New laundry list

[Liquid_force]

So, I have the '99 I bought recently. I've done a lot of the maintenance that typically has to be done with a used car.

Today I took it in for an alignment as it pulls a little to the left.
Not surprisingly they gave me a short list of things that need to be replaced before an alignment will help.

1) Both inner tie rods.
Ok, seems simple enough. I figure I'll do outers while I'm there.

2) Pass lwr ball joint.
I'll manage. I did these on my '88 TC. Wasn't easy. May do DS if PS doesn't **** me off too much.

3) (the one I'm going to have to do a lot of reading on) "Drill plates - caster kit".
I'm guessing this is the "drilling out the strut tower welds" I've seen mentioned here and on v8sho, but I have not come across any thorough breakdowns on what needs to be done, and how. And what about this "kit". I don't recall finding any mention of that here.
Help? Links?

Unfortunately, we're taking the car on a roadie from KS to MN and back ('bout 1k mi round trip) this weekend, so I'm going to have to live with it for at least another couple weeks.
Besides, the wife's montero needs TLC more than mine does right now.

 

[Izzmo]

I've never heard of the Drill plates thing before.. I would be interesting to know something on that.

But you live in Kansas? (We don't really have a lot of people that are SHO enthusiasts if you will in Kansas, but we usually hang out with the NebraskaSHO gang and meet up with). Come post in our forum some time.

 

[SuperHO]

if drilling the strut plates out is necessary, you might instead look into replacing your springs, as sagging springs can cause camber issues as well.

 

[Liquid_force]

I've never heard of the Drill plates thing before.. I would be interesting to know something on that.

But you live in Kansas? (We don't really have a lot of people that are SHO enthusiasts if you will in Kansas, but we usually hang out with the NebraskaSHO gang and meet up with). Come post in our forum some time.

According to some of the stuff i've read on this shock tower issue is the factory welds restrict it from ever truly being aligned properly. Someone said if your shop doesn't tell you that they don't know the car, suck at alignment, or both. But like i said. I haven't found enough specifics to figure out exactly what i need to do.

And yes, i'm in lawrence. You offered some help if i needed when i had the cams welded a few weeks ago.

 

[stephen newberg]

3) (the one I'm going to have to do a lot of reading on) "Drill plates - caster kit".
I'm guessing this is the "drilling out the strut tower welds" I've seen mentioned here and on v8sho, but I have not come across any thorough breakdowns on what needs to be done, and how. And what about this "kit". I don't recall finding any mention of that here.
Help? Links?

I do not have any links, but these kits used to be available from SHO SOURCE, IIRC. They are some plates that attach to the top of the strut tower after you drill out the welds that have already set slots, which you then also cut out of the tower so you can do a full alignment. I do not know for a fact that they are needed, as you can just cut the welds and grind slots in the tower top without them, but I suspect the idea is to then provide some additional strength to the tower tops to stop any flexing, considering you have just taken out a good chunk of the metal when you grind out the slots.

pax, smn

 

[venom]

According to some of the stuff i've read on this shock tower issue is the factory welds restrict it from ever truly being aligned properly. Someone said if your shop doesn't tell you that they don't know the car, suck at alignment, or both. But like i said. I haven't found enough specifics to figure out exactly what i need to do.

And yes, i'm in lawrence. You offered some help if i needed when i had the cams welded a few weeks ago.

Drilling out the welds should only be necessary if the car has been lowered via springs or by lowering the strut in the front knuckle (which is reversible) Sure springs sag and all but Both of our Gen III's are well past 100K with factory springs and tire wear is going along just great.

The alignment thing about these cars is the rear control arms. Watch the rears for wearing the inner edge. You can put eccentric bushings to allow you to align both camber and toe, or you can retrofit to fully adjustable control arms (from SHO Source) or with some adapters to use GM (Grand Prix) tubular arms.