Basic chassis alignment to get me to the MOT

[italian job]

I'm getting towards the end of my re build,everything on the chassis has been changed,all bushes,ball joints and track rod ends. Obviously all alignment settings will be all over the place,can anyone point me in the direction of a thread or web page that will allow me to get the wheels roughly pointing in the right direction to get me to an MOT and then onwards to somewhere with more sophisticated equipment than my string and bits of wood/metal!
I'm not after perfection,i'll happily,well not happily,but will pay for a proper set up post MOT.

Cheers Paul.

[phazed]

i wouldn't be too fussed.


Use a level on the wheels and ensure a tad if any camber.

I did my tracking by eye and it was only 2 degrees out.

As for the rear wishbones, ensure that they are even and you can use a straight edge with a couple of stand off points from the rim to ensure a rough equalness.

[italian job]

Cheers Phazed.

[blitzracing]

You can get some wood and string clues here on my Ginetta site- although IO dont know what angles / measurements you need.

http://www.g33.co.uk/setting_up.htm

[italian job]

blitzracing said:

You can get some wood and string clues here on my Ginetta site- although IO dont know what angles / measurements you need.

http://www.g33.co.uk/setting_up.htm

That's brilliant.

Thanks for replying.

Paul.

[J400GED]

I wouldn't worry about it for the MOT, so long as it looks about right. An MOT test doesn't check wheel alignment.

[italian job]

J400GED said:

I wouldn't worry about it for the MOT, so long as it looks about right. An MOT test doesn't check wheel alignment.

Its more for my safety and everyone else on the road while I'm travelling to the MOT station,and to not knacker my tyres.

[phazed]

I drove well over 100 miles to Matt Smith for alignment after setting up by eye.

Car felt good and no tyre wear.

All this alignment stuff is rubbish

[mk1fan]

Judging by your line choice at Brands last year I'd agree that alignement has little effect on your driving

Only a week to go. Weather is going to be brilliant. We'll need to sort out that driftday soon to!

[chimyellow]

blitzracing said:

You can get some wood and string clues here on my Ginetta site- although IO dont know what angles / measurements you need.

http://www.g33.co.uk/setting_up.htm

I used this approach as a guide but did it a little more Heath robinsonly. I used a spirit level to make sure that there was a little negative camber all round.
I just used long lengths of wood clamped to the rears so that they almost touched the fronts then added toe in so that the front of wood moved in by about half an inch.
I then repeated the same on the fronts so that the wood almost reached the rears, then moved them out by an inch.

This was not perfect but was fine to get to the MOT and back which was around three miles each way, then to a place about 10 miles away to get the wheels aligned properly (the MOT places alignment gear was out of order).
It was noticeably better on the way back after the alignment!

[italian job]

chimyellow said:

I used this approach as a guide but did it a little more Heath robinsonly. I used a spirit level to make sure that there was a little negative camber all round.
I just used long lengths of wood clamped to the rears so that they almost touched the fronts then added toe in so that the front of wood moved in by about half an inch.
I then repeated the same on the fronts so that the wood almost reached the rears, then moved them out by an inch.

This was not perfect but was fine to get to the MOT and back which was around three miles each way, then to a place about 10 miles away to get the wheels aligned properly (the MOT places alignment gear was out of order).
It was noticeably better on the way back after the alignment!

Thanks very much for the info.
Paul