Alignment, done ! Options

[J P Stein]

Hey, we went out in the rain today.
Fortunately the alignment chop is only a half mile away.

Here's what we gots:

Camber R/F -1.99 L/F -1.99
R/R -2.3 L/R -2.25

Caster R/F 5.08 L/F 5.31

1/16 toe in at both ends.

Pulled another 3mm shim from each side in the rear.
I"d like to get more caster, but I'd have to do some more grinding around the strut mounts. Maybe next winter.

A short drive shows the car to be VERY responsive.
The ride is....er....firm....but not as bad as I thought it would be. Vracers really suck in the wet.

Now if the weather would cooperate, we can go play Sunday. It ain't lookin' good, tho.

[Dave_Darling]

The local tire store should be able to set the front alignment. They'll set it to stock specs if they can find them, or to whatever you tell them to if you know what you want.

The rears are a bit different. To set the rear camber, you need special shims. Many places don't have these. Without them, you can put more negative camber in, but you cannot take negative camber out. The way the toe is changed is kind of non-standard as well; the bolts that hold the outer trailing arm mount onto the chassis are loosened and the wheel is pulled out or shoved in, then the bolts are tightened again. Many shops won't have a clue how to do anything to the rear wheels of a 914.

Rusted bolts really suck. Really really. It's a good idea to hit the bolts with a good penetrating oil, like Aero Kroyl or PB Blaster. WD-40 is not a penetrating oil... If the plastic caps are gone from the top side of the bolt holes, put a lot of the penetrating oil in there as well. (And when you get the car back, cover those holes!)

--DD