novafirebirdguy

Ok so I'm starting to get worried. My 90 formy has a salvage title for a front end wreck and both of the strut towers have been welded. Whoever did it looked like the did a really good job. The welds are grinded smooth so you can barely tell they're there. But, the passenger side strut tower is adjusted all the way to the right. As in all of the alignment slots are to the right of the bolts. So I've got the car almost completely apart replacing the floor pans. Is there a possibility that the car can never be aligned again? All the body panels lined up well before I took em off. And if I can't get everything aligned what kind of problems am I looking at?
Thanks
Alex

92RS_Ttop

iTrader: (3)

Is the alignment correct now? The adjustment slots are there for just that reason: adjustments. As long as the angles are correct when the car is on the alignment rack, it doesn't matter where on those slots the bolts are at. If its that far off, you might want to check the control arm/spindle for damage. They can throw the whole alignment out of whack if they are bent. My 92 Camaro was in a front end wreck before I bought it. I had to cut off everything in front of the battery trays and entire driver's side strut tower to repair the damage. I also had to replace the passenger's side spindle. The only problems I had with the alignment were with the lazy a$$holes at the first shop I took it to. They saw it had been wrecked and didn't even put it on the rack before trying to tell me it would take 2 weeks to get it aligned right if they even could. I took it to another shop and they had it done in 45 minutes. There was only one thing they couldn't get within spec, I think it was camber on the driver's wheel and it was only out by .25* or something stupidly small like that.

As long as the welds are solid, and the alignment is correct, you have nothing to worry about.

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

its possible that a spindle or control arm is bent, or the tie rods were bent when the car was aligned.

I would say that if the repair work on the towers is as clean as you say it is, the repair job was probably done really well.

novafirebirdguy

Thanks for the info. I don't think the car is aligned right now. The steering wheel is off center (although it could just be on wrong) and the tires that were on it showed signs of misalignment. As far as the spindle being bent what part of the spindle? Everything looks fine although I know the tie rod ends are bad (but not bent).

The car has alot of sentimental value to me so I plan on restoring it whether it's f'ed up or not. But if it won't be able to be aligned again what kind of problems am I looking at?
Thanks
Alex

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

if you have both spindles off the car, set them side by side and see if there are any obvious differences, aside from being left and right.

Check the control arms as well, and the mounting points for them on the k-member. If all checks out, your probably ok. But you'll have to wait until the car is together to see what happens during alignment.

92RS_Ttop

iTrader: (3)

If the spindles are bent in such a way that the car can't be aligned, the most likely place for them to be bent is the arm where the tie rod end attaches. Thats where mine was bent. The rest of the spindle is pretty solid and I would think other things would flex first. The only other place I can think of that would affect the alignment is if the hole for the balljoint stud is ovalled out.
Check your control arms for bends/twisting and the K member as was mentioned above. Also, if the tie rod ends are not adjusted evenly on the adjuster sleeve, it will not be possible to set the toe properly.

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

out of curiosity, where are the towers welded? is it possible that the towers were just rotted and somebody cut the parts out and welded in new patch pieces? then never aligned the car?

novafirebirdguy

Thanks for the help guys. I'll the spindles and control arms in better detail when I replace the all the front end suspension jazz. Don't see anything bent looking at them on the car now.

When they replaced the towers they almost replaced all of them, maybe 3" from the firewall. I thought about rust too since the floors, 1/4's, and doors are rusted to hell. But the radiator mount and the section the fender mounts to on the PS side are welded also. Not the best job on the rad mount though. Doesn't look like the same welder did it, hell I can do better and I'm 16. So it could be two different jobs. It's hard to tell. But I guess I'll find out if they did right next summer. Hopefully by next summer.
Thanks again