Third Gen Camber Settings?? Options

[BrianChevy]

Friends,

My 1987 IROC Z/28 is a dedicated race car. Trailered to the events and not street legal. Given that I drive on Goodyear GS-CS R Compound tires what is the best setting for the camber using stock strut mount plates??

I found some third-gen specs which state -1.75 is available using the stock plates and that is the recommeded settings for Road Racing.

I am headed off to buy a Camber tool to measure the settings and move mine in quite a bit. Does somebody have a quick howto on this?

I think the steps are: (from observing others on other cars, but I want to know the *REAL* fbody way to do this..)

1) jack up the front end, take off both front tires.
2) put the camber tool on the rotor
3) loosen the 3 upper strut bolts and bring the strut IN at the top toward the engine (using the tool to ensure 1.75 is setup. PERMANENTLY MARK the location of the plate with paint. (paint body/paint bracket so you can line them up later without the tool).
4) loosen the 3 upper strut bolts and take it to the max, measure and mark that, re-tighten the bolts.
5) mark several places along the strut tower with measurements on both sides so that you can play with settings during test and tune.
6) lower the car
7) try it and then try the different settings until you find what you like.

that is kind of MY process, is it right? what is missing?

what have you guys found that works best for autocross?

Brian

[trackbird]

You have to adjust/measure the camber with the car at ride height. You can't let the suspension "hang" and get anything close to a proper measurement. I've not used those gauges, but I'd suspect that you will need a straight, flat, level and even surface for all 4 wheels (shim with plywood or something to level all 4) and then hook the gauge to the wheel (while it has weight on it) and take a reading (or some similar process) to be accurate.

As I said, I've not used those gauges before, but for most alignment measurements the above steps are requried.

[CMC #37]

You are very limited with what little camber you can get from the stock set-up. An economical way to go is to get the Hotpart.com caster camber plates. I just got them this season and so did another CMCer with a third gen. They will give you all the adjustment you need, and you will have a night and day difference with turn-in and tire wear. Right now I am running about -3deg camber!

[prockbp]

your camber changing process is fine... but EVERY time you change your camber setting, you will need to adjust the Toe setting.. otherwise you will roast your tires.. if the Toe is way off then you will actually hear your tires squealing as you drive down the road


those Hotpart plates look like they will do the job just fine.. and the price is way better than Ground Control camber plates...


you can extend the slots on stock upper mounts quite a bit... if you have a welder and some sheet metal or 1/8" plate, then you can extend the stock upper mounts as far as you want... this would be the cheapest route...
You CAN get maximum negative camber with stock upper strut mounts as long as you know how to do a little metal work


the thing that gets in the way is the rest of the car... you can only go so far before you have to start cutting the car up... it's not uncommon to chop on the car but you need to make sure that it is class legal for you... it's not legal in ESP


i had to grind my struts in areas that were rubbing the car

there are all kinds of a clearence issues with a third gen.. fourth gens are easy greasy

[axoid]

When my front suspension was stock the most that an alignment shop could get was -1.25 degrees of camber. Now, with ESP legal camber plates it maxs out at -2.25 degrees. I'm currently running -2 degrees on a street (not daily) driven car.

[BrianChevy]

Thanks for all the responses, I'll give it a try today.

Is it hard to adjust the camber with all the weight of the car on the strut? I was thinking I would have to jack it up to move things around. Should I jack from the cross member so that there is weight on it, or just fight the weight situation.??

Brian

[trackbird]

Nearly impossible.

There is a special tool that alignment shops use. We just aligned my friends car at a shop without that tool (the mechanic is a friend of mine) and it took 3 of us, a pry bar, and an impact gun to set it. Find the tool.....

[slowTA]

I think I saw that tool you need once. It bolts to 2 of the fender bolts and has a hook looking bolt with a turnbuckle between the 2 of them. The hook sits in the top of the strut mount so you can pull the strut mount towards the outside of the car, or loosen it and the mount slides towards the inside of the car. It doesn't look like that complicated of a tool to use or even make if you want to.

[RegaMaro]

I've adjusted my own alignment before and all that was needed was a level surface, jack and some tools. I just jacked it up from the cross member, took the wheels off and loosened the strut mounts just enough to move them. It was easy and no prying was needed. Of course after you make camber adjustments you have to let the car down and roll it at least 10ft or so then make your toe adjustment and repeat the roll for good measure on your level surface.

If you try to adjust it while its on the ground it is indeed nearly impossible without specialty tools. Believe me I've tried. It'll shoot your camber adjustment as far negative as possible as soon as you untighten the struts mounts enough.