So, after replacing a bent outer tie rod (my bad; watch where you're putting the jack, dummy!) I have spent quite a bit of time getting alignment back to zero toe. In doing so, I have discovered something disturbing. Using a self-leveling laser on tripod, I used the rear wheels as reference to align the front toe. With the laser exactly 1.75 inch from the rear wheel lip, the right front wheel lip is also 1.75 inch from the laser (measuring at the front and rear of the wheel lip at the center of the wheel). The weird thing is that with the laser set 1.75 inch from the left rear wheel, the left front wheel measures 2.75 inch at the rim. This means the left front is a full inch inboard of the left rear wheel. The rear end is centered to within 1/16-inch (I have an adjustable panhard bar) in reference to the rear fender lip(s). The left front is 5/16-inch further inboard than the right front at the front fender lip(s). I know that fenders aren't the best reference point, but I was a bit concerned about a full inch difference on that left front. My question is: should I use the panhard bar adjustment to get the front and rear tracks in line with each other? If I do that, the rear end will be offset to the left about a half inch. Which alignment is more important?

 

The rear on these cars is somewhat narrower than the front. Don't know by how much.

The center of the rear axle ought be lined up with the center of the front though, for sure. But NOT necessarily the fender lips.

Efff abuncha aligning anything to the fender lips. Those are TRIM; some kinda weenie sheet metal nothings hung out in space somewhere vaguely NEAR the "car". They are not really part of the "car". What you doing is in effect the same thing as jacking up your house's foundation so that a picture appears to hang level on the wall. Bass ackwards. Center your rear axle on the CAR instead of the trim. I'd suggest using the control arm mounting features where their bolts go. For that matter, once you get the axle centered on the CAR, you could whichever fender lip is farther inboard and yoink it out with your hand, until it matches the other one. Yes they are THAT weeeeeek and unstable. Although, more often than not, the front fenders are BULGED out; the slightest tap at the front corner of the car will do that, something as insignificant as bumping into a concrete light pole base in a parking lot. The rears are WEEEEEEEK; the fronts are barely as strong as aluminum foil.

There IS NO side-to-side adjustment possible on the front spindles, since the control arm bolts just ... are where they are. The top of the tire however will move as you change the alignment: that's the very definition of "camber setting".

Make sure of course that you don't have a rear and a front wheel on one axle. On many of these cars the fronts and rears have different offset.

 

Adjustable panhard bar and adjustable control arms will allow you to square the axle to the chassis, meaning square it up to the control arm mounts of body. Then you can see again if the front is square to the rear by dropping plum bobs from all 6 control arm mounting points on the car. If that all checks out, then it's just a matter of where the wheels are relative to those mounts.

 

Thanks. I'm going to find the center line of the chassis (as you said) and work from there. Service manual specs several spots, front and rear, to use as reference, though it would seem the control arm mounting points should be preferable, as they relate directly to the wheel mounting points. There are several modifications from stock; all four wheels are "rear" GTA wheels, so all the same offset. LS front brake conversion, so the front track is slightly wider than original (plus the original rear spacers relocated to the front for caliper clearance). Original rear drum brakes replaced with PBR disk, so that's not stock either. As it sits right now, the rear track measures approximately 3/4-inch wider than the rear. Like you said, the front is fixed; can't change front axle in relation to the chassis. The rear, however, can be adjusted. I guess I'll focus on getting everything in line and not worry too much about the fender space (to a point).