I'm not really knowledgable on an alignment. What effect will it have for me, or the car, driving it if they skip the other steps?

quote Originally posted by 2.5: I'm not really knowledgable on an alignment. What effect will it have for me, or the car, driving it if they skip the other steps?

caster can cause instability and wandering if not in spec. This of a shopping cart wheel. The front has a lot of caster to make it go straight. Cross caster is difference side to side. More than 1 degree side to sdie will cause a drift or light pull. Too much caster can make it hard to steer. Too little can make it easy to steer, but won't stay in a straight line very well.
Camber out of spec will wear the tires. More than 1/2 degree of cross camber will cause a pull.
Toe will cause tire wear, and really messed up handling if not in spec. Rear toe is crucial to the thrust angle otherwise the car will steer from the ass end.
Basically, if you don't want to wear out the tires or have the car all over the road...get a correct alignment.
Dave
ps: I didn't go into SAI or the included angle due to it not being necessary unless if you think you have bent components. It is still a good idea to have that measured while getting the car aligned.

quote Originally posted by bmwguru: caster can cause instability and wandering if not in spec. This of a shopping cart wheel. The front has a lot of caster to make it go straight. Cross caster is difference side to side. More than 1 degree side to sdie will cause a drift or light pull. Too much caster can make it hard to steer. Too little can make it easy to steer, but won't stay in a straight line very well. Camber out of spec will wear the tires. More than 1/2 degree of cross camber will cause a pull. Toe will cause tire wear, and really messed up handling if not in spec. Rear toe is crucial to the thrust angle otherwise the car will steer from the ass end. Basically, if you don't want to wear out the tires or have the car all over the road...get a correct alignment. Dave ps: I didn't go into SAI or the included angle due to it not being necessary unless if you think you have bent components. It is still a good idea to have that measured while getting the car aligned.

Dave caster will cause tire wear. The only time it won't is on a test. If you are taking an ASE test it will not cause tire wear. The only time it will not cause excessive tire wear is when you are going straight. If you have a ton (over the 3° to 4° range) of caster say like 7° and you turn the wheel the tires lay over. That is a good thing. It adds camber. Now you have tire wear in turns. Yes the SAI and Ackerman angles effect the way the caster causes wear, but that is caster.

That is trueit will create a tire wear issue on turns, but caster won't cause wear going straight. I still wantd to get the cross camber and caster to 0.
Dave

I'm curious as to why you pick the VR6? Certainly it can be done, but it would seem to me that you're putting a lot of effort into swapping in a motor for power that could otherwise be achieved with better / lighter motors with less effort. I'm just curious though, I don't mean to discourage. I've owned a few VWs in my time too. We had a 1.8T 2002 Jetta that we liked also.

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Todd,
2006 Pontiac Solstice
2004 Volkswagen Beetle Convertible (Wife's Car)
2002 Ford Crown Victoria LX
1987 Pontiac Fiero SE / V6 (3.2) 5-Speed
1984 Porsche 944 5-Speed
1981 Pontiac TransAm (Olds 455BB)
1973 Volkswagen Type-2 Transporter

quote Originally posted by bmwguru: That is trueit will create a tire wear issue on turns, but caster won't cause wear going straight. I still wantd to get the cross camber and caster to 0. Dave

I like to run atleast .5° more caster in the right side. This compensates for road crown.

This is an example of a OEM spec.
Escalade ESV Platinum
Caster = Left 4.10° ± 1.00° & Right 5.10° ± 1.00°

Ok it is not a Fiero.
The higher the car is the more caster you will need and the more cross caster to get the same feel as a lower car.
I like a high caster number, but power steering helps. I don't like P/S and can turn the wheel just fine with out it.

quote Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]: I'm curious as to why you pick the VR6? Certainly it can be done, but it would seem to me that you're putting a lot of effort into swapping in a motor for power that could otherwise be achieved with better / lighter motors with less effort. I'm just curious though, I don't mean to discourage. I've owned a few VWs in my time too. We had a 1.8T 2002 Jetta that we liked also.

The VR6 seems like a natural swap. I don't think it will be as hard of a swap as my V8 was. As for lighter motor...I can pick up a VR6 long block with my bare hands. I only weigh 165lbs. The 1.8 turbos can be built, but they have a variety of issues. The VR6 doesn't have a timing belt to maintain. The timing chains are located between the engine and transmission to allow a shorter front of motor.
I own a shop that services and repairs only german cars. I know these engines inside and out. The 3800 I was going to swap I know little about. I would have to rely on other peoples opinions when something goes wrong. With the VR6, I have the factory laptop, can reprogram the engine module and perform basic settings.
I think the only isses I will run into are the axles (I will be using the VW transmission), shifter cables, and fly by wire throttle. Other than that, it seems like an easy swap.
I've swapped a VR6 into a VW cabrio. I've also gotten a few of my customers GTI's into the low 10's.
I've also gotten some interest from a few members to possibly do a swap on their Fiero if mine works out well.
As for the power aspect....you can get 600hp safely out of a VR6 with the correct setup.
Honestly, I don't feel discouraged. I feel more comfortable working with the VR6 than the 3800.
Dave

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450hp 1987 Fiero GT, 1986 Fiero SE, certified master technician/shop owner
www.njautobahn.com

I'm running ~9* caster on my 88 but i have power steering, I ran ~5.5* when i had manual steering. Front camber is around -1.75 and rear is around -2.75. It'll corner in excess of 1.05g's on street tires. Works awesome for autocross and summer driver but if i didn't drive it so hard i'm sure the tires would wear funny.