Hello all. Seatback fixed, on to #2 and 3, brakes and alignment.

Will a Chiltons or such give the right specs for brake pads, rotor thicknesses, etc? Are there any stupid special tools for the brakes? Do cows really have 8 stomachs?

Would a Chiltons also give any method of checking alignment, tie rods etc?

Thanks in advance. Jackie

Yes, Cows do have 8 stomachs... LOL... I would leave the alignment to the shop. You could probably get it close but not perfect. For the brakes you will need a reasonable size C clamp to push the brake piston back into the caliper. I'm not sure if a chiltons would have the rotor specs but it should, Mine does. Here it is. Pretty small rotors huh, Good luck...

Application In. (mm)
Disc Diameter (1)
Lateral Runout .004 (.10)
Parallelism .0005 (.013)
Original Thickness .394 (10.0)
Minimum Refinish Thickness (1)
Discard Thickness .315 (8.0)

As for checking the tie rods before you take it in for alignment jack the car up on one side at a time and jerk the wheel side to side. If you hear any noise it's probably a bad inner tie rod. (common). To further test disconnect the outer tie rod and raise the tie rod up. If it's limp and falls easily it should be replaced.

thanks for the info. thank goodness i have several months to do this stuff.....

If your going to take the rotors off the car, you will need to a slide hammer.

been meaning for a while to post a trick i discovered re alignment. hope i'm describing this ok but years ago i found i could fine tune the front alignment til dead on by tweaking the 2 large bolts holding the steering knuckle to the strut. there is just enough play in the bolt fit to allow a small movement to adjust camber. i found that the critical setting was the symmetry of the relative positions on left and right sides.

tire wear was never an issue given the weight of the car. it was just a pain to have the wheel pulling a bit one way or the other for long drives.

Thanks for the tip. As soon as I get the windshield replaced, then I'll be getting underneath the hulk. Are there any recommended online sites that give good diagrams for that kind of stuff?
J

i've never seen this described anywhere.

one mechanic friend said that he thought there were some 'cam' or 'eccentric' bolts that had been made to replace the originals ..... giving better control of the camber positioning .... but i've never seen them. it's a trial and error process except that my car worked best when they were symetrical side to side. twists in a frame could require a different setting.

I've used the "cam" bolts on a Toyota Camry and they worked well. I think what you are describing can be found here
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,carcode,1141771,parttype,7472
listed as "cam bolt kit"

Good luck.

hey there idmetro,

i did a search from your lead and also found these ....

http://www.tirerack.com/suspension/suspension.jsp?make=Ingalls&model=FastCam+Bolt

i've had enough play in the original bolts to adjust mine perfectly without the cam but it's good to see the rumored parts exist! thanks.

the rockauto link didn't get me 'close' enough. and i did not see an option to search by description with rock auto, although I've bought from them before and its been good dealings. but the tiretrack link was good. thanks

I've updated the link - it's currently set to take you to the listing for a 93. To find another year, simply open the catalog, choose GEO, select your year, model, engine, choose suspension and finally "Cam bolt kit"