I purchased a 1990 244 with 125K at a parts car price. It has some corrosion and a passenger's rear quarter panel that is damaged (all on the face and below the gas door line; looks like the lead edge of the bottom of the panel caught a culvert or something). Runs and shifts good, interior is good, airbag, cruise, PW.

My question concerns the front end. The control arm took a pretty good hit (probably right before the rear panel) and was damaged enough that it had to be replaced. The previous owner was able to replace it with just bolting it in- no components had to be pulled. At that point he lost interest and didn't do any more. The steering wheel doesn't line up and the car pulls to the left a good deal.

Is the only way to evaluate the front end to take it to an alignment rack and see if they can align it?? I was shocked to hear that they wanted $70 for an alignment. Twice as much as the last time I had it done (years ago...)

I remember one of the settings on the 240 is not adjustable. If that setting was out would it mean a frame pull to get it back? That would certainly cost more than I want to put into the car.

Is my best plan to gamble the $70 and hope it can be aligned? Anyone have the post concerning DIY tow-in adjustment? Thanks.

Randy

If the control arm took a good hit I would certainly replace the complete strut assy. You will never get a good alignment if it has any damage.

I bought a $200 240 I was gonna fix up for my Jamaican buddy but the floor was too far gone.I have sold over $900 so far on ebay in 5 weeks.When this one's gone I'll be getting another and doing the same.
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philvo '86 245 218k,'90 240 198k,'87 SAAB 900 SPG 213k

Check around. We can still get a 2-wheel alignment done at Firestone here in Houston for under $50 with a coupon, but that's the cheapest I've found.

DIY toe-alignment ...

Securely raise up the front end of the car, wheels off the ground. Your first goal is just to get it close to center. Center the steering wheel, and eyeball the two sides to see if one's considerably out of whack. Loosen the tie-rod end lock nut and start lengthening/shortening the rod as necessary to get it close to looking centered.

Close enough? Good. Now you need to fine-tune it on a turntable ... and we all have one of those, right? NOT! So we need to improvise ...
If you have (4) sheets of sheet metal, about 12x12, then smear some grease between the two to lower the car onto. Don't have metal? Go get some sturdy nylon cutting boards from the 99-cents store.

Lower the wheels onto the boards, preferably on ramps so it's easy to get to the tie-rod ends. Check that the steering wheel is still centered.
With a tape measure, measure the back, and measure the front. Through trial-and-error, adjust as necessary to zero or near zero.

Tighten it all up and take it for a ride. You may need to repeat it again, but all-in-all, it shouldn't take too long, and you've just saved $70.

-- Kane
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Blossom II - '91 745Ti/M46 ... Bubbles - '74 144GL/BW35 ... Buttercup - '86 245GL/AW70 ... The Wayback Machine - '64 P220/M40

Reprint of a previous article I wrote ...
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Here's how I checked camber on my '86 ... you'll need a bubble level, a L-square, a tape measure with metric readings, and a scientific calculator.

1. Park the car on a level ground. Double check both sides with the bubble level.

2. Measure the diameter of the rim, in mm, just inside of the edge lip, at the vertical centerline. Note it down.

3. Now level the L-square with the ground, L sticking up at the vertical centerline. Making sure it's not going to shift, measure the distance (in mm from the edge of the L-square at the top point of the rim. Repeat for the bottom. If the top distance is greater, camber is negative. If bottom is greater, you have positive. If equal, it's zero.

4. Trigonometry is used to figure out the angle. With the two rim measurements, calculate the difference. Now divide that by the rim diameter. With that figure, take an inverse tangent (tan-1). The resulting answer is the degrees of camber, noted as positive or negative as determined from step 3.

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Blossom II - '91 745Ti/M46 ... Bubbles - '74 144GL/BW35 ... Buttercup - '86 245GL/AW70 ... The Wayback Machine - '64 P220/M40

Thanks! This should get me where I want to be before I decide if I want to have it done at the shop. I merely wanted to know if in fact the front end was knocked so far out as to not be able to be aligned. As far as the math goes I guess that is why I am paying big bucks for my son to attend college and he can help with that. A couple of questions:

What is the desired camber angle? (if you know)

Am I correct that a slight amount of toe in makes a car drive better ie not have a tendency to wander left and right?

Is the fact the wheels tend to "droop" when the front end is off of the ground that you need to lower the car to adjust? Or at least to check the adjustment?

Thanks again,

Randy

What is the desired camber angle? (if you know)

Not sure off the top of my head.

Am I correct that a slight amount of toe in makes a car drive better ie not have a tendency to wander left and right?

Correct.

Is the fact the wheels tend to "droop" when the front end is off of the ground that you need to lower the car to adjust? Or at least to check the adjustment?

That is correct. When it's off the ground, the geometry changes. If everything is perfect between the left and right suspension components, it wouldn't matter. But such is rare, so.

The first adjustment, when the car is lifted, wheels off, and steering wheel centered, is just to get it close. It's most necessary when "straight" on the steering wheel is "lean towards one side".

-- Kane
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Blossom II - '91 745Ti/M46 ... Bubbles - '74 144GL/BW35 ... Buttercup - '86 245GL/AW70 ... The Wayback Machine - '64 P220/M40

How severe is the corrosion? If it isn't bad, then get the car
aligned. If the control arm was replaced, the car probably needs
camber and toe angle adjusted, both of which are do-able on a 240.
In the worst cars, you'll be out, what, $100, and you can easily
recoup that by parting the car out. You can worry about the bent
panel after you get the thing running (or not).


good luck -b.