My daily driver 67 Coronet wagon

[ckessel]

I was busy doing homeowner stuff most of the morning then went to lunch with my honey and a friend. I did manage to put my tools and some other stuff away before lunch. That took about 15 minutes of wiping down and putting away. I had so much stuff out that it seemed dumb to add to the pile. Got the battery in and hooked up. Dropped some fluid in the p/s pump. I was hoping to get my angle drill on the pump nut to spin it and circulate the fluid, but there was not enough room. Just spun it my hand for a bit before putting the belt back on. After lunch I got the rotors loaded up with bearings and seals, then onto the spindles. Calipers on with new pads. Tomorrow I'll flush the brake system, then do the two person bleed. I'll cut some of the plate material for putting under the tires when I set them down so I can settle the suspension and see if I need to add turns on the bar adjusters. Want to get like an inch from the lower bumpers to the rails. Old stuff was around half an inch.

 

[ckessel]

Brake system flushed and bled. Cut some plated for the tires to move on. 16"x12". Put a little grease between each pair. Seems to work fine for settling the suspension. The 6 turns on the bar adjusters have me an inch from the arm bumper to the frame. I added one more turn since the car will settle some. The sway bar was fun getting in but I won. Had to remove one wheel/tire for swinging room. I went to put the links on but there is misalignment on the bar holes compared to the arm brackets. I'll give the Moog link a shot to help with that. Still need to purge the steering, will do that here in a bit. Piled up the old pieces on one of my dollies.

 

[ckessel]

Got the steering filled, and over filled. Did a few right to left turns with it to circulate fluid through. Made a mess of course. Got the car out of the garage and towed to the alignment shop. The one close to home doesn't do alignments anymore, so the car went to where I bought the tires. Its 15 miles away and I didn't want to kill my front tires. Get it back tomorrow sometime. Once I get it home, I'll work on the links. So far the steering feel reminds me of my 04 2x Cummins dually. Heavy feel, but thats ok. All the components are new and I didn't want pinkie steering.

 

[Kern Dog]

YOU can do the alignments yourself, man.

 

[qkcuda]

Got the steering filled, and over filled. Did a few right to left turns with it to circulate fluid through. Made a mess of course. Got the car out of the garage and towed to the alignment shop. The one close to home doesn't do alignments anymore, so the car went to where I bought the tires. Its 15 miles away and I didn't want to kill my front tires. Get it back tomorrow sometime. Once I get it home, I'll work on the links. So far the steering feel reminds me of my 04 2x Cummins dually. Heavy feel, but thats ok. All the components are new and I didn't want pinkie steering.

When I had my steering box rebuilt locally, they offered a firm feel option, so I took it. I have to say it is firmer than I expected, but you get used to it.

 

[ckessel]

I put it back close. Marked the cams, adjusted the tie rods to what I took off. Maybe down the road I'll invest in my own equipment to DIY. Right now, no. I'm looking forward to picking it up and see/butt dyno the changes. I'll pick up the Ford links while I'm in SLO and get them configured to work. I tried the usual setup, as its what I had, but no way was it going to work. The Lares box, got the standard one not the fast, so far feels on par with my dually's r&p unit. But like I said, there's all new pieces in the front end. It's for sure heavier than the over powered unit thats no longer there.

 

[Belvedere408]

YOU can do the alignments yourself, man.

How much equipment do I need to do a home alignment? I paid a shop 300$ last year for an alignment, which is down right robbery.

 

[RJ Squirrel]

Looking good bud, she will drive nice now!
I cringe when there is mention of "alignment shop" though. Those guys normally dont listen and wont let you help

 

[Kern Dog]

How much equipment do I need to do a home alignment? I paid a shop 300$ last year for an alignment, which is down right robbery.

I had a thread on this:

Alignment at home and aftermarket UCAS too.
The gauge itself:
https://www.amazon.com/Longacre-52-...hy=134287&hvtargid=pla-4584413735745524&psc=1

I made turning plates for pennies.
For under $200 you can get set up to do this yourself and from there, you won't need a professional anymore.

 

[Cop car wagon]

Big front sway bar, discs, big block.
Your car will drive great.
I miss my wagon.
All I have now is my foreign car wagons.

 

[Nxcoupe]

I had a thread on this:

Alignment at home and aftermarket UCAS too.
The gauge itself:
https://www.amazon.com/Longacre-52-...hy=134287&hvtargid=pla-4584413735745524&psc=1

I made turning plates for pennies.
For under $200 you can get set up to do this yourself and from there, you won't need a professional anymore.

