There are plenty of circumstances where squaring a car comes in handy. Let's say you just bought a race car, and want to know where the suspension is on the thing. Or maybe you just got a brand-new chassis an need to set the suspension straight in the car to locate the body on the chassis. Maybe you're just ready to set up the chassis for the next week of racing, and need to find your baseline again. For all of these situations, you need to square up your race car--and here is where to learn how to do just that.
We dropped by the Victory Circle Chassis and Parts shop in Bakersfield, California to talk with owner Craig Raudman about squaring a race car. Raudman also fields a full-on Southwest Tour effort and was getting ready for the next week's racing. Here's what he does to get ready and what he recommends to his customers.
Before measuring, find the flattest space on the floor in your shop. Mark the four corners with tape, and always do your measurements in that area.
If it's not, he shortens or lengthens the trailing arms, and the whole process of checking the angles on all the rear-suspension components, and getting everything to the starting point is begun again. This is not a one-step procedure. You will find problems and you'll need to solve them to get all of this right.
If you need to slide the rearend one way or the other, make sure that once you move it, the frame mount of the lower-trailing arms is further inside than the trailing-arm mount on the rearend. This is important in ensuring against fouling up the rear steer of the car.
