Today I tried to measure my toe angles to at least get them in the ballpark before driving the car for the first time after my restoration.

Click to view attachment

I set up my jackstands to either side of the car with a fishing line between them at the height of the center of the wheels. I moved the jackstands so the distance from the center of the wheel to the line was 80 mm both in the front and the rear.

I then measured the distance from the line to the edge of the rim at 9 and 3 o clock.
In the front I have about 2-3 mm difference per side toe out (3 o clock measurement is larger than the 9 o clock measurment)

In the rear however the difference is around 10 mm per side and also toe out....?!

I dont know if my method of measuring is wrong or what is going on.....help!

The front and rear jack stands need to be spaced exactly the same distance apart , so you need four, and you build a rectangle.

The distance to the string at the front wheels is different then the rear wheels, the track is different.
Must use a box

Aaaah, I have four but I didnt know they had to be spaced the same front and rear, will remeasure in the morning. Thanks!

And the box needs to be aligned to the center line of the car, which is why you need a crossbar both in the front and the back, connecting the strings.

Kinda hard to describe in words ...

This thread has some good info about using strings:
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=125788



Basically, you need to do this:

Falcor, IMHO strings are a last resort if you are doing this at home. It is far easier with two 3m long straight edges and four jack stands. Put the car on the ground, set up one end at a time using the jack stands to sit the straight edge on across the outside of the tyres on one end of the car.

Assume the front, you set the rack to the centre, adjust both wheels so that they measure the same distance out from some datum point at the middle of the car, then slide the straight edges forward and set the toe by measuring between the straight edges. Same for the rear.

For straight edges anything will do that is obviously straight, but 100 x 50 x 3.2 aluminium section is very good.

Cheers,

Wow, I wrote this whole thing and it vanished.

clamp a piece of wood between the two front Jack stands and the two rear Jack stands, same dimension.
Measure the strings to the center at of the wheel
Move the two front or two rear Jack stands side to side to make the measurements the same.
The two front measurements from the center cap to the sting will b different from the two rear measurements.

The front measurements must match
The rear must match.
Then you have setup the box to the centerline of the car.

Now measure toe.

Click to view attachment

Another try today with equal spacing between the two front and two rear jackstands and equal distance from the line to wheel center on the both front wheels and the same on the rear wheels.

Still measureing around 7-8 mm toe out left rear and 4-5 right rear.

Jacked the left rear up and loosened the three mounting bolts, I can wiggle the mount a few mm back and forth but no more than that. Loosened the inner mount bolt and the lower shock bolt and that gives me a bit more wiggle room. Put some two by fours between the gearbox and swing arm to let me tighten the bolts without it flexing back.
Tightened everything back up, gear back down...rolled in a bit back and forth and set up the measuring again.... and still toe out....less...but still enough to be a problem



I hoped I'd at least get it somewhere close to right before turning it over to some local alignment shop thats never seen a 914 in their life.....

Bend trailing arm?

With it jacked up and a jack stand in place, loosen all 3 bolts a few turns and then push and pull on the rear tire, working it in and out several times to work loose anything that might be in the adjustment slots.

I have had cars with dirt build up in there that interfered with the movement.

Also look on top of the mount ahead of the outer pivot and check for rocks or other junk collecting there. Something can get in there and prevent the arm from moving forward all the way..

Jim

My car has been on jackstands for the last three years and there no dirt anywhere. Everything but the engine long block and gearbox has been restored or replaced.

I needed to have both my trailing arms "bent" to make them work. I'll do a thread on the process after I get the alignment done this week

What do you have for rear bushings? If you have roller bearings you *may* need to change the shims out so you can move it more. You should be able to have the outboard adjuster hit the body.

If you have stock/rubber bushings, sometimes persuasion is needed... A mallet and a 2x4 (or the like) will help drive the outer end of the trailing arm forward.

If neither of those ideas work odds are you have a bent trailing arm.

I've got the Elephant racing polybronze bushings and Tangerine Racings rear outer mount.

Can you tell if the outer mount is up against the body yet?

these outer mounts ??
Dumb Question...do you have the bolt backed out far enough ?

Not to add to you list of things to do but ditch the Jack stands, it is much easier and repeatable to attach your square to the car. You need to be able to roll the car forwards and backwards after making you adjustments. Also the wheels will need to slide so if you do not have toe plates, you can use a baggie with WD40 sprayed in side to help the wheel wiggle on the ground.

That is actually a great idea ...

I'm using a triple folded piece of building plastic sheet with some oil in between to let the wheel set down without building up tension in the suspension.

I bought a small pillar jack and used that to get the control arm mount forwards so now both sides are almost maxed out. Didnt set up the measuring box again but hopefully it will be better now.

What's the recommended rear toe spec?

I saw this in another thread:

> 1/16" toe in in the rear.

Does that mean that once the strings are setup, the string on the leading edge of the rear wheel is 1/16" longer than the string on the trailing edge of the rear wheel?

(I just replaced my wheel bearings.)

-Steve

The measurement from the leading edge of the wheel to the string is 1/16 longer than the trailing edge of the wheel.
So, both wheels are pointing in, toe in.
Both are pointing in 1/16

For the street, that is a good spec.