I am planning to start doing my own alignments on my 944Cup car, and was wondering about experiences with the SmartCamber and Longacre digital camber/caster products. The prices are pretty close, are there any differences in function or ease of use?

I just purchased the rear toe tool for the 944 and am looking for an inexpensive toe adjusting tool. Prices seem to run anywhere from $12 for a simple bar to $400 for a Smart Strings setup, with many systems priced in-between. I would
appreciate any real world experiences with these products.

Thanks for your help

 

Good luck. The 944's are a PITA to align. I hated doing mine. I'm not sure that you can get great leverage without the car being in the air on an alignment rack. I resorted to using ratcheting tie down straps to hold camber while I adjusted toe. This was easier than the tightrope walk you do with these cars and those F'n eccentrics.

Buy good gloves with padding on the knuckles. You'll be glad you did.

 

Here's a neat product that makes self-alignments easier: http://www.bbxracing.com/product_inf...products_id=69

 

I have the Smart camber gauge and I found that with the hands free attachment and the standard length posts I couldn't use it on my 944's rear wheels because it interfered with the wheelwell. To get it to work I bought 2 of the longer posts and another T-shaped nut from Smart and I use it without the hands free part. FYI- I have 15" wheels and the rockers are about 4.5" off the ground. I built my own string system, you can use jackstands for this too, the advantage of the Smart strings is that they are easier to set-up and allow you to roll/bounce the car without worrying about messing up the string location.

 

Thanks for the replies. I know that alignment is a PITA on the 944, but its difficult to find someone willing to take the time to do it right in most commercial shops. The stands suggested by shiners780 look great, but are not within my budget. I know that camber and toe are interrelated (maybe caster?). What is the adjustment sequence?

 

Caster affects camber affects toe.

 

Conventional wisdom seems to say use as much caster as possible for racing. I will max out the caster adjustment, then set the camber and then the toe. Is that correct?

 

I make a string box around my car, string on jack stands, start with the back, order as you suggest. I put on my CCW's as they have a well defined lip that sticks out past the tires and the hubs. They give a very good surface to measure to and I've figured out the track width expected front and rear so it doesn't take long to make the string box lines parallel to each other. In the back it is very hard to move toe without changing camber. The front is much easier. I measure with bubble level and calipers. I use a long screw driver to pry the toe alignement in place of the special tool. I measure everything, jack the car up, take the wheels off, mark the positions of adjusters, break them loose, adjust, put the car down, roll it in and out of the garage then repeat. An impact wrench makes it a lot quicker.

 

Thanks, can you give me a little more detail on how you use the bubble level and calipers? Is this for Camber or toe?

 

It is important to have a very level spot to do the measurement. A couple of jugs with a siphon hose between them can be used to verify that the spots you plan to park to check it are in fact level with each other.

I use the bit that sticks out the end of the caliper rather than the jaws for measurement.

Use the bubble level and calipers for camber, touch one end of an 18" bubble level to the lip of the rim at the bottom , use the caliper to measure the gap at the top if the level is held vertical, a little trig to calculate the angle. .47" gap is 1.5deg .63" gap is 2deg, .786" is 2.5deg.

Measure from the string box to the front and back of each rim, when the gap is the same you have zero toe. I have a couple of identical boards I use to double check toe. Clamp a board to each front wheel, measure the track width from board to board in front and back.

Camber is 'right' when you get even tire temperatures when you come off track if you want minimum wear, best grip it should be a little cooler on the outer edge. Toe is right when it is close enough to zero to not kill the inner edges and handles the way you want it to.

 

Sounds like a good suggestion. How do you use the jugs/hose to check the driveway is level? How and where do you clamp the boards to the wheels. Sorry for so many questions, but I want to give this a try tomorrow.

Thanks again

 

I raced a 944 from 1990 until this year and I used a smart camber and a toe bar, made by a stock car guy. But I still had the car professionally aligned every other year. If you do it yourself, you have a chance to align the front, and the rear, but not corresponding to each other. This could make the car go down the road like a crab. A pro aligns front and rear, and makes sure they are aligned together. That's hard to do without a machine. I used the smart camber to check alignment every 2 or 3 races. The any major alignment was done by a professional.

Just MHO

Bill Seifert
1999 Honda Civic SI Race Car
1998 Boxster

 

Fill two identical jugs about half full with water. Run a plastic hose b/t them, fill the hose with water so you have a siphon going, verify that if you pick one up, fluid flows to the other. Set the jugs where you plan to place the tires when you park the car. The fluid level should be identical in each jug after the siphon has a chance to even out the level.

My camber boards have a sort of half circle inner layer, a rectangular outer layer. I set the boards so that the half circle is in contact only with the rim, the rectangle sits on the floor. That way the contact surface for the toe board is the rim not the tire and the board sits on the floor so it is easy to run a steel tape on the floor b/t the boards without a helper.

 

A carefully set string box around the car makes it possible to set the thrust angle in the back so you don't drive with a 'crab'. The pro's equipment makes it easier but it can be done right on your own.

 

Sounds good, I'll try it out tomorrow. Sears has a 24" digital laser level on sale for $50 and a 10" one for $40. It seems if I make a couple of adapters to the outer edge of the rim, it should read the camber directly.

Heres a link:
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...8293000P?mv=rr