Setting Camber Metric Chassis

[welder39]

I am going to ask a very basic "stupid" question. I have never really worked ona GM car before and have a friend I am helping, hence part of my stupidity.

The basic question is as the title states getting camber, secifically in the LF, I can see where you just add shims (to a point) to keep increasing RF Camber but the LF once the shims are gone I don't know what is next, is it a longer upper A- arm, do you flip something or ?? Is that actually also the better way for the RF is a shorter A-arm rather than excessive shims?

I looked on the internet and apparently this is such a basic or stupid question I could find nothing on it. So any help is appreciated.

Thanks in advance, you can respond here or email me at defabshop@lycos.com

 

[troyer49]

Unless I missed the point, you are asking how to mech. change the caster? If you are???  Here you go, at the top A frame there is the long cross bolt that the shims go behind, if you go to the ends of that cross bolt you will find the nuts that are used for caster. If you move them in unison ( tighten1/losen1) toward the rear that will give you positive caster. All you really are doing is sliding the A arm along the cross bolt to move the upper ball joint behind the center line. If I totally missed the question. I will try to help if you let me know.

 

[racingwrench]

I believe the question was camber not caster. You have to move the mount or buy an aftermarket a-arm a bit longer than stock (if you can use them). I think just moving the mount is the cheapest and best way to do it. Measure and lay it out for additional caster,too. It will help your handling.

 

[troyer49]

You know I did graduate from school    and I thought I knew how to read.....I guess I don't I'm sorry I messed that up..........Not sure what  I was thinking..............BUT if you ever need to do caster let me know...LOL

 

[thewackyracer]

49, I thought you missed the questin too. But, you told me something I didn't know, Thanx.

 

[ralph1979]

I have heard of people swapping there upper control arms to help with caster,  i personally never tried it but some people say it helps with caster gain. I've always put on a longer upper on the left side .I know a lot of tracks dont allow you to move your mounts on top or allow after market uppers.  I dont know what your rules maybe.  I would check them to see whats allowed and dont be afraid to try loading the RF with a ton of caster if you cant get it in the LF you could always take it out if it dont work for you... this answer is for a caster change...  and for the camber see if an offset caster/ camber bar is legal  i believe moog makes em. when you get your caster.... even size shims front and back for camber adjustment  (that works for me) some people may do it differently... I hope this answered any thing you wanted to know ;D

 

[john56h]

Sometimes you can just enlarge the hole in the upper a-frame where the balljoint bolts in....then move it outward a bit and weld the balljoint into the arm instead of bolting it. Just be careful not to put any more heat than is necessary into the ball joint as it might bind up. Tack weld it, then let it cool and go back to it several times to finish weld it, allowing cooling off time between welding. (I know, it's poor practice, but it works and it's cheap...and usually when the balljoint gets bent, so does the upper arm anyway).

 

[Burgess Family Racing]

For LF camber, if you can't run aftermarket a-arms, cut the stock a-arm and flatten it out a bit.  Then, fill the "V" shaped void in with weld.  This will give you some more positive camber.  I have heard of guys shaving the mounting bar down (making it thinner), but it doesn't sound very safe to me. 

 

[troyer49]

Just a side note to back up what R 1979 said, they do make an offset cross shaft for metric A frames. If you go to the Rock Auto website online and look up the chassis componets by car make and model you will find several. I bought cross shafts from them for a 1980 Camaro, (which always needs more + camber) if you installed them one way it was stock flip them and you got more + camber. I have yet to align it so I can't tell you how much you gain.

 

[ralph1979]

when we were using stock uppers i used the offset cross shaft and got about 2 .5 + camber they do work well

 

[frontierjoe]

The easiest way to gain camber on your LF is cut the a-frame in half, lengthen it a 1 inch or so with some steel plate. Then weld back together.

Some tracks have rules for altering your stock components, other than that short of buying a aftermarket LF a-frame (which also may not be legal in the rules) your kinda stuck.

 

 

[welder39]

I was wondering about cutting and welding the a-arm and actually both LF and RF because I just found out over the weekend that the RF hits the headers we bought but wasn't sure how much to cut out on RF or put in on LF, that would also allow me to add caster to each one.

I was thinking of taking a pie shapped piece out of the RF and using some of it on the LF.

 

[john56h]

I've found that it is easiest to shorten RF upper a-arms by cutting it apart where the cross-shaft is, remove some length (about 3/4" inch should do) and welding it back together. You might want to remove bushings before welding to avoid burning the rubber.

I've also seen arms shortened/lengthened by cutting across the arm somewhere between the crosshaft and the balljoint, then welding a plate across on both halves. The two plates can then be welded together at the desired length. The plates make up for the differnce in profile at two different points on the taper of the a-arm.

 

[welder39]

I got brave and did that, I cut it after the cross shaft, got tricky and took a pie shaped piece out (less in front more in back) to add caster to RS. It worked well, I used a Z shaped cut (across the top then with the a arm for a bit then down again) so it hopefully is a stronger joint. I may have cut a bit to much put as I have about 4 degrees with no shims, Of course afterward I thought I should have taken pictures but you never seem to do as you do these things. I also didn't take the rubbers out but also only welded a little at a time and let it cool to control the heat going into them.