• Hello there guest and Welcome to The #1 Classic Mustang forum!
    To gain full access you must Register. Registration is free and it takes only a few moments to complete.
    Already a member? Login here then!

Gertrude is on the road again!!

"Kats66Pny" said:
Thanks guys! I couldn't have done it without everyone's help. :thu

:confu You might be on to something.

The steering wheel didn't go back and had to turn it. Also, when looking at the front, the wheels look like they are leaning. I think they did factory specs for the alignment and didn't take into consideration the shelby drop I did.



I guess tomorrow I'll be taking her back to them and telling them to redo the alignment. For $70 they charge, I want my stuff perfect.

I guess these specs are a good place for them to restart with?
http://www.opentrackerracingproducts.com/tech/
Click to expand...

Yep, give them those specs to align it. That picture is frick'n scary! I'd bet that's 2-3 degrees POSITIVE camber.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Yep, give them those specs to align it. That picture is frick'n scary! I'd bet that's 2-3 degrees POSITIVE camber.
Click to expand...

Would that cause the tires to make a funny squealing/whistling noise when driving?

My plan is to drop daughter off at school this morning, come home and double check over the suspension/brakes to eliminate any other reason for the noise and and then head back over to the alignment shop and have them fix it.
 
Yes....you are treading down a road many others had been already. They did a poor alignment.
 
Take a look at this autocross video from many years ago. Watch the steering wheel in the turns. All I do is give the wheel a start and see how it spins back to straight. That is from the positive caster. Think of a bicycle that has the front wheel extended out. It's very easy to go in a straight line even without holding the bars. That's what positive caster does.




http://youtu.be/IdEZ1P3IQiE
 
Watch the steering wheel in the turns. All I do is give the wheel a start and see how it spins back to straight.
Click to expand...

Gotcha. Kind of like in new cars. If you let go of the wheel after a turn, it goes back to original position putting the wheels straight again.

Maybe you should have the alignment shop use the specs that Opentracker highly suggests as follows:
Click to expand...

Yeah that's what I plan on doing, but should I have them do the street specs or street/performance?
 
Congrats Kat! :thu
The car sounds great. I didn't realize what everyone was talking about regarding a loud fuel pump when I started watching the first vid. As you were cranking it I thought your neighbor had a leaf blower going.....then I realized that WAS the pump! LOL
Check the tail light bulb sockets (where the bulbs actually plug into), for any loose fit of the bulbs or corrosion. Also check the pigtail extensions on the back of the housing (inside the trunk), for a loose fit. Both are common problems that will cause flickering. Again, GREAT job! :thu :thu
 
Check the tail light bulb sockets (where the bulbs actually plug into), for any loose fit of the bulbs or corrosion. Also check the pigtail extensions on the back of the housing (inside the trunk), for a loose fit. Both are common problems that will cause flickering. Again, GREAT job! :thu :thu
Click to expand...

Thanks!

Street spec
Click to expand...

Alrighty then. I'll give them the street specs and tell them to start there. Hopefully they won't give me any lip for telling them how to do their job. LOL The old man that owns the place can be a jerk so I'm crossing my fingers his son is there again. I don't want to deal with the old man. :hide

When I picked Gert up from the muffler shop, the guy there said some stuff was loose and not tightened down good. He mentioned tie rods & ball joints were loose. I double checked them all before I went and put cotter pins in. Maybe he was just saying that because the front hadn't been aligned and so when they had to drive it out of the bay, it drove funny because front end was out of whack. :shrug

I don't know so when I dropped Gert off, I asked the son if he could just double check the suspension to see if anything is loose since he's going to be messing around up there anyway. When I picked Gert up, the old man was there and I asked if they checked the bolts and found any loose. He got a little attitude in his voice when he said "I don't do that stuff, I only do alignments". :wtf

Ooooookay.... I didn't say they had to fix anything, just look and see and if they was anything loose and then let me know what. Not like I was asking a whole lot. I mean they were messing around up there anyway, so didn't think it was out of the question to have them just to look and feel around. :shrug
 
"Kats66Pny" said:
Thanks!

