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Old 09-17-2005, 10:58 AM   #1 (permalink)
Rx3
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2G-specific HOW TO: Add more adjustability to the front alignment on the 2G

Over the summer while building up my suspension, I decided to tackle the issue my car has with having a useable camber adjustment range for the front of my car (97 Mitsu Eclipse AWD turbo; it has none basically). After some research, and talking to a lot of other fellow DSM people that autocross or road race, I combined ideas some people were doing separately into one.



I took my stock front upper control arms off the car, cleaned the rust off with a die grinder and steel brush bit, then had them media blasted. I coated them with anti-rust paint. I then pressed out the stock ball joints and replaced them with SPC's Adjustable balljoints. These balljoints can be set +/- 3 degrees for camber ( rotating the ball joint mount in the slot to set either positive or negative) with the "camber plate" and bolt on top.

I also added SPC's adjustable anchor bolts, and reversed them to add -1.5 degrees of camber adjustment. If you put them in the normal the adjustment is positive instead of negative. You will need the smaller bolt, as the bigger one is too big to be reversed. Here is a pic showing the difference between the two:




You want the camber bolt on the LEFT for this project



Here are pictures of the finished product:



















The result is +/- 4.5 degrees in camber adjustment for the front. With proper suspension tuning, I think some of the inherent characteristics of the 2G can be corrected or remedied to make the car easier to flick and turn. The trick will be to get the adjustment while keeping the toe and caster within reasonable spec. This will take some work. I've got access to a friend's shop, so we will be doing this once our schedules clear up.


To compare, cost for a dedicated adjustable control arm from SPC (or any other company) ranges from about $650-800 for the pair of control arms. The SPC arms have a +/- 6 degrees of adjustability. So the solution I used is very cost effective, as I have very similar adjustment for less than half the price.


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-Rick-
97 DSM GSX
Project Rx3: 2.4L 4G63

Last edited by Rx3 : 10-24-2005 at 04:48 PM.
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Old 09-27-2005, 04:13 PM   #2 (permalink)
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Comments

Some comments from a friend in my area who has a similar setup for autocrossing using the same balljoints I did:



Quote:
Originally Posted by curious
Word to the wise, you will want to try some kind of rubber/tire conditioner on the SPC adj. balljoints because the rubber boots crack very easily even on cars not driven in the winter.

Also, when I installed my adj. bj's, I angled them towards the back of the car at a 30º angle which does limit my actual possible negative camber to about 3.5 instead of 4, but gives me a whole bunch more caster. Some say to not mess with caster, but to me more just makes sense. If you have a 97+ you could also use this trick to even out the passenger compression arm which the dealer installs a bushing in backwards, eliminiting almost all caster on that side in favor of safety for those falling asleep at the wheel.


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97 DSM GSX
Project Rx3: 2.4L 4G63
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Old 05-09-2007, 10:21 AM   #3 (permalink)
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One correction/clarification to curious' post: it's the driver's side compression arm that has the reversed bushing on late 96s+.

- Jtoby
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