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Hello all. Progressing through my build and almost at go kart stage. Would anyone happen to know of a good alignment shop on long island, NY (the car is in Farmingdale) ? As you can imagine, I am protective of my new build and don't want to give my Cobra to a typical shop that is not familiar with this type of car. thanks.
I know this doesn't answer your question. But, have you considered doing it yourself? An alignment tool like a Fastrax works great. It takes a little while to do, but you will know exactly what you are set at.
If you go to a shop, go to one that sets up racecars. Regular shops tend to use in the ballpark settings.
I ended up doing this myself. Seeing mine is an IRS rear I knew it was going to take a while. I bought the alignment tools and it ended up taking me about 8 hours to get it right where I wanted it. Its not that difficult but takes time to do it right. Most shops will not spend the time to do it just right. As said above they will get it close.
I did my own, using a digital level, taped to a length of aluminum angle cut to the diameter of my wheels and two home made turn plates for camber and caster.
What seems most difficult is getting an accurate measurement of the wheelbase on both sides. If you have a fenderless car or have the body off, it's not too difficult.
I see some products sold that look to be of questionable accuracy, like one that requires eyeballing the 15 or 20 degree turn needed to measure caster. I marked 20 degree lines on my turn plates to insure accuracy.
I bought Longacre toe plates to set the toe. They seemed to work well.
I did my own because the frame builder for my car misaligned the upper A-arm pivots, so the wheelbase was off by an inch from one side to other and there was virtually no caster. Significant rebuilding was needed, before an alignment could be done.
Wow Dave, that sounds like a project. I am going the assume my A Arms are fine. That said, I figure if I can build a car, I should be able to figure out the alignment. Avalanche, I will definately check out the Fastrax tool. thanks for the replies.
Even the fastrax requires turn plates. Turn plates are easily made with 16 inch square pieces of MDF or particle board and two pieces of clear plexiglass - also from home Depot. I smeared clear grease between the plates, for easy turning. Marking 20 degree lines from the corners of the board is simple. Use the edge of the board and plexiglass as the zero point, then turn the tire 20 degrees in each direction and multiply the total change in camber times 1.5 to get caster.