67 barracuda alignment specs needed

[bluefish1967]

After installing a Firm Feel steering box, pitman arm and new shocks on Bluefish, I finally got it to the alignment shock. They said it all went well, so I drove the car home and it drives horribly.
After some checking, I found on their alignment sheets that they used specs for 1970-1974 Barracuda's instead of 1967.
I'm assuming the specs would be different, but I haven't been able to find the right specs to compare. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. Larry

 

[68gtxman]

Here are the specs for radial tires. Make sure they set the ride height correctly first!!! They cheat with this when they can't meet the specs, so they lower the ride height inappropriately. If this is the case, then you need to install the Moog offset upper control arm bushings.

 

[67Dart273]

^^The above^^. The ORIGINAL specs are in the factory shop manuals which you can download from MyMopar for free. YOU DO NOT want to use those unless you are using bias ply tires. The chart above comes from this article

Turn of the screw: front end alignment for performance on classic Mopars

 

[72bluNblu]

The factory alignment specs for a '67 Barracuda are exactly the same as for a '70-'74 Barracuda, with the exception of the ride height spec. I'm going to take a wild *** guess that they didn't set the ride height by the factory specs anyway, so it doesn't matter.

And it's already been said, but the factory alignment specs are 100% wrong for radials. They are in fact the opposite of what you want. Factory specs call for positive camber and negative caster, and with radials you want negative camber and positive caster. Use the SKOSH chart posted above for camber specs, and run as much positive caster as you can get. With power steering you can run far more positive caster than what is even in the SKOSH chart (although with stock UCA's you won't get that much anyway).

 

[bluefish1967]

View attachment 1714945895
Here are the specs for radial tires. Make sure they set the ride height correctly first!!! They cheat with this when they can't meet the specs, so they lower the ride height inappropriately. If this is the case, then you need to install the Moog offset upper control arm bushings.

Thanks for the info....guess I should have looked it up before taking it into a shop.
The specs they used look nothing like this. Guess I'll have to see if they will work with me, or if I'll need to find a different alignment shop. Thanks. Larry

 

[72bluNblu]

Thanks for the info....guess I should have looked it up before taking it into a shop.
The specs they used look nothing like this. Guess I'll have to see if they will work with me, or if I'll need to find a different alignment shop. Thanks. Larry

You might not have much luck. Most of the large alignment shops will only align to factory specifications because of liability. It's ridiculous, because you're not running bias ply tires, so really the liability is running radials with a bias-ply alignment. But, most of the guys that work at tire and alignment shops these days weren't even alive when bias-ply tires were the norm from the factory. So, they probably have NO idea why the specs are different. Maybe if you find someone with some critical thinking skills they'll do it the right way if you explain the problems with the factory specs, but that might take a few trips to different shops. Most of those guys are just "plug and play", following what the computer tells them to do.

 

[67Dart273]

........Or learn to align it yourself. It's not that hard, and there's tons of info on the internet. "The least" of what you'll need is something for turning plates. Some guys use tiles, greased sheet metal, google it.

You'll need a way of setting toe. If you have two people this is easy......a method (scratch device) to mark a rotating plane on the tires, and a tape measure

A member here, Crackedback, makes it even simpler. He puts a 2x4 outside of each tire on top of soda cans. Ideally you want at spindle level. Measure front and back to the 2x4

You'll need either a caster / camber gauge or at the least something (built bought, other) to measure the tilt of the wheels, IE camber. You don't "measure" caster, you figure it from camber.

Here:

Demon Alignment

and post 7

Doing an alignment in the driveway on a 72 scamp

I don't even have a shop. I put my car on the trailer and leveled it up and used it

I bought this toe gauge and scratcher device off ebay for a song and a dance The scratch device, at top of photo, you hold it under the tire when jacked up by the lower arm. You rotate the tire, and the scratcher indicates a true rotating plane around the tire. That is from where you measure toe, front and back

I had to cut the stands down for the toe gauge because they were way too tall....for trucks. 10 min. with a hacksaw, and a piece of tubing to go across. You don't need this device if you have two guys

I got lucky and found an old but useable Ammco caster / camber gauge off CL, as well as some old, dirty turning plates

Measuring CAMBER is easy. You need an accurate way to measure the amount in degrees which to tops of the wheels are tilted..... "inwards" for radial tires.

CASTER is almost as easy. You need a protractor, what you do is turn the wheels IN 20 degrees and measure the camber angle. Then turn them OUT 20 degrees and measure that angle. Take the DIFFERENCE between those two measurements and multiply X 1.5. That is your caster.

The Ammco gauge above does just that, by means of what amounts to a slide rule built into the device.

 

[Lonewolf3165]

Measuring it is only half the battle. Where shops/technicians have trouble, especially with older cars, is in making the correct adjustments & in the correct order. Adjustments MUST be made in the correct order or nothing will be correct in the end. Ride height 1st, then CASTER, Then CAMBER & finally TOE. The most common problem is people don't know how to correctly adjust the Caster & Camber with the eccentric bolts & that causes problems.
I always(after verifying the ride height is in spec & adjusting that as necessary) Set Caster to as much as I can get out of it, because inevitably you are going to have to give up some of it when adjusting camber into spec. Then set my Camber to my desired spec & finish with Toe.
If you don't know how to make adjustments correctly with the eccentrics then it is probably best left up to a professional who is familiar with doing it.

 

[6pk2goDemon]

1st step--Check & adjust tire pressure. It makes a difference....