Van

Let me know if you can find them... I tried searching, and it looks like they're no longer stocked by HF...

shiners780

A friend of mine makes this http://www.bbxracing.com/product_inf...products_id=69. It is a pretty slick setup for DIY alignments and corner balancing.

krystar

wow that IS really slick. and sticker shock too! hehe

shiners780

It's the type of tool you get some buddies to go in on and share. A couple hundred apiece and you're good to go.

CurtP

Looks like they're no longer available. I may swing by the local store tomorrow to see if they happen to have any sitting on the shelf. I've been putting off buying them because from what i've read, they don't float, only swivel. They would have been handy for setting caster though.


Nice, but the price is beyond ridiculous. Not only would you need a lot of friends to make them affordable, but all your buddies better have the same bolt pattern.

Eric_Oz_S2

I do my own wheel alignments and use tools from the hardware shop which I adapted. For toe in/out I use a short spirit level with a laser built in (cost me AUD$25) mounted in an aluminium channel that has four bolts drilled through the bottom of the channel spaced to match the wheel rim edges. I then mount the channel and laser on the wheel and shoot a line to a piece of 8ft long 3x2 timber sitting on axle stands in front of the car (parallel with the front axle line). Mark the timber, repeat for other side, then move the piece of timber 2.4m further away from the car and line up one of the marks on the timber with the laser (ie move the timber laterally until the laser hits the mark). Repeat for the other side and them measure the distance between the mark and laser. If you divide this distance by 4 (2400mm/600mm wheel dia), this is equal to the toe in mm. In degrees it will be tan-1 (dist/2400).

For camber measurement (assuming flat floor) I use an electronic angle measurer ($30 from hardware) fixed to an aluminium T, again with bolts drilled at the ends to match the wheel rim. I use two vinyl tiles with grease between them under each wheel as slip plates. Adjusting camber is done using the eccentric bolts. I find I can get about -2 degrees with the stock strut mounts.

For rear toe you need the porsche tool (AUD$25) which makes the job a lot easier.

I started doing my own alignments after the Porsche specialist mucked up the last alignment (although he did refund the $220 charge after I pointed out his error).

Mark944na86

Cool! Another Brisbane S2 dude!

Where are you, man?

I had to read the first paragraph above three times before i could figure it out, but I can see what you're doing... simple and clever.

For front camber adjustment, I just now got out an 18" spirit level, stood it vertically next to the tire, and measure the distances from the top of the rim to the level, and from the bottom of the rim to level. Found the difference (about 15mm), divided by the rim diameter (470mm), and took the inverse tan to get about -1.8 degrees each side (which tallies well with your -2 degrees).

I don't understand the need for the slip plates in setting the camber -- can you explain?

This is all very cool... I think I've definitely paid for my last "pro" alignment!

How long have you owned your S2?

Eric_Oz_S2

Mark,

I've had the S2 for about 9 months now. If you are interested in motorsport events you should think about joining the Porsche Club of Qld - http://www.porsche-qld.org.au/. Lot's of fun events - just went to the hill climb this morning. Check out the calendar and galleries.

I'm on the north side of Brisbane.

The slip plates are required so that the camber is truly representative of the camber when the car is moving (unpressed). You will notice that without the slip plates the camber will be less -ve by up to 0.5 degrees. Slip plates are essential for setting the toe as well.

shiners780

Ridiculous? Not when you are paying $200+ for alignments and corner balances all the time. Especially for track guys who are tweaking suspension setups constantly.

A proper set of tools shared by a few guys will pay for itself within a couple seasons at most.

Agreed, it may not be for the casual user.

Mark944na86

So you are saying that if the wheels are on level slip plates, the measured camber will be higher than if they are on(say) a level concrete floor?

How many degrees of freedom in a slip plate? I thought they just turned on a single vertical axis. Perhaps I'm being dense, butI think I'm still missing something basic here...

Actually, I'm a lapsed member of the PCQ, but coincidently am just about to renew my membership. I would have come along to this weeks club meeting, in fact,, except a) it was my birthday, and b) the guest speaker topic that evening was "prostate cancer".

Maybe I'll catch you at a meeting. Not many 944 guys these days, I hear from Bob (club mag editor), who use to be a 951 guy but has since moved on to a (very nice) 964...

Mark944na86

If he's selling enough of these at that price to make a decent profit and stay in business, it's not a ridiculous price. I can imagine lots of situations where something like that would seem to be a very good time saving investment.

Depends partly on how much you value your time, of course. Some people pay surprising amounts for seemingly trifling extra convenience; others will walk a mile over broken glass in bare feet to save a buck -- and be satisfied they got a bargain! Diff'rent strokes...

Eric_Oz_S2

If you don't use slip plates the suspension can be preloaded by the toe of the wheels and binding in the suspension bushes. Imagine if you had lots of toe in, the wheels would try and push together thus making the camber more positive. I have measured camber with and without slip plates and when I don't use slip plates the result can be quite variable (without changing suspension settings). The slip plates I use can move in any direction as they are simply two vinyl tiles with grease between them.

At yesterdays hill clim there were 3 stripped out 944s, 1 968CS and my (comparatively heavy) S2.

I'm not interested in stripping the S2, but might add a supercharger after stiffening up the suspension and improving my driving skills.

North Coast Cab

I put a little oil in a gallon zip lock freezer bag and put a bag under each wheel. Works like a charm.
Been using the Smart Strings for a couple years and they are very effective, just need to be patient on set-up and make sure you have a level garage.

JimV8

Thats a great setup.

Mark944na86

Ok, thanks, that makes sense.

Presumably you'd be looking for a SC set-up that allows you to keep your aircon in Brisbane! Have you been looking into any kits/set-ups in particular?