do we have to take it to a shop to get this done or can we do it?

 

Im sure if you knew what you were doing and had all the right tools you could do it. I dont know whats involved, but I would say that it would probably be easier to just take it to a shop. You can get them to fix it if they mess up too . Plus, as I recall, its not to expensive either.

~T.J.

 

Take it to someone who knows what they're doing. Preferably someone with race car experience.

I'm running 5* caster and 1mm toe in. I also had the struts corrected (bent) for 2* negative camber.

 

get it done by a pro... its cheep and u want that to be spot on


another question on the alignment...
are the back wheels on the 7 adjustable?

 

rear wheels rarely are, especially on a live axle.

 

When I re-did my front suspension I was able to set the toe-in close enough to drive without serious pull or tire wear. You adjust the outer tie rod ends for this procedure. Camber will most like require a machine shop to get correct.

As far as the rear tires, I'd say no. I do, however, have a terrific negative camber on my passenger rear where some previous owner had hit something (inanimate hopefully) and bent the axle housing. I know some racers will have this done intentionally for the track but probably only 1 or 2 degrees. Mine appears to be bent 5 or more as it leaks axle fluid out of the seal.

jeryj

 

Up early, aren't we Manntis!

jeryj

 

that would imply I sleep...

 

Haha. I cant sleep cause Im sick .

~T.J.

 

i dont have to sleep, its only 11pm over here. beds stil a few hours away

 

I did my car's alignment myself and it's "dead-nuts" so to speak. Unless you have camber plates there's not much that can be done to adjust camber. It's either set to 1deg positive or 1deg negative depending on how you set the strut top. Set it to 1 deg negative. Caster is a much more difficult to setup as is toe-in but it's doable. All you need is a plumb bob, machinest measure, a straight board, string, 4 jack stands and a very level surface. There's a nice flat concrete pad at the elementary school in town that I use. Although I could have easily had a shop do my alignment I was dead-set determined to learn how to do it myself and it came out pretty darn well. I did a lota reading on the Internet before hand and this site came in real handy.

Do-It-Yourself Alignment

I encourage you to try it and if it doesn't come out right.... eh.... bring it to a shop. Good luck!

 

i wouldnt do it myself in my garage, but thats just me lol. when i take it to my friends garage whos a mechanic i put it up on the lift and he lets me do it myself. it involves using laser alignment machines which are all stored with information of the factory settings of every car every made. ive never had to adjust the camber but ive done toe.

and hey, why not.... its free! (good to have sponsors for your race car lol)

--eric

 

An alignment is easy to do, just as easy to get wrong. I, an ex "professional" technician, would still rather pass the job onto someone that has a modern alignment rack, the laser machines are what I'm fimilar with. If you do get someone else to do it make sure all of your parts are up to snuff, as a good alignment shop will tell you to replace anything worn to much.

 

plus it's WAY easier to adjust new tie-rod ends for sure.

 

I defnitely need to have a "competition" alignment performed on the car... My poor Proxes A-1s are wearing bad on the outside edges....

Dan