aligning

[Dbelleperc]

Can anybody give me in detail how to align my 914. Front and Rear with pics. Please. Because My old auto shop has a $10,000 dollar Hunter electric computer bla bla aligning rack and I would like to take my car and do an alignment but not real sure on how to do it. except on toe in and out. But I would appreate on Caster and Camber for front and rear. Thanks.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Forgive the big GIFs. These are taken from my "914 Suspension 101" presentation at the 2002 West Coast Wramble and 2002 Mid-US Ramble.











Hope that helps!

--DD

[gint]

Nice work Dave!

[campbellcj]

Dave - is it just my pre-coffee eyes or are the arrows on the top (front) pic mis-marked?

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Yep, right you are!! I noticed that and changed it, but I must have exported from the wrong copy!!

Hmm, maybe I didn't save the changes? That would explain why Jon had this version when I actually did the slide show!

I'll try to fix it here, but that won't happen until tomorrow at least!

--DD

[Otto]

Nope, the arrows are right. Next time we align your car at the track, watch us.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Hunh? Yeah, that's right--they are correct! I re-did that slide about eight different times, and I think I was seeing one of the older (wrong) versions. When Chris suggested it was swapped, well....

The front of the car is toward the right of the picture; that is the right-side upper strut mount. Moving the upper mount aft gives you more positive caster, moving it forward gives you less positive caster. (Stock spec is 6 degrees, I think.) Moving the mount outward gives you less negative camber (or more positive camber), while moving it inward gives you more negative camber.

--DD

[JWest]

Man, my head is spinning!

I thought it was right, then Dave says it IS wrong. I can't see how it is wrong, then Dave says it was right afterall! Whew!

[Zeke]

But, no one gave him the specs, which is what I think he asking for. Is it going to be street driven only? If so, not much camber is needed or desired. Half a degree front and rear for my taste. Front caster is important as far as steering effort is concerned. Two degrees will make the car go down the road by itself, but hard to park with big tires. What ever you do, make sure it is exactly the same, or the car will pull to one side. For good tracking on the highway, an eighth toe-in on front (no more!) and a sixteenth toe-in on rear if the bushings are tight. I didn't get this out of a book. Just settings I like. For the track, it's a differnet story and again, what kind of track, tires, etc. will have a lot to do with how you go. I'll let John (Otto) take over in this department.

Side note: Years ago when bias tires were what was used, some alignments favored the crown of the road in many regions. The camber settings were different on the front. Here in CA, most of the frewways drain to the center which is opposite a country road. A mid-west car was a bear to drive when the road sloped the other way. I think this is not done anymore. A bit of history.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

I didn't see a request for specs--just "how to do it, with pics".

Alignment spec suggestions have been made a bunch of times already around here; use the search function to find what a number of people like for their particular setup.

--DD

[Zeke]

Originally posted by Dbelleperc
But I would appreate on Caster and Camber for front and rear. Thanks.

Dave, I thought that's what he meant here. But, it's hard to know looking at that sentence.

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Hmm, I must'a been paying too much attention to the first two sentences to be confused by the last one?

Can anybody give me in detail how to align my 914. Front and Rear with pics.

Sounds like a pretty straight-forward request to me...

--DD

[Dbelleperc]

Thanks a lot for all your help Dave and Zeke as you can see what time it was; I was confused myself. Thanks for the pics and your opinion on street setting I will be aligning the car this week. I just want even tire wear and straight driving with good handling. Thanks again. David B.