THUMPIN455

From what I have seen on mine, there are no shims behind the upper CA, only the lower has an adjustment. The lower CA has an ecentric that changes camber, while caster is done with the strut rod that goes up under the radiator. Toe is set by the tie rod ends. So they shouldnt be messing with the upper arms at all.

If you can get the strut rods losened and the bushings arent worn out, an alignment on a Mustang or Cougar shouldnt take much more than half an hour. if they dont know how to do one, give me the phone number and maybe we can educate them a bit..lol..

Even the new in 01 Hunter system we used had the old car specs in it, so take it somewhere else. Those guys are apparently clueless...

Still check for the cracks in the shock towers, its common..

85lebaront2

I don't remember exactly, but I think my 66 GT350 had shims on the upper control arm mounts. I believe the proper alignment specs were: 0 deg camber, 2 deg positive caster, 1/8" toe in. These were for the bias ply tires of the 60s, but worked well with the bis/belted tires of the 70s. If anyone on this forum has a 65-66 GT350, please check the owners manual for the proper specs. If you didn't do the drop exactly the way Shelby did it, you will get the lowered front end, but will not be able to align it correctly. Do you have the really weird looking bolts on the "engine" cross member? They look like wheel nuts with a cone under the head. If not, the bar will not hold position as it is countersunk for them.

Lumbergh

I believe that they used shims in the upper control arm through 66, but I could be wrong. Shims may have only been used in 65. I was warned to look for cracks in the shock tower, just like you said, when I replaced the upper control arms, among other things. And, I was told they would be hard to spot so I needed to look carefully. The guy who told me this restores/repairs classic Mustangs for a living; so, I'm pretty sure he knows what he's talking about (and I'm pretty sure you do too).

noroof66

From shop manual on '66:

To adjust camber remove or install equal shims at both bolts. Installation of equal shims on the upper control arm moves the ball joint outwards. A 1/16 inch change in shim thickness at both bolts will change the camber angle 1/3degree. The total shim stack thickness at each bolt should not exceed 9/16 inch.

I had a crack on my tower as well. It was about the length of a finger nail about 2 inches above one of the upper control arm mounting holes.

THUMPIN455

LOL.. figures.. All of mine have been 67-up... Havent seen shims on any of them. Well then the 65/66 have them. Cool good info.. Check on the cracks!

jlg2002

Drawing from my time as a licensed front end mechanic: unless you've installed some kind of eccentric kit, your 66 has to be shimmed at the upper Control Arm to set the camber and probably the caster. The camber affects the "A" stance that youv'e described. Take your car to a good front end guy to figure out if its been aligned properly or not. Moving the upper control arm (UCA) down will influence how much camber is on the wheel and after a point, if the lower arm is not altered in length, you won't be able to shim it (UCA) to meet the required camber specs. In my opinion, it would take a hell-of-a-crack in the spring towers to cause the problem you've described.
Good luck and keep us posted

6mustang6

I will get it aligned and keep you posted on what happens.

coda618

The appropriate caster/camber and toe in settings change from stock with the shelby drop. look in the FAQ's, there is an article that discusses this. However, your allignment should not move significantly in a short period of time unless you hit a pot hole or something. As said above, I would check your shock towers at the bottom where they meet the frame rail. If these are rotted or week, this could cause the problem. I had a 69 fastback that wound up with the same problem once and it turned out one of the shock towers had split at the bottom when I hit a pot hole. Make sure everything is structurally solid before spending more money on alignments.

mlitz

i always go to Firestone or to my work (ford dealership) to get my cars aligned never had and problems with those two. have the specs in your hand on a piece of paper and say "this is what i want!!!!!!!!!".

noroof66

I had to look it up. I knew that I had them, but that does not mean my alignment guy knew what he was doing. Two things I do not try to do are alignments and tranny.