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Alignment question...

2ndgen

2ndgen

Member
Does it matter if the car is not fully assembled when it is aligned?

I am getting anxious to start driving my vehicle even if the interior is far from complete. No glass, no interior panels, no dash pad, no carpet, no seats (other than a temporary driver's seat). Basically I want to work out the bugs and also go to a local cruise in while the car is a work in progress. My concern is that the car is probably several hundred pounds lighter than it will be when complete. Does this affect an alignment?

-Rory
 
Yes.

To what degree is hard to say.

You really should have it at your final ride height when it is aligned.

You could get it close and recheck/adjust when finished. Easy for me to say since I do them and have access to the machine whenever I want.
 
Thanks! I kind of thought so about the weight differential since I've always seen the alignment done with the suspension loaded...

I guess I'll bite the bullet and have it done twice. At the rate I get to work on my car it will be at least a year until completion and I just can't wait that long to start driving it!

-Rory
 
If you don't have the sheet metal up front, a good alignment shop can take that into consideration. They will adjust the specs slightly to get the correct alignment with the extra weight.

But with that said. The last time I took the fastback to get aligned, it was with out the fenders and frontend sheet metal. The shop was lazy and used the adjustable strut rod only to get the caster, and didn't mess with the shims. When the fenders went on, the tires rubbed the front of the fenders. Since then, I do my own alignments.
 
All the sheet metal is on... but the only things in the interior are the wiring, pedals, shifter, heater, steering wheel, lower metal dash and a temporary instrument cluster.

No glass, a few exterior trim pieces missing (rocker panel moldings and trunk letters), and no windshield wiper motor assembly. Doors are empty except for the latches, locks and handles.

I'm guessing the car is within 500 lbs of it's complete weight.

-Rory
 
If you're willing to be a cautious driver, almost any alignment will get you to where you need to go to a cruise-in and not cause major tire wear. Get it reasonably close now and then re-align the car when it has all of the weight on it, and you've driven it about 10 miles or so to let the suspension settle.

Oh...to get it close now, you still need to drive the 10 miles for suspension settling. Midlife was 3+ inches too high with everything installed but before I took it around the block a couple of times. When I got back into the garage, the suspension had settled back to what it was 5 years previously before I tore everything down.
 
Picture Dave sitting behind his desk shaking his head back in forth while reading this post.........


Like Sluggo stated, sure, it's best to have the car aligned when it's at it's final weight. Having it fully assembled will give the car it's final "weight".... but who said the car has to be assembled?

The uninstalled windshield weighs approx. 20-25 pounds.... so lay an equivalant weight up on the center of the dash. The door internals are approx 20 pounds each.... so lay an equivalant weight along the rocker panel. Some sand bags or better yet a set of loose free weights will get the job done.

The car doesn't need to be assembled.... it should just be as close as possible to it's final assembled weight. A few pounds here or there isn't going to effect the alignment.
 
So how much does the suspension settle? If I tow the car to get it aligned, will I have to turn around and have it aligned again after I've been driving it a little bit?
 
Drive the car for a good 20-50 miles before an alignment, so the suspension can settle. Midlife needed 8 miles to settle 2-3", so your mileage may vary. If you don't you'll need another alignment.
 
Alignments (getting it close) on these cars is pretty simple. If you're going to a local show, eyeball it and be careful as mentioned. It would be best to have it aligned now and again when assembled. I wouldn't do it twice though. A few hundred pounds throughout the car is not gonna be that significant. Imagine an alignment shop aligning a car with no one in it and then two people go for a drive? The thing with aligning it with added weight as Dave mentioned is what's gonna happen when you remove the weight? You gonna drive to the show with a couple sand bags and free weights on your car? As soon as you take 'em off the "alignment" is gonna be off. Adjust (self align), eyeball, settle the car, eyeball, adjust, eyeball, settle, etc. Get it assembled and pay for a real alignment. Before I took mine to the shop for alignment I did the driveway alignment and was VERY close.....and I'm a few fries short of a happy meal.
 
The way my luck is going, I try to save $50 and end up paying $200 on something else. I'm ok paying for the alignment twice knowing up front that it'll have to happen again.
 
I got one of this and did the alignment myself. It's little pricey, but it will pay for it self. I already did several alignments to make the steering feel the way I want it. I went from +1 caster to +3 and I could feel the difference. I used two piece of wax paper on each wheel when I make the adjustment. First few adjustment, I went back and recheck after several test drives and measurement were repeatable.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SPS-91000/
 
How important is it to have a perfectly level garage floor? My house is 30 years old, I've not put a level on the garage floor but I'm sure its not great.
 
If you want it correct, use a level floor. Look at the alignment machines they use at shops.......
 
With the alignment tool from Summit, the tool levels to your garage floor. My garage has the normal 3 inch slope and works fine when adjusting camber.
 
I still remember back in the early 1970 when we had a customer that weighed about 350 pounds and could not keep tires on the front end, no one could align his car. What my dad did was have him sit in the car with all his weight while he aligned it, problem solved. Rich
 
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