Alinement rig for home DYI

[Howard Jones]

I have been doing my alinements off of 4 jack stands and a bunch of string and while it will eventually work, it is a LOT of time consuming re measuring. I have seen similar home made setups as well as commercially available ones so I decided to make one. All of the ones you can buy will in the end require some sort of customization so that you can fit it to your car. They are also quite expensive.

So I made one! It attaches to my SLC at existing mount points and can be removed in a couple of mins. If I want to use it for my GT40 I will only need to fabricate some kind of mounts. Maybe even make the SLC ones dual use.

Here's some pictures.

 

[Randy V]

Very nice Howard! I really like your fixtures!
I’ve aligned 200 mph racecars with string and a bubble level.. Being careful and methodical - you can get in there as good as a full laser alignment...

 

[Joel K]

Very nice setup Howard.

 

[Howard Jones]

I completely agree Randy. By doing it yourself you become very aware just what is going on with your suspension geometry. Then as you work on your setup you really can see what a degree or two corresponds to when you drive it.

These string methods can hold error to the width of the string (mine is 1/16") or even 1/2 of that if your eyes are that good and you really are careful.
The alinement shop gives you a printout and that's all you know, especially given the quality of the work you can expect now days. Not to mention that if you show up with a GT40 and the guys says "well that's not in the database so can I use a Ford cortina instead?" Then you have the problem of the car won't go onto the rack because it's too low............................

I have had to take the car back enough times that I just do it myself. I have been for years.

 

[Graham Endeacott]

Brilliant.

Regards,


Graham.

 

[Julian West]

Great work Howard, thanks for sharing.

 

[mahlon]

Nice work as always Howard!

 

[Spike]

I completely agree Randy. By doing it yourself you become very aware just what is going on with your suspension geometry. Then as you work on your setup you really can see what a degree or two corresponds to when you drive it.

These string methods can hold error to the width of the string (mine is 1/16") or even 1/2 of that if your eyes are that good and you really are careful.
The alinement shop gives you a printout and that's all you know, especially given the quality of the work you can expect now days. Not to mention that if you show up with a GT40 and the guys says "well that's not in the database so can I use a Ford cortina instead?" Then you have the problem of the car won't go onto the rack because it's too low............................

I have had to take the car back enough times that I just do it myself. I have been for years.

I have used fishing line before which is much thinner than string allowing for your eyes to read the rule better

 

[Hector]

I have been doing my alinements off of 4 jack stands and a bunch of string and while it will eventually work, it is a LOT of time consuming re measuring. I have seen similar home made setups as well as commercially available ones so I decided to make one. All of the ones you can buy will in the end require some sort of customization so that you can fit it to your car. They are also quite expensive.

So I made one! It attaches to my SLC at existing mount points and can be removed in a couple of mins. If I want to use it for my GT40 I will only need to fabricate some kind of mounts. Maybe even make the SLC ones dual use.

Here's some pictures.

I am stealing this, doing it this weekend . I am trying to fit the dashboard and steering column, pointless without having the suspension dialed in first to see how the body fits. Glad I did a search before buying expensive equipment. Cam also mentioned to check how the center of the rear hubs sit in relationship to the frame, this setup is perfect for that as well.

Brilliant Howard!! complex problems should always be solved with the simplest solution. and hopefully cost effective as well.