What a day ! I need your help.

[Ms Grumpy]

So this morning started out with an appointment to get a front end alignment on my car. Got there at 9am and met Harold, an old school mechanic that wanted to know why I was bringing him my car. He asked a lot of questions and then took the keys and away he went for a short test drive. About an hour later, Harold comes back and sits down to talk to me. He tells me that he was able to get the: (now I might get some of the spelling on these wrong)
Camber: 0
Towing: 16th of an inch
Caster: 4 1/2 negative

He told me that he wasn't happy with the caster, but that with some of the older cars like mine, this is not uncommon. He suggested that I have the tires rebalanced, that maybe that could case some of the higher speed vibrations that I am experiencing. Another thing that he noticed was that the front wheels did not spin as freely as they should. He thought that something was binding them and suggested that it might be the newer braking system that I had installed. Does anyone have any suggestions on this one? He also suggested that I get Upper Control Arm Bushings that offset the shaft. Now has anyone ever had to do this ? If so, where can I find these.

I was then off to my brother Eric's house to get a different radio installed and have the oil changed. I get to Eric's house and he asks if I remember what kind of oil we used. The last time the oil was changed was when Dart rebuilt the motor, so I called Dart to ask what they used. I got ahold of Rick, who remembered me an my car. He told me that they only used Royal Purple 10w-30 or 40. Of course, the most expensive synthetic oil.

Off to O'Reilly's I go. I get the oil ($9.49 a quart) and head to the counter. I wanted a WIX oil filter and asked the guy to cross reference the Fram PH5 to find the correct one. He tells me he has one and off I go back to my brothers. By the time I get back he is finishing up the radio install. On to the oil change. During which I was on the phone setting up an appointment to have the tires balanced on Friday morning at 8am.

Everything is going smooth, put the oil in. And start the car. The oil light is on, and I have no oil pressure. Of course I don't.....the oil is spraying and spilling out all over under the car. I can't believe it. Take the filter off, and of course, it is the wrong one. I put the damn thing back in the box and head back to O'Reilly's.

I walk up to the counter, Eric in tow, and I want to go off on the guy behind the counter, but I don't, I tell him that he can have the filter back and ask him if he has the correct one in stock. Lucky for me he did. We figured there was probably some oil that didn't leak out, and buy 4 more qts and the oil filter. I did get credit for the wrong filter, but nothing else. (I will be writing a letter to the company)

We get back, put everything back together, and I am still 2 qts low and have to head back to the store. Will this ever end ????? Finally, we start the car.....and we have oil pressure ! Yeah.... I have never had such an experience with an oil change.

What a day !!!

[RBeckman]

I did have to get a offset control arm rod and got it from PST. They told me it usually happens in big blocks as the weight from the engine over time pulls the frame inwards and that is the reason for the offset.

[BillsCamino]

Why so much neg caster?? Has your car been lowered?
With the use of radial tires and to improve straight line handling & tracking...you want as much POSITIVE Caster as mechanically possible.
An extreme example of positive caster is the front wheels on a grocery shopping cart...

[shadowgray396]

I just got my car align last friday and got a sheet on it. I will have to look again at it when I get home tomorrow night and see what it reads. The 0 camber sounds correct, but do not remember what the caster was set at. I also had an old school guy do mine for me.

[Hank70SS]

Definitely a bad day Nancy. I would have pitched a fit about the oil filter. Here is a link to some offset upper control arm shafts. As Ric mentioned it's not uncommon on these old cars to have frame sag, especially with a big block. Unfortunately you have to pull the upper control arms, the shaft has to be installed when the bushings are pressed into the control arm.

http://www.summitracing.com/search/y...ft-type/offset

[mestorod70]

Im also thinking as much pos caster as posible.
also 1 deg neg camber may help cornering.

[Ms Grumpy]

Thank you very much on the input and information. I will be doing some research tonight and checking out the links that you guys supplied. I want to get this taken care of ASAP. Harold did tell me that the Upper control arms had to be pulled to install the bushings. What a pain. But if I want it right I need to do it.

Today was better. Went to Discount tire (grumpy ordered the tires and rims through them for my birthday a few years ago) and got my tires high speed balanced. After yesterday, it was nice to have something for free.

[Hank70SS]

Discount Tire is a good place to do business with. Heck, they'll fix a flat for free no matter where you bought the tires.

A bit of trivia. My uncle is good friends with the owners sister. They went to high school together and are still friends. He's even flown on the owners private jet.

[BillsCamino]

Originally Posted by Hank70SS

Discount Tire is a good place to do business with.

I love my local Discount Tire!!!
Will stop by there on Monday to get the tires balanced on the wagon. I noticed yesterday that the 295/65-15 M/T rears were vibrating a little.

[shadowgray396]

My read out reads for my alignment

Camber 0.3 left and right
Caster is -0.4 left and right
Toe 0.19

He mentioned to me to getting it as close to 0 as he could. They even checked my rear alignment and included it on the readout.