DIY String Alignment Setup

[kyngfish]

So last year when I redid my entire suspension, I got to the end and I called my local to see if they could do a four wheel alignment and corner balance. They said, “Sure, we can get you in about the middle of next month.” Honestly after shelling out cash for new torsion bars, bushings, sensors, shock inserts, and a host of other things, I was ready to spend that $250 to just get it done and have it back on the road. But after 5 months of having the car up in the air, I was ready to get out and drive. So I said, eff this, I had come this far, I could do an alignment. So I did. Turned out great. The biggest pain though was getting the rear camber set up. The car came up, the car came down, I drove it, adjust, up, down, adjust. Ride height, re-index. Again. Every single time the car came up and down, it shifted slightly and I had to realign the strings. Or if I was torquing a bolt and jostled the jack stand. Realign the strings. It took me about 4-5 nights to get it sorted.

So I bought an air ratchet for those long spring plate cover bolts, and I became a re-indexing camber master. A year later and my spring plate bushings were toast again. So here I am faced with another alignment, and I decided I wasn’t doing that again. I bought a quick jack, and the up and down problem is solved. Looking around I saw several string setups that mounted on the car, but $500 felt steep, so I spent $40 bucks in square tubing and went to work.

First I cut up some 1” square tube into 4” sections:



Then I welded on some 1/4” - 20 nuts onto holes I drilled at the top at each section. I would use knobs in those nuts to secure each section of tubing and hold it square. In retrospect honestly I should have just cut holes slightly smaller than 1/4” and cut some threads into it- it would have saved a ton of time. Maybe I’ll do it in V2:





Welded and primed the junctions:



Then created the different spans of 3/4” tubing that would create the structure - all fitting neatly in the 1” tubing I have for the junctions. 4 pieces have hooks that will latch onto the inside of the frunk and rear engine bay when everything cures I’ll probably coat the hooks in rubber, but for now, a bit of cardboard is fine. 4 other pieces will run vertically down past my bumpers and hold the tube for the strings - that will have 1/4”-20 threads as well, with knobs:



Painted with brass knobs inserted! I’ll need to wait for the paint to cure for a day or so before I try it. Pics for that coming next.

[jjeffries]

Kyngfish, this is exactly what I want to do. Great job! I’d buy the real McCoy but even though I think it’s a deal at $500, that’s tough on my budget. I did a home alignment on my SC (soon to be described in my ‘82 SC thread) but the way I mounted the fishing line was all a bit too flexible.

I’ll be reading your updates.

Fantastic stuff.

John

[jjeffries]

Kyngfisher, more shots of my efforts, and some from folks higher up the food-chain:

These next two photos are an ultimate set-up, snagged from Rennlist, credit to the original poster:

And good enough for Ferrari F1 team ... taken from google images.

... or a more prosaic F-car.

Thanks for giving me a roadmap.

John

[Mahler9th]

Some interesting DIY set ups!

I made my own for about $15... but my car is not stock and I had lots of ways to create tools that are easy to position. My approach is similar to what you might see in IMSA, F1 or Indycar.

I was around when my old friend CW was developing SmartStrings... this was in a brief period right before he went pro with FLM.

SmartStrings...still a great product and great instructions.

I think there are some videos as well.

I use fishing line... I have seen pro's use Zebco 202's (or equivalents) to keep the lines tidy for storage and transport.

[kyngfish]

Got it all up and fitted. I’ll probably end up redoing the junctions because I overcomplicated them but this will work for now!

[jjeffries]

In what way did you overcomplicate? May i ask how much of each material you needed?

Thanks, John

[Marwil]

I built the same system as you Kyngfish - works like a charm. @Jjeffries - probably cost me about $50, plus fishing line, in Canuck bucks.

[kyngfish]

Originally Posted by jjeffries

In what way did you overcomplicate? May i ask how much of each material you needed?

Thanks, John

I bought ten feet of the 1” and didn’t use probably half of it. And 20 feet of the 3/4” and used most of it. And if I wanted it to be as adjustable for different sizes of cars like the smart strings I probably could have used another 5 feet of the 3/4”.

I mainly overcomplicated by welding the nuts on the tubes to get the threads. That meant each one had to be welded and cleaned up. Took a ton of time. Honestly those threads don’t need to be that long - you’re not torquing that hard. What I would do is just drill holes smaller than 1/4” and chase the right threads through there with a tap. Boom. Could have cut down my build time by easily half.

[jjeffries]

Thanks again KF. I modified my spring plates (again, copying someone else’s idea), and used Rebel bushings. I’m now rebuilding a 924S, so my alignment rig will need to fit that, too.

Cheers, John

[chrisbalich]

This is exactly what I need for my own home alignment setup.

Kyngfish, did you have difficulty getting the junction blocks square/orthogonal?

And John, I knew I forgot something during my suspension overhaul. I really wish I'd done the modification to the spring plates to allow easy height changes. I may have to yank it all apart when I do the swaybars this month.

[kyngfish]

Originally Posted by chrisbalich

Kyngfish, did you have difficulty getting the junction blocks square/orthogonal?

No, steel bar is usually pretty straight so I just clamped a square to the piece while tack welding. I’m going to redo the junctions later without the nuts and I’ll post.

[chrisbalich]

Originally Posted by kyngfish

No, steel bar is usually pretty straight so I just clamped a square to the piece while tack welding. I’m going to redo the junctions later without the nuts and I’ll post.

Excellent.
I'll be taking on this project in the next week or three.
Thank you for paving the way.

[jjeffries]

Originally Posted by chrisbalich

This is exactly what I need for my own home alignment setup.

Kyngfish, did you have difficulty getting the junction blocks square/orthogonal?

And John, I knew I forgot something during my suspension overhaul. I really wish I'd done the modification to the spring plates to allow easy height changes. I may have to yank it all apart when I do the swaybars this month.

Chris, that modification was sweet. I copied CGARR’s thread. Will make you THE big ding dong at C&C events!

John

[wildcat077]

Nice job Kyngfish !!!

Can you please post a list of materials with the lengths and quantities you used ?
This is definitely a want to do project for me , i've been looking for a used set of smartstrings but they are rarely available in Canada and shipping would be prohibitive !

Thank you !

[kyngfish]

Originally Posted by wildcat077

Nice job Kyngfish !!!

Can you please post a list of materials with the lengths and quantities you used ?
This is definitely a want to do project for me , i've been looking for a used set of smartstrings but they are rarely available in Canada and shipping would be prohibitive !

Thank you !

See post #8 above. I list the material lengths.

The junctions are made with 3 lengths of 4 inch 1” square tubing, so you need 12 of those. The crosspieces for my car were around 36 inches in length each, so 2 of those. 4 of the pieces with the hooks, which were 16 inches each, 4 lengths of the down pieces that hold the crossbars are around 17 inches apiece. I welded some 1 1/4” spacers on those to run the tube through. Tube lengths are 72 inches or so. For running the thumb screws and knobs, I added nuts, but I shouldn’t have. Just drill a hole in them, and chase threads in there. I used 1/4” - 20 threads, so the holes i drilled had to be a bit smaller. Pick your poison. For the knobs, just get thumb screws. I found 1/4” - 20 brass knobs, but I’m annoying.