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Old 09-18-2019, 05:58 PM
John Milner's Avatar
John Milner John Milner is online now
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Default 74 GTO Wheel Alignment

I have a 74 gto that does not drive well. I took it in to get aligned and they said that they could only adjust the "toe in." They could not get the caster/camber to where it needed to be. The car wants to track left or right when I drive it now. I can also hear the front tires making noise when I am just driving at a slow speed. There used to be alignment shims where the upper control arms bolt to. Now there are no shims. Is this unusual to see no shims there?

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Old 09-18-2019, 06:41 PM
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Well the first thing I would do is never take it back to that shop. They should have known that the alignment requires shims. Some shops will charge you for those shims, but that's how you change the alignment on these cars unless you have adjustable control arms.

I'd call around in your area to the various alignment shops and verify that they are familiar with 60-70's gm suspension alignments and if they have the necessary shims to do so.

If you have more modern radial tires, shoot for a more modern alignment spec.

-.5* camber
+2-3* caster
1/16th toe in

On the caster, realistically you should shoot for as much as you can get out of the factory arms, especially if it had power steering. If it's manual steering going over 2* positive is going to start increasing how hard it is to turn the wheel. Most factory arms aren't going to allow any more than 2.5-3* positive caster.

If you're after a more performance oriented alignment, target 1* negative camber and 0 toe to 1/16th toe out.

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Old 09-18-2019, 07:01 PM
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That’s the problem, there just aren’t many alignment shops very close. The car actually drove pretty well before I brought it in. I replaced the bushings, ball joints and tie rod ends. After alignment it drives awful. I would say borderline dangerous to drive. I have manual steering in the car currently. I just want it to drive straight and normally. Thanks for your help.

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Old 09-18-2019, 07:26 PM
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You can try a self alignment tool. They range in price from 50ish to several hundred for really nice ones. You can use that to set the caster and camber, then I like the string around the rear wheels method to set your toe.

The shins should be available almost anywhere.

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Old 09-18-2019, 07:37 PM
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No shims now? If they couldn't adjust anything but toe, why would they touch the shims?

Likely now, you have a bunch of positive camber instead if negative, and virtually no caster. And left/right are probably not even close to each other. Makes me wonder where they landed on the toe-in too. No wonder it drives so poorly.

If you can't find a competent shop in your area, you might just be better off figuring out how to do alignments at home. Invest in some equipment available at online speed shops (Eastwood, Jegs, Summitracing, SpeedwayMotors, etc.) and with patience and some trial and error you can get it dialed in as close as any shop (even way closer than the one you used).

And when you do it, go with the values JLMounce stated, not the original factory. It will feel light years better than stock.

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Last edited by amcmike; 09-18-2019 at 07:44 PM.
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Old 09-19-2019, 09:33 AM
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You might end up like the rest of us who do our own alignments... Its not hard.. I bought one of these angle finders, it made alignments so much easier..


Last edited by 389; 04-25-2022 at 05:43 PM.
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Old 09-19-2019, 10:53 AM
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I think the shop plain didn't know how to align it, since it didn't have alignment 'cams' to turn.

Many shops don't even carry shims anymore, I always bring my own. I bought a box of them from Summit that had an assortment and it's lasted for years.

You just need to find a different shop, call around, just about any good repair shop has an alignment rack. As if they do 'early' cars, and if you have troubles, maybe ask folks at your local cruise spot.

.

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Old 06-23-2020, 06:19 PM
70gtojosh 70gtojosh is offline
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The shop did not know or did not want to do it right, I would wonder why they could not just tell you that they were not interested in the job. Since I can only trust myself and two other guys to work on my cars. ( one guy is dead) I took the money I would have spent on taking it to a shop and spent it on turntables, caster/ camber gauges. Look into how the dirt racer guys align their cars they find vehicle centerline to help set toe. There's more than one way to skin a cat. You can do it and get good results just takes time to set it up and expect some trial and error.

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Old 06-26-2020, 09:34 PM
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yup agree with above, if they took out all shims, it's got a problem. Did they give you a print out?
we do on every alignment. -.5 camber and positive caster, may not be able to get a lot of caster, but need as much as possible.
toe should be around 1/16 toe in . Sounds as though you have lots of toe out causing it to go anywhere it wants.

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Old 06-28-2020, 08:05 PM
Goatracer1 Goatracer1 is offline
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If you live near a large city there must be an alignment shop that can help you. Look for one that has been around for a long time.

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Old 07-05-2020, 06:41 PM
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Keep the camber around negative .25, caster positive 1.5 drivers/2 passengers side/ toe in 1/16-1/16... Lots of negative camber will have that car searching for groves in the road because the tires are not flat. Manual steering does not need a lot of caster.

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