I got the front end aligned today. Since the car is still minus its interior and glass, etc. I had to find all the iron weights and barbells in the house and loaded them into the car. I tossed a couple floor jacks and my 3/4 drive set in there too. I also filled the gas tank up to the top. All that was probably good for about 300 pounds of ballast.
I trailered it to an old timer in the area who retired about 30 years ago and now drives a school bus as a daily job. He works out of a local garage in his spare time.
It's amazing to watch an old skilled craftsman at work. He uses a set of bubble gauges that mount on the wheel hub that are from the late 1930s, art deco labeling and all! I had him do the alignment on my Camaro years ago and he did an awesome job.
No one today at the chain store, tire shops has any idea how to align "old" cars with the upper A-arm shims, let alone have the extra shims in stock. If it doesn't involve a computer, "laser beams" and a cam to turn, they have no clue whatsoever.
This guy even had all the specs memorized. When I told him I was going to be using bias ply tires instead of radials he told me he would adjust the specs accordingly since the bias plies need a little different tweak to the aligment to prevent the twitchy-ness that people associate with those repro tires.
This guy was a pleasure to deal with. And he charged $50 for 2 hours work!
While I was there, the owner of the old garage wanted to know if I could use a few old car books. Look what he gave me! Original 1960s, 70's and 80's Chilton hourly rate books with all the OEM part numbers and prices.
After I got the T/A home, I took her out for a little drive up and down the block just to blow out all the body work dust in the ventilation system. I felt like a WW1 Flying Ace - I should have worn
, though!