How accurate is this gauge? I mean, sometimes caster is down to 2 decimal places, just curious if this is at least to the .1 of a degree? Thanks for posting this. I've always wanted my own set up

 

[Kern Dog]

How accurate is this gauge? I mean, sometimes caster is down to 2 decimal places, just curious if this is at least to the .1 of a degree? Thanks for posting this. I've always wanted my own set up

Without comparing the numbers that I got with a real alignment rack, there is no way to know.
No matter what, for under the cost of ONE poorly done alignment, you can start doing your own. We have all heard of guys that took their cars in while asking for settings that any competent tech should be able to get and then they leave with positive camber and 1 degree of caster...But the toe is perfect !

 

[ckessel]

Speaking of not listening to what the customer requested and also not calling to discuss when the job is underway...I talked to the main guy yesterday when I dropped it off. Asked for 1*-camber, 4-6* +caster, 1/16" toe in plus I wanted to know what the thrust angle was. I did get my camber and toe. The underling who did the work didn't attempt to get more than 3.5* on the caster. He put it where he thought it should be. He flubbed up when he said he didn't work the back cams. I called him yesterday to give him a heads up on the cam nuts and lower shaft nut being loose intentionally to help set the bushings before cinching down. All were loose as he told me. I said I'll take care of it when I got home. I had a discussion with him and his boss about the lack of communication about what I wanted and what he did on his own. He said he called me to discuss it but I shut that fib down. So...I'll take it back in 500 miles or so and his boss will do the settings I requested unless we discuss during the work. One thing the boss man told me though is that the thrust angle is off on the lh side, to the front, by 1/2". Wow! There are no signs of damage anywhere that I can see, so I'm figuring I have a Monday or Friday production car. Since the assembly lines were prehistoric compared to now, it was and was not a surprise. So I'm going to make a spacer to put between the front hanger and the unibody. Replace the existing bolts with longer ones to accommodate the change. I thought about hitting the spring perch hole with a carbide bit, after letting everything back there sag down and loosen up the u-bolts etc. But my thinking is do the spacer. Some lowering blocks have an adjustable spring pin but they are 1.5" or more and I don't want to drop the rear ride height.
Also I picked up my pair of Moog links and am getting them ready for hooking the bar to the arms.

 

[Kern Dog]

3 1/2 degrees of caster is actually pretty decent but I’d be pissed that the prick didn’t do what you asked for.

 

[ckessel]

Yeah. Plus 0 communication. New tech. He got coached by his boss as I was leaving. They were short handed but thats no excuse. Anyway...while I was in the shower, I decided to take the carbide bit to both spring perches. Slot one to the back, one to the front. 1/4" on each side. Will put a tape mark on the springs to guide me. Another thing I'll check tomorrow while it's up in the air for the links, make sure the diff housing isn't bent. Should be easy enough to measure between the sidewalls of the tires front and back. I do have a little head start on the alignment tools with the plates I cut and greased.

 

[RemCharger]

You can't demand certain final settings on these old turds. You just get the best you can or start hackin and spending.

 

[ckessel]

That part I get but the FF arms should help get me where I want to be. Unless the pickup points for the upper arms are off which does show up here and there for people even with the offset bushings. But again thats where communication needs to happen. For sure its way better than it was which is awesome.

 

[Kern Dog]

You can't demand certain final settings on these old turds. You just get the best you can or start hackin and spending.

Maybe.
There are lazy and poorly trained alignment guys too.
I’ve learned that the taller the ride height, the harder it is to get the numbers you want. It is how the steering knuckles are…. Caster goes positive as the suspension compresses and goes negative as it extends.

 

[ckessel]

I got the links done and hooked up. Took the car for a drive, steering and suspension feel great. Felt a little shuddering doing sharp turns. Figured thats the diff clutches working the lube in. Felt some other pulsing/shudder and checked the rear drums once I got to our stop. Left was fine, right was hot. So, too tight on the adjustment. Gotta take care of that tomorrow. Heard a pretty big noise from the front when I maneuvered in the driveway. Figure thats the links I just did. Check that tomorrow too.

 

[Belvedere408]

I recently put the navigator sway bar end links on my 67 and I haven't got any noise from them, just great handling.