Removal of the gas tank isn't something that an alignment shop would do, but it certainly does give you better access to the inner tie rod end adjusters. Most shops won't want to waste their time trying to align these cars because they are so much different than today's vehicles (Super Beetles would be an exception). Plus, any mechanic that would recognize the car would likely be concerned about rusted or seized parts because of its age and history.
I had Tekam Automotive in Burnaby do mine. They are about a block away from where CIP used to have their store/warehouse before they moved out to Port Kells. Tekam did the alignments for all of the staff that drove ACVWs at the time, but they charged nearly $150 for a full four wheel alignment. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of courtney hook Sent: April 21, 2007 8:24 AM To: Air-Cooled Volkswagen Discussion List Subject: Re: [vintagvw] Home done frontend alignment Many thanks for the detailed reply Marc! I wish I lived close to you, so I could have a pro do this spot on! I am going for it today. It looks like the easiest way is to remove my gas tank so I have real easy access to the tie rods. It was done 3 yrs ago, but I think things may have siezed up since then. Take care, thanks again, Courtney ----- Original Message ----- From: marc vellat <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Friday, April 20, 2007 11:08 pm Subject: Re: [vintagvw] Home done frontend alignment > First order of business is to check the condition of > the balljoints & tierod ends... make sure the wheel > bearings aren't sloppy and that the tires and rims > match (set the pressures too). A bent beam or one with > worn control arm bushings would also present a > problem. Assuming all is well, check the camber and > adjust it if needed. You'll need the car parked on a > LEVEL surface to do this....it's also assumed that the > REAR suspension has no problems that might be inducing > a tilt to the front of the car - measure the distance > from ground to rear torsion housing and from ground to > bottom of the front beam on both sides. Camber should > be 30' (��) positive - top of tire further out than > bottom - plus or minus 20' (1/3�) and the maximum > deviation betwen one side and the other should be kept > below 30'. This is the hardest thing to do under the > shadetree, you can use a $10 magnetic protractor (but > it's hard to see anything smaller than ~�� with one of > those) or a carpenter's square and bubble-level with > some trigonometric calculations. Note that the notch > in the camber eccentric should always be pointed > forward plus or minus 90� - if you point it aft the > caster will bew outside of design margins. > > Once the camber is in spec you can set the toe-in. > Spec is 30' � 20', or you can measure with a > tape...distance between the front of the tires should > be 1/16" to 7/32" less than the distance between them > at the rear. This is a little tricky to do because you > can't take a direct reading halfway up the tire (the > body/pan get in the way, and the reading must be made > with the car on the ground) but if you go for ~1/16" > as high up as you CAN measure it should be good. To > eliminate any error caused by tire/rim runout, first > jack up the front an spin each wheel while scribing a > mark down the center of the tread with chalk, pencil, > or a Sharpie and take your measurements off of that > line. > Caster isn't adjustable (other than as a side-effect > of setting the camber) without shimming the beam > (typically at the bottom) away from the frame > head...but the spec, in case you decide to let > Canadian Tire have another go at it, is 3�20' � 1�. > This equates to a difference in CAMBER between the > reading with wheels turned 20� left versus 20� right > of 2�15' �40'. > > You also need to assure that the steering box is at > its true center when the wheels are pointed straight > ahead. Since God only knows how many times the > steering wheel may have been off & on the column in > the last 37 years (and with no "master" spline, it > could easily have been reinstalled a spline or two > off) the pragmatic approach to this is to turn the > wheels to full lock in either direction, checking that > neither tire is contacting the beam/lower control arm > before the Pitman arm hits its stops. Count the > steering wheel turns from lock-to-lock (approximately > 2-3/4) and put the wheel at exactly the halfway point > - hopefully it'll be straight. If it is, when you > adjust the the toe-in you should make equal changes in > opposite directions on each tierod. If not, you may > need to adjust one side more than the other. This > assumes that nobody has changed the steering box or > adjusted the stops since the car left the factory, in > which case the stops need to be backed off until > they'e ineffective so you can find the true steering > box center and start over. Also, of course, that the > beam, control arms. spindles & tierods are dead-true > (never taken a shot that might've bent any of them a > little) and that the ball joints and tierod ends have > no excess slop in them. > Sound daunting? The good news is that you can probably > do just as good a job at home as you can expect from > any chain-store with a rack trying to get the job done > in the allotted time, and Standard Beetles aren't > really that particular anyway (if you're even close, > the worst that'll happen is the tires may wear > slightly faster) ...so you may as well go for it! > > > --- Courtney Hook <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > I was just told that Canadian Tire couldn't do the > > alignment on my 70 bug because they didn't have the > > specs. I can't imagine an easier vehicle to do one > > on, so thought, what the heck, I'll do it myself. I > > seem to recall you could do one yourself with a tape > > measure. Has anyone done one lately and remembers > > the procedure? I posted it to the type 2 list as > > well, because the front ends are the same design. > > Thanks, > > Courtney > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com > > _______________________________________________ > vintagvw site list > [email protected] > http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vintagvw > _______________________________________________ vintagvw site list [email protected] http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vintagvw _______________________________________________ vintagvw site list [email protected] http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/vintagvw
