This is something that I've been wondering about. I've aligned my Volare front suspension on my 48 about as well as I can in the garage but I know it will need professional alignment. I'm trying to figure out how to get it to an alignment shop and which one? I don't think driving it is an option since it's not street legal yet, the current alignment may be too far off, and I live 7 miles out of town. How have you guys handled this? I don't have a trailer but I suppose I need one. I guess I could rent one. I had a bad experience years ago trying to get an alignment in a small town when I lived in Florida. I took my 29 Ford with MII suspension to a local tire shop and the manager wouldn't even look at it. He said, "I wouldn't touch that with a 10 foot pole". I later had to trailer it 25 miles into the nearest large town where a Goodyear Tire dealership did the alignment with no questions asked. I don't want a repeat of that but we have no franchised tire dealerships or alignment shops in my small town. Have you guys run into problems getting your trucks aligned? Was the alignment job received like just another job or did they look at you with bewilderment like you had three heads and they wished you had gone elsewhere?..

Vern

 

Vern I worked as a front end man for many years. If you have the front end close(both wheels pointing forward) you should be able to drive it to a shop. Drive it around the block and see how it feels. If it pulls really bad post back or PM me I'll walk you through making it drivable. If your worried about tearing up your tires see if you can scare up a couple of used tires to get you to a shop. Shop by phone in your area and ask if they'll do it. I would align anything that rolled in the door. Good luck, Rich.

 

I'd say give the shops a call and tell them what you've got. You can probably tell from their response if they will do it or have problems. Ask about prior experience, and a ballpark price. Do some phone work first, then you won't have a repeat of your previous experience.

 

I would call around and talk to them first. Special projects sometimes take longer and if they are busy, you might get that response. Some shops will go overboard to help if business is slow. I had the same problem finding a muffler shop to do my exhaust work, but finally found one and set up an appointment at there convenience. They 'custom made' everything and at a better price than all the other shops were asking before they found out what the vehicle and mods were. They also told me to bring it back when I was ready for the alignment!

 

Vern

If you ask around, you will likely be able to find somebody who has seen the Volare IFS trick before. Even if you don't, just start with factory specs on a Volare car. You will find they vary from car to car. All you can do is get a good starting point, and tweak if necessary. Mine worked out pretty much perfect on the first try, which leads me to believe it might not be a big deal. I will caution you not to do it too early though. If you are going to hang 250# of parts on the car later, your alignment accuracy is going to suffer. I would also be around when they do it. If they arbitrarily choose a ride height adjustment they like, you can't just change it later. Touch the T-bar adjustment, and your new alignment is right out the window. You probably knew that already though.

 

Rich,

You are the guy I would want to align my truck. The guy with the "can do" attitude. It's still a way off before I'll be ready to do it. I still have some weight to add to the front like 'fenders said. You would think that ANY shop would want to align anything that rolled in the door. Leave it to me to run into the jerk. I live in "hot rod hell" here. I may be the only darksider here. There aren't any other rodded trucks around so it's unlikely that the Volare trick is known in this small town.

I'll definitely be doing some calling around first. Do they adjust the T-bars as part of the alignment or just shim the upper control arms to set caster and camber with the T-bars where they are? I was thinking I could set the T-bars where I wanted them before I took it but if they will be adjusting on them as part of the alignment, I might as well leave them alone...

Vern

 

You'll have to be specific. Ride height adjustment is step one for Chrysler T-bar alignment. Can they work with where ever you happen to have it set? Yes, within reason. My alignment guy decided he liked my truck a little lower than I brought it to him. It looked good, but I was skeptical if my handling would be adversely affected. Turns out is was just fine the way he put it. I didn't think so at first, but I later found I had a soft shock on the front.

 

Vern,
I believe that the ride hieght is spec'ed out for mopars alignments. If you set the rid eheight where you want it and make sure and tell them that then they should be able to align the front end to that particular ride height.
You can do a danged close alignment in your garage with a carpenters square and a piece of string. Might as well set it up like that until you get all the rest of the stuff bolted to the truck.

Good luck with your phone calls
Bobby

 

Just put your truck on level ground, then use a 2 foot long level to make sure the wheels are close to being straight up and down. Watch out for the buldge in the bottom of the tire it can throw you off. I use a couple spacers on the top and bottom of the wheel (providing it's straight). You will have to add or subract shims to adjust this, just add or subract an equal amount front and rear so caster isn't changed.
Then after that's done lift each front tire off the floor and take a nail of something sharp and hold it against the tread while turning the wheel to make a mark all the way around the tire. Doesn't matter if the mark is in the center or not. Then lower the wheels back on the ground. Get a carpenters square and make a horzional line about 6 or so inches up from the floor on the front, and back of the tire intersecting previous mark. Then get a helper and measure back to front the length between those marks. Adjust the toe in about 1/16" to 1/8" "less" in the front than in the rear.
This is the way we aligned all 18 wheeler tractors back in the early 70's before the computer age when everything was done by hand, we had the Hunter light beam units for the automobiles. I installed a lift kit in an 84 Toyota pickup years ago and aligned it in this manner and drove it several hundred miles before having it put on a computerized machine.
Anyone reading this that is in the tire, or alignment business you really have it much easier today, with all the computerized equipment especially the tire balancers. I learned to balance wheels on an old Alamite Strobe light machine. A unit that is used much like a timing light is used to time an engine and check spark advance, sometimes that could be real time consuming process.

Hope this helps
Rod 51F1

 

Ditto,
As I teenager thats how I aligned the front end of my 1967 Charger after replacing a lower conrol arm. Same front end as the Volare.

Good luck
Bobby

 

Vern 51ford fan is right on except volares have sliders instead of shims. They make a tool for adjusting them but it can be done without. There are two bolts that go through the upper control arm shaft. If you losen them up the shaft will slide and you can change the position of the upper balljoint. If the suspension is even partially loaded you can get things fairly close your trying for the tire to be straight up and down with no tilt in or out at the top(camber) and 1/16-1/8" toe in. Don't worry about caster it may cause pulling but generally won't wear tires out. Remember we're just trying to get close enough to get it to an alignment shop without shredding the tires.

 

I also had a 67 Charger in 69-70, yellow with the 318, sure wish I had it now.!!!

Rod 51F1

 

I sure wish I had mine too. Mine was silver with the 318. Mom's grocery getter was a 66 with the 383--silver with red interior and a whole lot nicer than mine. Just to keep this posting legit... I also had a 68 F100. It seems like I could never keep them both running at the same time. It was harder to try and align, my brother had nailed a few curbs and bent one of the "I" beams...ugh

Bobby

 

I posted in our local Mustang forum looking for a good alignment shop for my 55, no steering column and no brakes..

the local Ford dealer rep, said come on in and they'll do it, and check it when I've got the rest finished..

Just got to get the time.

Sam

 

This may be a stupid question, or none of my business, but I just have to ask.
Why worry about having the frontend aligned before it can be driven on the street. I've been driving my 51 F1 as my daily driver for almost 2 years now and I never had it aligned. I just make sure everything is safe on the frontend and as long as it drives ok, and doesn't pull or scuff the tires I don't worry about them.