Camber

[wishIhadaturbo]

Ok, I might get flamed or called a cheap ass here but ...

Why can't you elongate the holes that the Struts mount to, to allow correction of the camber ?

Thanks in advance

 

[wishIhadaturbo]

Hmmm . no response. Guess it was a dumb idea.

 

[Signal]

I never thought about doing that, but you can buy shims real cheap at home depot if you want to save cash.

 

[dsmnate]

Originally posted by wishIhadaturbo
Ok, I might get flamed or called a cheap ass here but ...

Why can't you elongate the holes that the Struts mount to, to allow correction of the camber ?

Thanks in advance

What exactly are you talking about? Front or Rear?
Do you mean where the strut mounts to the car in the shock towers?

 

[wishIhadaturbo]

Yes. I mean the holes where the struts/shocks mounts to the body. Prob front. That is where the camber problem are right. Or is it best to do both axles.

Thanks in advance

 

[dsmnate]

Originally posted by wishIhadaturbo
Yes. I mean the holes where the struts/shocks mounts to the body. Prob front. That is where the camber problem are right. Or is it best to do both axles.

Thanks in advance

You would be better off just buying a camber kit.....
By cutting the shock towers you would f-up the structural integrity of the car.

Depending on how much you lower the car the rear may be ok and not need any change. Mine needed to be adjusted but it is very easy to do for the rear of the car. Just buy longer bolts and use 4 washers per bolt behind the upper control arm mounts to gain about a degree. (I can give you better istructions if you need them)

The front adjustment however is harder to do. There are basically two ways that it can be done:

The first is to buy new upper control arm anchors that allow adjustment and basically push the upper control arm away from the body of the car. For better info on this way read what I ran into when I tried installing the Extreme Camber kit in THIS thread.

The second way is new and costs more money, not sure how much, but what it does is replace the ball joint in the upper control arm with an adjustable ball joint.

The best suggestion I could give you is to just have a camber kit installed professionally from a shop for the front because it was a PITA!!!
I spent a long time installing it.

The rear you can easily do yourself, it took me a total of maybe 30 minutes.

Later,
Nate

 

[2-0turbo]

Originally posted by wishIhadaturbo
Ok, I might get flamed or called a cheap ass here but ...

Why can't you elongate the holes that the Struts mount to, to allow correction of the camber ?

Thanks in advance

You can--a perfectly acceptable way to accomplish this too--according to Mike at DSS. The only problem with this method is that you then rely on the friction from tightening that bolt back up to keep the camber setting you desire. I have heard of people elongating the hole (you need to do this pretty precisely--use a compass to scribe a point about the other bolt) and then weld up the what is left of the old hole so it can't go anywhere. Have fun! PS - get an alignment or do the measurements yourself to be sure you are the same on both sides.

 

[dsmnate]

Hey wait.......I just noticed that you have a 1st gen.

Didn't 1st gens have a different suspension setup than the second gens???

If it is the Mcphearson (sp?) strut set up with no upper control arm you can just buy camber plates that make it really easy to adjust your camber. I know you can get them from Ground Control but I'm sure somebody else makes then too.

-Nate

 

[2-0turbo]

Originally posted by dsmnate
Hey wait.......I just noticed that you have a 1st gen.

Didn't 1st gens have a different suspension setup than the second gens???

Yes.

If it is the Mcphearson (sp?) strut set up with no upper control arm you can just buy camber plates that make it really easy to adjust your camber.
-Nate

Easy maybe, but not particularly cheap. Someday--it is on my mods list. For now, I'll live with stock camber up front.

 

[GreenGSX]

I think you have your answer allready but here's my 2 cents. Yes you can slot the strut tower. I know because mine are slotted on my 92 GSX. I run -2.8 degrees of camber up front and a little more in the back. To get that much camber I have both the strut towers and the struts slotted. The strut tower slots aren't really ever an issue because I use the strut tower brace to keep the top of the strut from shifting. Slotting the struts is another story. They can and eventually will move unless you weld up the hole or tack the bolt down. $300 is a lot to spend on camber plates. One of these days I'll get to those after I fix the tranny.

You can get adjustable camber bolts for the strut to spindle mounts but they are limited in there adjustment (-1.5 max?). If you've lowered the car at all you will need most of that -1.5 just to get back to 0. They are cheap though. I think around $30.

A better question is why do you need more negative camber in the front. If its for autocross or road racing I can point you in the right direction. If its just for looks then just get the Ingalls bolts and set the alignment to factory specs.

Basically you need to give more info to get more info?

Tim
"[email protected] with no second gear"

 

[wishIhadaturbo]

i have ordered 2.25" drop springs and am worried about chewing up tires, and trying to save some cash at the same time.

 

[NDgsx]

Originally posted by dsmnate
I know you can get them from Ground Control but I'm sure somebody else makes then too.

-Nate

The needle bearings in the GCs wear out rather quick. The plates aren't exactly strong as hell either, I, Leon Reitman, and Lowell Foo (possibly more I don't know about) have bent them. Mine I don't really blame them for though, it was my dumbass that got off road anyway
Lowell and Leon bent theirs during "normal" driving.

RRE makes them, but in the cars I've riden in with them the springs did not turn as easily as they should have and you could hear the coils binding up.

JIC has them listed for 1Gs, not sure who could get those.
Tein used to sell them, mofugas could get them.
A company called noltec is making some that are rumored to be good (don't know anyone running them). Mofugas has them on their site, but no price listed yet.