DIY budget 4-wheel alignment project. Update, done for under 20. Full write up!

A current 'project' I'm working on is a 4-wheel alignment kit, which will add to the ideas in this thread, post 14 onwards.

And after all, if it's good enough for the BTCC:



Or Aston Martin:



... then it's good for us

The main goal is to try to make it cheaply and user-friendly, with as many off-shelf consumer items as possible (+ min bespoke / "I had these in the back of the shed" parts), so that anyone on Club GTI can nip out and replicate the kit for their own (invaluable) use, without blowing the budget apart. It's got to be circa-50 or less, since the cost of 4-wheel allignment is around that figure if not more now, and it has to be suspended on the car itself for user-friendliness, as it's a major, major faff without that feature.

I am trying to steer clear of the welder, as the simple fact is not everyone has a welder, though I can't promise that quite yet, unless daved / others can dive in with some engineering design gems

Current spec list:

1) sea fishing 0.3mm line, flourescent yellow 2.44



2) B&Q garage wall hangers, 2 of each (hangs over bumpers), 20.94





- major dent to the budget there (though I could return them if a better idea surfaced).


3) As tax appears to have arrived on the fishing scene since I last took much interest in it, there'll be no need for new fishing weights, so I'll be using old CV nuts, price 0, instead of blowing 5 on some overpriced shoitte! Fishing swivels are a luxury option



4) Short section of 27mm ID tube, to sleeve the main bar through, currently sourced from B&Q for 9.72. This is a bit OTT, and may get returned, as I had to buy a metre of it.

Current outlay: 33.10


5) The next budget-busting stumbling block is the 1.83m 25mm OD wardrobe rails, at 10.18 each from B&Q, which something tells me are a bit over-priced and I'd ideally like to find for less.

What budget wardrobe rail shopping experiences have you

6) The final challenge is to attach the wardrobe rails to the shelf brackets, preferably without custom welding. I have in mind mudflap clips, which are cheap as chips (3.99 on eBay), but these still need to be attached to to the 27mm ID tube sleeve.



The design spec is the wardrobe rail must be able to move side-to-side, aswell as up and down.

Any ideas, engineers


7) The luxury add on is some threaded M8 bar to replicate the side-to-side fine adjustabilty of the racers set up.



I've a feeling the welder be needed for this!

 

used steel conduit for electrical wires , seem to think it was 7-8 for enough to do it all

 

Wilkinson for curtain rails. As cheap as for everything pretty much.

Gurds

 

Thanks Gurds, shame, stuggling to find anything on their website:

http://www.wilkinsonplus.com

- assuming they list everything.

 

Not as cheap as I remember....

Gurds

 

Ikea:

Not Round
http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/80149257 2.99
http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/30145469 3.05

Round
http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/50144874 6.12

Others available.

 

Thanks Alex. This looks very good too:

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/90144872

 

I had to get some tube myself recently to build a welding curtain frame in the workshop. I got it from Wickes, complete with matching wall brackets, etc. B&Q supply the same ranges.

 

I checked Homebase at the weekend and again it was fairly recognisable as the stuff B&Q had. Slightly more expensive.

Conduit looks like a possible winner at this rate, as the whole point of this is to make it for pennies!

 

could you use copper pipe.or that chrome plated water pipe
those hooks you got Chris aren't they cheaper at a pound shop, im sure ive seen them in that (what )shop for a couple of quid.

 

find an old skool builders merchant type place for the conduit , diy stores have your pants down on prices

 

yep i've got plenty in stock, Overflow pipe could be an option

 

A lot of technical shizzle going on here. A spending cash too!

What is wrong with just a long straight edge that touches on both side walls of the front and rear tyres?
This then tells you if you are toed out, in, or parallel.
You can put spacers on the straight edge to compensate for differing tracks front and rear.

Impressive consumerism never the less, and hopefully getting the country out of recession too, carry on.

 

Dan, show me a straight edge that you can support, measure, doesn't bend - and then store away easily!

I have seen a long tube flourescent light used, but it's not ideal, and it doesn't four wheel allign.

There's multiple angles in this design idea, but user friendliness is equal with price. Being able to drive a car backwards and forwards (or even round in circles) after a suspension change to let it settle - and then put the strings back on (leaving the frame attached throughout) is important

 

nice one, I've done a similar thing and I used the sprung telescopic tension rods from wilkos;

http://www.wilkinsonplus.com/invt/0146151



I took them apart and removed the spring mechanism and then drilled through so that that I can use a small bolt to fix it in place. that means they collapse down to half length!

I fix them using plastic hooks that stick onto the the car with velcro;



cost less than 15 all in I reckon.

 

Possible soloutions:

Lidl plasterboard thingy!

Ikea bathroom pole thingy!

45mm anodised aluminum. Extends to about 3m for Hummers.

@TSC. This is not 'over engineered'!

 

If the budget is around 50, a system I have used in the past with slightly different equipment, but using the same principle. (Spotted these at a very reasonable 23.49 incl vat from screwfix)



The laser gives a horizontal line and a vertical line with a simple attachment.
using the tripod as shown which is height adjustable line up the beams to the wheel centre lines off your floor slab and using your front and rear bumper cross bars (two straight pieces of almost anything) mark an appropriate measurement from the centre line of the car to the left and right on both rails line up both marks with the laser beam and carry out measurements with a steel measuring tape or steel rule, car can then be moved about with the cross bars still attached after adjustment to settle and it only takes a few seconds to re-align the two marks for further adjustment or checking, accurate to 1mm over 30 metres, so for the length of an average car was found to be accurate enough and you can use them to put your shelves up as well

 

I will try and get some pictures of my two wheel tracking gear which i made with a laser and a mirror. Was less than a minute out of line against a proper workshop system and I am sure could easily be adapted to 4 wheels

Jay

 

This makes a lot of sense to me, that means I must be missing something?

Do those tripods definitley go down far enough to get the wheel centre-line?

 

we have a similar kit which cost no more than 15 to make, we used copper pipe from B&Q and then used fishing line with slot cut into each copper pole. You can leave it there and use axle stands to rest pipes on or you can make brackets and we made it by making hooks that rest over slam panel and then you can slide copper pipes to make sqaure to car.