Quote:
Originally Posted by Outwest34au
Rob, Bob, Bj and Roy,
thanks all for the input.
BJ, I will add gussets, such a simple job with potential big benefit. How much did you move your LHS in? I will do angular measurements on it before I cut, but if I have to I might as well do it at the same time.
If I add a (circa) 3/8" spacer to the other side both wheels will be positive and I can't see how that will be desirable.
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With your current a-arms, it wouldn't be benifical. But, if you used an adjustable arm you can make it as long or as short as you want.
The upper and lower arms are differant lengths for a very good reason. As the shorter arm on top moves through it's arc in compression, it pulls the top of the tire in, and increases negative camber. This can be a good thing.
Put the car on jack stands, but make sure the front to back angle is the same as if it were sitting on the ground. On the other side (that has normal alignment) remove the spring/shock, and use a bottle jack to place the hub where the suspension would be if it was sitting on it's tires normally.
Move the tire up 1", 2", and 3" and measure camber change. Then drop the suspension (from ride height) 1", 2" and 3", and measure camber change.
If you use a shorter arm, the camber change will be greater than it is now. Depending on what you have, that could be a good thing, or a bad thing. Shimming for a shorter arm would be more expensive but less work and maybe a better outcome. It also makes it a whole lot easier to adjust the suspension, because you don't have to shim anything. It only takes me about 30-45 minutes to do a complete front end alignment; and I am very picky about it. Close enough, isn't.
Other things to consider is where the tire sits in the wheel well; maybe you want to move it in or out a little. 3/8" doesn't sound like much, but it can really make a differance in tire clearance and looks.
Have you compared the lower ball joints to the chassis center line? Maybe the left one sits further away from the centerline than the right one does.
The point of this rambling thought process is that suspension set up is very tricky. One change affects three others. 3/8" is lot. On my car, 1* of camber only takes about 1/8" of adjustment. And you want to make adjustments in 0.25-0.5* increments. Before you make permanent changes by cutting and welding, make sure you checked all the angles - literally and figurativly. Measure 6 times, cut once.
. So with the 4 inch and an ultra thin wheel I ran along the edge of the angle and got very neat squre cuts. All is tacked on now and I should be able to achieve 2.5 - 3 deg camber give or take a bees-dick from side to side.
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