924Board.org

[ricomartinez]

Does anyone have any special advice on getting 924's aligned? I've read about needing a special tool for the rear wheel alignment. Does that mean I have to take it somewhere special, or do most places have it?

[924RACR]

That is correct; a special tool is required. It's a 924/944 specific tool, so most places won't likely have it. To be sure, you can get it done through a dealer.

Note that it is for the rear, for setting camber and toe; the front is normal strut suspension, and can be handled by any shop that does alignments. If you need or want a 4-wheel alignment (which I always do) you'll need someone with the tool.

I recommend getting in touch with PCA guys in your area, asking who they get their alignments from (particularly the track guys).

The tool is not expensive, only $18, but usually if they don't have the tool they won't know how to adjust the rear (it's a little funky).

_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

[-nick]

fyi- the early 924's (76-7 with the early rear swaybar don't need this tool. with these cars, the only alignment adjustment in the rear is the toe.

the easiest way to tell is to see if you have a hole in your trailing arm (or is it the spring plate where the hole is?) this is where the tool Vaughan's talking about fits into. if you have the hole, you should also have an eccentric bolt on the spring plate. if you've got an early car, you'll have neither of these and you don't need any special tools to do the alignment.

that's what my '77.5 is like, at least until my Weltmeister adapter kit and 19mm cup bar come in next week (thanks for the suggestion on the cup bar Vaughan). the welt adapter kit comes with the eccentric bolt, but i don't know how i'm going to be able to adjust it correctly without the hole for the tool.

here are Jim Pasha's aligment suggestions that have circulated around before:

Front:
Toe-in: 1/16 inch (30 minutes)
Camber: 1/4 to 1/2 degree NEGATIVE camber closer to 1/4 is just driving on the street
Caster: as close to 3 degrees as possible but both sides the same (example, if one side is 2.7 degrees, then set both sides to 2.7 degrees)

Rear: Toe in: 1/16 inch
Camber: -1 1/4 degree max. both sides equal.

regards
-nick

[924RACR]

In case you're wondering how to set caster without a camber/caster plate, it's achieved by moving the rear mounting point of the a-arm inward and outward... after loosening the bolts...


_________________
Vaughan Scott
Webmeister
'79 924 #77 SCCA H Prod racecar
'82 931 Plat. Silver
#25 Hidari Firefly P2 sports prototype

[ricomartinez]

Okay, so does anyone know of a good place to go in San Diego?

[Trevor]

Yes, in San Diego there are several shops. Probably the best ones are:

Dieter's
1633 Market St.
San Diego, Ca 92101
(619) 234-8106
http://www.Dietersmotorsports.com


Black Forest Service
8066 Engineer Road
San Diego, Ca
(858) 292-1192
http://www.Blackforestautomotive.com


Trevor

[ This Message was edited by: Trevor on 2001-08-18 16:14 ]