Okay, so the non-compliance toe links I recently installed put the rear toe out of whack. No big deal, an alignment would take care of it. I called 2 different shops, explained that I have an NSX that has been lowered about 0.8" in need of an alignment. Both said "bring it on in." In both cases, after I arrived they said they have cannot align my car due to the low ride height and their old equipment.
Frustrated and with absolutely no experience, equipment, or business to attempt such a task, I thought I'd take a stab at it myself.
Actually, I don't need a full alignment, all I need to do is get the rear toe back in spec. The spec is 6mm (±1mm) for my year, or 4mm (±1mm) for 1994+. So, the way I figure it, that's 5mm ±2mm. Surely, I can get pretty close.
If I can get two strings (near the rear wheels), parallel to the vehicle's centerline, I'll I have a point of reference for toe measurements. So, the first thing to do is measure the distance between the rear tires, outside-to-outside. Got it.
Next, I need to rig up some sort of structure in front of the car to serve as end-points for the strings. I don't have an Erector set, but, let's see... I have a ladder. I have clamps. That should work. I lay the ladder flat, stick a clamp at the end, so it points straight up.
I put a clamp at the other end oriented the same way. The outside-to-outside distance between the clamps needs to be the same as the previous tire-to-tire distance. I adjust one of the clamps and double check. Looks good so far.
I find a C-clamp position that in the exact center of the two clamps. I align it with the centerline of the car. Now, I could have skipped this step, but I prefer to have the ass-end of my car not shifted to one side as I'm cruzin'.
Then again, it would be kinda cool if it looks like I'm always drifting.
Now I get to play with the string. Fishing line would have been nice, but all I have is low-resolution string, commonly known as twine. All I really need to do with the string is get it to lay right on the outside of the tire: parallel to the centerline of the car and intersecting the center of the wheel. I start with the passenger side and secure one end of the string around the valve step and bring it out around the part of the tire closest to the rear of the car.
From there, I take the string to the front of the car around the passenger side clamp, then the driver side clamp.
And finally, to the driver side rear wheel. Again, all I need to do is get the string to the part of the tire closest to the rear. Before I secure this end, I tie a bungee cord to the end to apply tension on and make is easier to secure my crucial string.
Now, it's just a matter of securing the other end of the bungee cord to whatever I can find. It does not matter as long as the contact point with the rear tire is where is should be.
The exhaust and sway bar worked for me.
Okay, my line's looking pretty good. I just tweak it so it goes thru the center of the wheel.
And do the same for the passenger side.
I slide the string up the clamp in the front so it goes thru the center of the each front wheels.
Now check the rear again. Good so far.
Even though the front end of the alignment strings is a super-accurate high-tech device, I figure I ought to double-check its center point. I can do this by checking the distance from the center of each front wheel to the string. Then, I measure...
...And make both sides the same by shifting the ladder to one side or the other. Perfect.
Again, if you don't mind your car being pointed in a direction other that straight when you're actually going straight, just skip this step.
Okay, now that my string is exactly where it needs to be, I'm ready to measure and adjust the rear toe. A tape measure or ruler may be hard to use, so look around for something else.
At this point, I'm fully in McGuyver-mode and find a knife and promptly apply some masking tape to it (That makes sense, right?). I mark two lines from the point, one at 2mm another at 3mm (these numbers are half the total toe). I'm shooting for 4mm total toe. But, if I can get somewhere in between 4 and 6mm, I'd be pretty darn impressed.
Yeah, I'm sure this is going to work.
Now, I need to get the front of the rear tire to be 2mm away from the string. This is what the masking tape equipped knife is for.
I do the same for the other side and I'm done.
Note: I'm measuring at the wrong point in this picture. After I took this shot, I actually measured on the tire, instead of the rim, which is more accurate and where I should be measuring from anyway.
This is my new toe-link, the thing I turn to adjust the toe. The part that does not look like it's spent a quarter million miles on the road is what I bought from Science of Speed.
Finally, I need to verify what I've done by measuring the total toe as accurately as I can. I don't need the alignment strings for this. I take the rack apart, so the clamps can get back to putting bigass dents in antique furniture I'm trying to fix and ladder can resume it's duties of dropping me on my ass when I stand on that "NOTA" step.
To check total toe, I measure the distance between the front part of both tires. Then, the distance between the rear part of both tires. If all goes well, I should have a 4mm to 6mm difference between the two figures.
Close enough. I'm blaming the low-res string.