Alrighty then. I'll give them the street specs and tell them to start there. Hopefully they won't give me any lip for telling them how to do their job. LOL The old man that owns the place can be a jerk so I'm crossing my fingers his son is there again. I don't want to deal with the old man. :hide

When I picked Gert up from the muffler shop, the guy there said some stuff was loose and not tightened down good. He mentioned tie rods & ball joints were loose. I double checked them all before I went and put cotter pins in. Maybe he was just saying that because the front hadn't been aligned and so when they had to drive it out of the bay, it drove funny because front end was out of whack. :shrug

I don't know so when I dropped Gert off, I asked the son if he could just double check the suspension to see if anything is loose since he's going to be messing around up there anyway. When I picked Gert up, the old man was there and I asked if they checked the bolts and found any loose. He got a little attitude in his voice when he said "I don't do that stuff, I only do alignments". :wtf

Ooooookay.... I didn't say they had to fix anything, just look and see and if they was anything loose and then let me know what. Not like I was asking a whole lot. I mean they were messing around up there anyway, so didn't think it was out of the question to have them just to look and feel around. :shrug
Click to expand...

They would be opening themselves up to assume liability for your work if they agreed to do so and told you everything was OK only to have something come apart etc. Not too mention, asking them to check out work you did that they themselves are in the business of doing doesn't make a whole lot of good business sense. Why help someone perform a task for which they could have charged you to do themselves?
 
Every pro alignment procedure I've ever seen started with making sure the suspension had no bad / loose parts. No way to actually align it if there are loose parts.
 
"apollard" said:
Every pro alignment procedure I've ever seen started with making sure the suspension had no bad / loose parts. No way to actually align it if there are loose parts.
Click to expand...

+1

Back when I had the car aligned the first time after the resto, I took it to an old timer and asked him to check it over. I gave him the initial specs and he was a happy camper. He spent way more time than he charge for and actually said he enjoyed working on a fresh rebuild with all new parts.
 
OMFG I took Gert back and told the old dude the alignment was off. He said "no it's not". Umm yes. The wheels leaning. He said no they aren't in a really snotty attitude and then went on saying these cars are hard to do and had he known about it he wouldn't have touched it.

Oh hell no. I called and asked him and explained the new suspension etc and he said he'd do it. Oh and I showed him the paper with the specs and he started bitching at me saying I should have told him it had a Shelby drop because he set it to factory specs. Excuse me?! I told your son all about the car and the suspension stuff I did!

Then he started saying he wouldnt get to it until way later this afternoon and acting like he didn't want to redo it when I told him I'd was going to hang around and wait on it. I waited a few, called a friend and they called another shop and found a different place that would fix it. As I was getting in the car to leave the old bastard came over and I told him nevermind I'm not waiting all day and left.

So now I'm sitting at the other shop and they have Gert on the lift fixing it. Going to take an hour or two but I'm fine with that. I know she's not easy to work on!




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Wow, guy sounds like a real ass. I'd make sure to let everyone know not to go there.

When I had my local shop realign my stang after I Redid all the front suspension. He went through every nut and bolt and checked all the components before the alignment. Only charged my the regular alignment charge too.
 
Great. Just learned they messed up at least one if the UCA bolts. These guys couldn't get the nut loose and think it got cross threaded? These guys were using all their strength and couldn't budge it. They said they might have to cut it off.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Nothing more damaging than bad word of mouth! Spread it liberally.

What a DB.
 
"Kats66Pny" said:
Great. Just learned they messed up at least one if the UCA bolts. These guys couldn't get the nut loose and think it got cross threaded? These guys were using all their strength and couldn't budge it. They said they might have to cut it off.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

WTH do you live? Incompetent town???
 
I guess so! that's why I don't like anyone working on my car other than a few people i know from my var club and Doug and his shop.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I don't trust to many people with my car either. I'm pretty lucky with the guy I go to. He's about a mile from my house, picks up my car anytime I need anything done. They only work on classics and exotics. He's always got some amazing cars in his shop. Makes my car look like a turd though.
 
Not to rub salt in your wounds but for what you'll end up spending you could have bought/made the tools and done this yourself.

It does pay to stay while people work on your stuff. Especially if prior to commencement you talk with them about what needs done using the vocab to impress upon them the fact you know of which you speak. Dropping it off and leaving is never a good idea in my book.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top