Now that my front suspension is all rebuilt, it is time for an alignment. I know a guy at the local car dealership that is a "car guy". He does all the alignment and suspension work at the dealership and personally owns a Chevy II. He probably knows how to handle this job in his sleep, but I though it would be best to have the factory alignment specs in hand before I go. Anyone have the factory alignment specs for a 65 Skylark? Any changes necessary for modern tires? Where can I buy the correct upper control arm shims, just in case he does not have any?
Steve, Here are the numbers out of the '66 Chiltons for 64-66 Skylark/Special: Caster: 1N-0 preferred being 1/2N; Camber: 1/4P-3/4P preferred being 1/2P; toe in: 7/32-5/16; king pin inclination: 8 degrees; wheel pivot ration 21.25 degrees inner, 20 degrees outer. These are stock settings and should be adequate even with radial tires. I heard that these numbers are a compromise by the factory since many of these cars came with manual steering. Not sure where to get shims. I would try NAPA first then the other stores.
Thanx Bill. I have to say though, those numbers are listed in a different way than I am used to looking at from these modern machine printouts. I may have to translate.
I just copied them right out of the book. I figured if you had an alignment guy schooled in '60's iron he would know how to interpret them. I'm guessing N means negative and P means positive but other than that they mean nothing to me. I might have some more meaningful numbers from a recent issue of Hot Rod or Car Craft where they upgraded the suspension on a '65 Chevelle. I'll take a look tonight and if the article includes alignment specs I'll post them.
we are doing great until we get to I think this will need some interpretation as I think it is how they defined caster.
I asked the guys at Classic Performance Products if they provide alignment specs with their front control arms (just ordered a set). They told me to use the stock alignment specs but to adjust the caster to 5 - 6 degrees positive. Here's an article from a recent edition of Car Craft: http://www.carcraft.com/techarticle...upgrades_on_a_1965_chevy_el_camino/index.html
Here is the before and after on the alignment specs. Looks like the "kingpin incline" that Bill A noted is what they refer to as SAI now which if memory serves me correctly from ASE class is Steering Axis Incline.
I think kingpin is more commonly associated with straight axles. The kingpin is what held the spindle on to the axle since there were no ball joints used. Since I pulled the specs from a 1966 publication the old terminology was still in use at that time.
That article says that they change to the positive caster strategy in conjunction with revised parts the changed the suspension geometry. I did not change those parts and don't have any plans to get too crazy trying to make the car a canyon carver. If you noticed, I chose 15" rims and tires that lend themselves more towards a nice ride and straight line traction. Still, the car handles and drives super sweet as long as you don't push it really hard into a corner. So, since I did not have any agenda as far as a performance modified alignment, I did not give him any specific alignment instructions. I merely asked if he had specs and shims for the 65 which he did. I have known Howie for about 15 years and all he does is suspension and alignment work for the dealership. He owns and has friends with muscle cars, race cars and old iron. I let him use his best judgement for my set up. After he finished, he told me likes to do cars like mine pretty much middle of the specs but he leans more toward having the wheels more "straight up" and light on the toe. He told me to drive it around and if I feel like it wanders or I want a tighter feel, he can increase the toe a bit.
a couple of years ago, someone on this board, published the front alignment specs for our a-body cars when changing to radial tires. i may have a copy of those specs, but i wonder if the member still has the info and could republish it.