powdrhound

I just got a new alignment and corner balance on my car done by one of the local Cup racers at his skunk works shop. All I have to say wow! It is much better that my last alignment as my old alignment specs were scrapped and as it was set up to new specs per his recommendation. With some sway bar and shock tweaking done by him at the track this past Friday, the car feels fantastic. It feels so good that I was able to take almost 2 seconds off my best time on a 2.5 mile course late Friday. One interesting thing about his alignment is the fact that instead of attaching the alignment gear to the wheel itself, he removed the large 26mm hub nuts and screwed the alignment gear directly onto the hub. This was done so that the alignment sensors are perfectly aligned with the wheel hub instead of clipped onto the wheel as most shops do. When you clip the alignment gear onto the lip of the wheel, any minor wheel run out or even irregular paint build up on the lip surface will result in errors to creep into the final product. I never really though of that but it makes sense. The corner balance was performed by the weight sensor pads all perfectly leveled with a laser. Total weight of the car with 13 gallons of fuel without driver ballast is 3248lbs. Good stuff. Enjoy....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87731073@N06/9442295482/http://www.flickr.com/photos/87731073@N06/9442295482/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/87731073@N06/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87731073@N06/9442297070/http://www.flickr.com/photos/87731073@N06/9442297070/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/87731073@N06/, on Flickr

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pete95zhn

This thread is worthless without numbers!!

What's your ride height F/R? As per factory's measurement points?

powdrhound

The ride height is 101mm front and 120mm rear. I can dig up and post the other numbers later.

TT Surgeon

Man, I love your car!
c

Th Dude

Where is this shop located? Just had that RUF suspension installed and have a few kinks to works out.

GreggT

............alignment gear directly onto the hub. This was done so that the alignment sensors are perfectly aligned with the wheel hub instead of clipped onto the wheel as most shops do.......

Some impressive looking alignment gadgets that fella has there...........many high-end tuners /race shops still prefer the traditional old-school method.

32krazy!

if im not being to crass what does something like this cost? alignment and corner balance. how many times a yr do you do this?

F1CrazyDriver

Awesome John... great looking car! let me know when you are in town and lets get an late lunch/ early dinner ...btw thank you for all the advice and knowledge transfer via pm/text

CincyScott

That is totally bada$$. I bet he didn't scratch the p*ss out of your rims like my shop did too!

powdrhound

Denver. It's not really a mainstream shop. No sign, no advertising. Just word of mouth. All cup cars and track cars..

powdrhound

I think every shop has their preferred method of doing things. He said that over the course of 400+ alignments on these cars this is the method that he prefers for accuracy, speed and precision. I think the big advantage with this method is the fact that it takes any wheel runout out of the equasion. Other alignment methods including the old school string method still take measurements off of the wheel lip. He knocked it out start to finish in a shade over two hours and that included reshimming the LCAs all while chatting it up with me. The owner of the shop is a pretty amazing individual, raced Porsches for a living for 20 years and recently retired. Was also a mechanic and knows these cars inside out down to rebuilding these motors, gearboxes, etc. I've ridden as a passanger in his 996 Cup and his 997 GT3 and both times was the most incredible display of driving I have ever seen. To see him in a bone stock GT3 with worn out R888s (and my a** in passanger seat) reel in other skilled drivers in GT3 RSs on Hoosiers was nothing short of impressive. I'm very fortunate to have him as a driving coach, mechanic, and mentor and he has improved my lap times tremendously over a very short period he's been working with me. His driving approach is unlike any PCA instructor I have ever driven with. He teaches fast driving which is not necessarily the "textbook" driving that the average PCA DE instructor teaches. It works...

powdrhound

Thanks Enrique. Lets shoot for a late lunch on Wednesday Enrique, maybe around 2pm if that works for you. I will be in Emeryville. I'll text you tomorrow to coordinate.

pete95zhn

Rather low, Kussmaul's 115/128. But I guess the guy knows what he's doing.

That would be nice!

powdrhound

Here ya go Pete:

Front camber: -2.7 per side
Front toe: +0.05' total
Castor: 7.5
Rear camber: -2.3 per side
Rear toe: +0.34' total

Ride height: 101mm front, 120mm rear
Weight: 3248lbs with 13 gal. of fuel without driver ballast.

The last step is changing the front uprights to the GT2 uprights, fine tuning the spring rates and the sways. The car has come a long way and it's still very much streetable.

GreggT

Agree w/Pete that 101 is down there in front.
Also.....significant negative front camber. Is an increase from what you have had?......if so I'd be curious how she tracks......and if you street this car, how you see your front street rubber wearing.

Thanks for sharing.