SiberianDVM

when I live in a town with no Porsche dealers, no Porsche mechanics, and the independent shops don't want to deal with doing an alignment on my 911.

As many bad things as I have said about the local BMW dealership charging an arm and both legs, they stepped up and volunteered to do a 4 wheel alignment on it.

I have an appointment Tuesday morning. I'm planning on taking the Bentley manual and a set of hex head sockets with me just in case. I'll let you know how it goes.

race911

There is NOTHING weird, or time consuming about aligning a torsion bar 911. Other than you have to align the four wheels. Most consider a four wheel alignment merely measuring thrust angle on the rear, setting the front toe, and off you go.

So if you get someone who genuinely WANTS to do the job, AND do it right............

First, let's separate out the ride height and corner balance/cross weight. If you're not at least at that point, suggest you deal with a race shop. There's got to be someone in your general area. They don't have to be Porsche guys. Anyone who deals in formula cars will know what to do. Of course, after he curses that there are fenders and body parts in the way.

So if we are truly just wanting an alignment, yeah they'll get it jigged up on the rack with the sensors. From there, you get your rear camber set. That's the eccentric buried in the hole of the trailing arm. Being even is more important than being maximum. Concurrently, you'll want to see where you are with front camber, trying to find the happy medium of front-to-rear.

Once camber is set, then the rear toe, and making sure you have ZERO thrust angle. (1/8" toe in does no good if you're 1/4" out on one side and 3/8" in on the other.) Then the front toe.

I'm purposely not mentioning specs.......

Back on my old Hunter C111, on a good day, I could knock out a torsion bar (the only ones they made at the time) 911, start-to-finish, in about an hour. Typically was 1:15-1:45, though. Just have to work through it comprehensively.

911 Crazy

Just move here to Maine and see how few there are!

SiberianDVM

Thanks, race911, I'm gonna print that out and take it with me if you don't mind.

I serriously considered doing this myself with string or lasers but I just don't have a good enough work area right now.

We have a lot of dirt track racers around here, but where they get their alignments has so far eluded me. I'm still looking though.

Understand about the ride height and corner balance. I just put in 23mm and 30mm torsion bars, and Elephant Quickchange plates and polybronze bushings in the rear and bumpsteer kit in the front. Already had new shocks, tie rods and brakes. I know there are some other bushings and bearings I need to replace, but that will have to wait a few months.

I've got the ride height set to 1/4" lower than Euro. I'll get a corner balance and another alignment after I get the rest of the suspension upgraded.

Ed Hughes

I'm pretty sure I have a VERY detailed set of instructions on how to do this yourself, that a guy named Ray Scruggs put together years ago. It's what I used the first time I aligned mine, and it came out pretty darned well, if I do say so. Anything you need is really available at Home Depot or Lowes. If you're interested, PM me you email, and I can send them to you to peruse.

SiberianDVM

Thanks Ed, will do, as it is something I would like to be able to do, eventually.

Silvertarga

I guess I better finish my suspension refurb and get the alignment here in St Louis before I move to Surfside Beach SC..