ok i am new to cars(really never had an intrust till i got one) i just got my first camaro for $300 but it was a repo so i need to pay another 300 for a title the car is great looking driver door needs to be replaced rust covering the bottom of door but wheel wells are great and under seats great which is hard to find in New York but anyway the guy who had this car before me did not take car of this car ive done most of the work needed to be done brakes brake lines audio is all set up but my question is when i took it to get my brakes done i asked the machanic if i should get an allinment because when i drive i have to keep the wheel at about 10 0clock for it to go strieght he told me my front end was fine but could use struts otherwise the allinment wouldnt really do anything but my dad seems to think otherwise would an allinment fix it or should i invest in new struts i want to do this car right but i am 20 and money is tight right now. my second question is all my vaccuum lines and some emison lines are cut so bad me and my dad could not figure out where they go even with a chilton does anyone have any acctual pics of where the lines go or any advice for me??

 

Do a search on here for vacuum lines. As far as the alignment...

Does it pull to one side when you let go of the wheel ? SOme times when new tie rods are put in the wheel is off so ...driveing down the road the wheel is off to the side but the car goes straight.

 

yeah it does pull to the right when going down the road and the wheels look stright when the wheel is also

 

Your mechanic probably meant that the alignment wouldn't help without replacing the struts first?

There's no point in aligning it until after you replace the struts. The struts will affect the alignment. After you replace them you should take it to a shop and have them check everything else, including the strut mounts. Make sure they give you an estimate before doing any work, then you can decide whether to replace any worn parts on your own or not. If you're looking for cheap, the basic Monroe/Gabriel struts will do fine for around $60 a pair.

Post your engine type/year and maybe I can help with the vaccuum line routing.

 

i have a 84 camaro v8 305 carb. the camaro is a base model wit f41 (upgraded suspention) upgrade

 

Even with the F41 you can still use the less expensive struts. Probably won't make much difference on 20+ year old springs/bushings anyway. A better alternative is the slightly more expensive KYB GR2 struts which run around $100 a set (tirerack.com). For the same, or less, you can get a complete set of front struts and rear shocks at one of the local autoparts places.

I will try to post a vaccuum diagram later and can answer most follow on questions about it.

 

Once an alignment is done, and the car runs straight, if the wheel is still off center (alignment shop can fix it some in the alignment), then the simplest (and free) solution is to rent a steering wheel puller and pull the steering wheel and reinstall straight - but do this after you know for sure the car is running true.

 

actually i wouldnt need to rent a stering wheel puller when i had to change the turn signal switch i took it off wit just a lil elbow grease. but yeah about the diagram i have one in the chiltons but the lines are so badly gone i would prob need an actual pic. i will try to get a pic of how bad the lines are as soon as i can prob not today because i need to change the heater core.