor is new and exceptionally flat, but it does have a slight slope toward the door. So, I'd have to determine the amount of slope and then roll the rear wheels up on shims to get them sitting at the same level as the front, right? Should only be an inch or so given this car's short wheelbase.

It's nice when the concrete guys do that good of a job. I'd still check the side to side direction though, as an 1/8" or so difference in floor elevation over a car width isn't exactly eyeball-noticeable but would be enough to affect your camber measurements/adjustments.

I normally throw enough barbell plates into the driver's seat and on the floor to simulate my own weight and (sort of) its distribution.

Norm

[BonzoHansen]

I normally throw enough barbell plates into the driver's seat and on the floor to simulate my own weight and (sort of) its distribution.

Norm

Unless you normally have 2 people in the car, I also recommend that. Or if you are a terribly big guy.

[wendell]

If you know any contractors, see if they have a 360 degree laser level you can borrow. In marked were the four wheels will be on the shop floor and built boxes that were 6 inches tall above the level line. The boxes are about 3 feet long and have recesses so the wheel scales are flush to them. Once up on the boxes the car can be rolled on and off the wheel scales and I can take data with the car level and have an extra 6" of creeper room.

It took a little bit of time but even with out the wheel scale provisions, it's nice to have the added working height and a level playing feild.