Nice work. It feels good to clean off old parts. I need to learn this string alignment method.
Regarding cosmoline removal techniques, spraying it with WD40 helps ease removal.
Those FVD pieces are 993 parts you adapted to the 964 or are they 964 specific parts made with the 993-style joint?
The FVD inner tie rods are specific to a 964 C4 (the C2 is longer), and a stock 964 outer tie ball. I have upgraded too much to be specific which part has made the difference, but the drive is very precise, no vagueness in the steering.
A set of HUBStands make alignments easy with the wheels off the car giving access to all of the adjustment bolts while still under load. I use these along with smart strings for all of my cars except the tow vehicle. I purchased them for my E36 M3 race car and found that one hub adapter fits all of my 911's and my NC Miata as well. Hub adapters with other bolt patterns are also available. They aren't cheap and probably aren't practical if you don't have a race car that needs an alignment after every race.
To wrap this thread up, it has been very interesting learning and persisting with the DIY Alignment. I started with the RS as per manual settings. But I have never been super happy with the cornering. Finally after a few changes I feel it is nailed for NZ roads: -1 Camber, 4.25 Caster, and almost neutral with a slight toe-in. The car is tracking, and cornering with a real sharpness. I guess this is personal, but it is great to dial in the setting you like.
I guess this will all start again when the Tarett spring plates arrives
I moved to 17” fuchs from the 16” D90s and ended up with a bit of wheel arch rub. So, I replaced the 6mm steering limiter spacer with a 10mm. Nothing to difficult. Here are some pics...
Small wheel arch rub from the 17” wheels and 6mm limiter. 6mm against the 10mm Check the toe, all good.
Can you be sure the toe without reference to the other side? Meaning don't you have to square the car first before measurement?
Thanks!
Andrew
I have done several alignments by setting up square around the car. Using that reference I can now set a parallel line per side by removing the centre caps and measuring from the axle to the line front & rear. The rear track is 6mm (3mm per side) narrower than the front. Once you have the line set up then you are good to go.
The gap I have circled is that normal ? When I put the 10 mm spacers in my car I don’t recall it being there or is it because of the type of tie rods used?
Another thing I have always read our axle ends were parallel but you state the rear is wider by 6mm. I don’t doubt you just courious of how that was determined.
You work on this is inspirinng me to do the big clean on my control arms some day
Thank you in advance
JohnK964
Congrats Spoke,
Thanks for sharing your experience on setting the alignement.
I have to try and learn to do it. are you in future checking corner weight ?
The gap I have circled is that normal ? When I put the 10 mm spacers in my car I don’t recall it being there or is it because of the type of tie rods used?
Another thing I have always read our axle ends were parallel but you state the rear is wider by 6mm. I don’t doubt you just courious of how that was determined.
You work on this is inspirinng me to do the big clean on my control arms some day
Thank you in advance
JohnK964
Hi JK,
Yes, the manual states a 4-5mm gap. See below a cut from the manual. The limiter spacer also acts a locking nut. I also measured the gap before and after so I could set the space the same. This kept the overall length of the tie rod the same - no toe adjustment required. Note the 10mm limiter spacer has a recessed space on one side ~4mm.
Another thing I have always read our axle ends were parallel but you state the rear is wider by 6mm. I don’t doubt you just courious of how that was determined.
Good question. When I was learning about DIY wheel alignments (big thanks to Steve.W for putting me on to "How to make your car handle - Fred Puhn", an oldie but a goodie) and how to set up, measuring track, determining the centre line etc, I researched the track of the 964NB. Almost most data stated rear track: 1374mm and front track: 1380mm. Rear is 6mm narrower.
Congrats Spoke,
Thanks for sharing your experience on setting the alignement.
I have to try and learn to do it. are you in future checking corner weight ?
Thanks
Hey Kos, I haven't checked the corner weights. I don't have the kit to do that (yet). Arguably I should do it to get the final tuning, but I dislike others touching my car.
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