New to the site! Bought my first 1966 mustang convertible in may and have been doing some things to it. New 16" tires and rims, new UCA, LCA, tie rod ends, bushing, sway bar, 1" lowering coil springs, rear springs, shocks all around and now I need to get a front end alignment. Does anyone know a good shop that can/will do a good job in the Charlotte NC area?

 

You need to find a shop that understands what alignment does and aligns a car based on HOW IT'S DRIVEN. Too many shops have "techs" that just throw a car in the rack and adjust it per "book specs." So if you find a shop that starts talking about "we have the specs" or "we align it to the books specs" or whatever, run away as fast as you can.

Find a race car chassis shop and ask them who they'd use.

 

Do you have a welder? you can do most, if not all of your alignment, in your garage by fabricating a couple of simple tools using a welder. Yes, I'll probably get drawn-and-quartered by the enthusiasts, but it's not as complicated as many make it out to be, as long as you have level ground, allot of patience, and time (probably a weekend). Simple tools, a digital level (sears $20), and tape measure, can get as close as any shop. Is it racing quality, heck no. But 67 is right. You get the wrong shop, you're gonna spend allot of money on a crappy alignment. Find a knowledgable shop in old school front ends. No joke, the first one on my 66, the guy spend 4 hrs, and still couldn't get the machine to read inches, rather than metric, and had no idea what caster or camber was.

 

Thanks for the heads up 67Mustang302, I found an article on one of these forums discussing alignments and the tolerances which I plan on taking to the shop. I did find a Mustang restoration shop and asked who they use and that is my first stop. Love the look of the lowered front end, and may have to do the lowering in the back also. Goho although I do have a welder, that might be more than I want to do right now and I would always be second guessing myself if I did it right.

 

When you replaced all those front end components, did you also do the 1 inch "Shelby" drop on the upper control arms?