240z T3 NCRA and Camber/Toe bushings review

[Jazz86]

Hey guys,

So I recently bought some goodies for my 240z and I thought I'd share some of my experiences with these products. All from T3 or technotoytuning; I got their NCRA (negative camber roll center adjusters) and their camber/toe bushings as they seem beefier that the ones offered from MSA.

 

 

Starting with the NCRA, I wanted to gives these a try to gain some much needed camber on the front axle of my 240z. The installation was pretty straight forward, much like your normal bumpsteer spacer installation with a few added steps. I already had bumpsteer spacers and those were great but I wanted some camber and these did just the trick.

Effects of NCRA:

1. Camber has jumped from -0.7(stock with 1.2 inch lowering) to -2.5

2. Front ride height has decreased about 0.7 inches (this has to do with a longer lever and a different angle with the top of the strut tower) But the shock travel is nearly the same.

3. The steering response is a lot better and the car turns in great

4. Braking has been negatively effected as I lock up my front wheels quicker (smaller contact patch)

5. corning grip has gone up a lot (though it has become more of a handful to drive)

 

Moving on to the Camber/toe bushings. These are really poorly designed, almost an after thought from T3. But they can be made to work. The installation took a bit of time because you have to take off the traverse bolts, and fiddle with the mounts. I did not have to take off the mounts completely, I loosened them enough to slip the bushings through. After the install I found out about how little thought was put into designing them. The bushings facing the front of the car has almost zero room to access the for adjustment. The bushings facing the rear are easy to adjust. 

 

 

However, here comes my struggles with these stupid bushings. They are solid aluminum with delrin inserts. These damn things just vibrate the crap out of those traverse bolts and they always get loose, thankfully they will still hold any measurement because they are clamped down by the control arm mounts. I am still constantly having to tighten them and you can feel when they get loose, because the rear will start to loose grip and you can hear clunking. Unless I can get my traverse bolts 100% tight I currently have a slightly "variable wheel base"  .

Effects of camber bushings:

1. Toe is fully adjustable to 0.7 toe out or in biased on your preferences

2. Camber is tricky to adjust as camber adjusts with toe and they are proportional. Max camber I could get was about -2.0but this gave me really stupid toe.

3. bitch to adjust front facing bushings

4. makes the ride stiffer as these are almost solid bushings

 

I took the car to get aligned and the shop guy couldn't figure out anything with my 240z... prob to old for him to know how it worked and yet a 21 year old knows. So what do you do when sloppy mechanics get their hands on your car. you fix it yourself.

TIME FOR DIY HOME ALIGNMENT hot rod style.

 

I will make a post on how to do this. But take my word for it, this type of alignment is not bad at all. I had a different friend check for me using a modern laser machine and he came back to me with the shock of his life and said "you did THIS accurate of an alignment in your garage, tying to put me outta business haha"?

 

Final Alignment specs:

Front:

Toe Driver side: -0.07 degrees (toe out)                     Camber Driver side: -2.5 degrees

Toe Passenger: -0.07 degrees (toe out)                     Camber Passenger: -2.3 deg

Caster Driver: 3.0 Degrees                                         Caster Pass: 2.7 Degrees

 

Rear:

Toe Driver: +0.12 deg (toe in)                                     Camber driver: -1.5 deg

Toe Pass: +0.13 def (toe in)                                       Camber Pass: -1.3 deg

Edited August 29, 2017 by Jazz86

[seattlejester]

I know one shop turned me away because they said they couldn't establish a frame of reference to start the alignment. Another shop told me that was basically bull, they just didn't want to take the time.

 

I had the same thing happen with poly bushings. You have to use some type of thread locker on the inboard lower control arm bolts, similarly with those clamps make sure to use thread locker as well. 

[Jazz86]

I know one shop turned me away because they said they couldn't establish a frame of reference to start the alignment. Another shop told me that was basically bull, they just didn't want to take the time.

 

I had the same thing happen with poly bushings. You have to use some type of thread locker on the inboard lower control arm bolts, similarly with those clamps make sure to use thread locker as well. 

Will do. I am going to try blue lock-tight on it.

[nullbound]

It would be good to also state what other suspension changes you've made prior to these changes (springs, strut cartridges, etc.).

[seattlejester]

Replacing the lock rings would also help. Remember to clean the bolts off really well as well. They are big and tend to have a bit of gunk on them.

 

Car looks quite good. Your lettering is a lot better than mine. Are they vinyl?

[Jazz86]

On 8/30/2017 at 6:38 AM, nullbound said:

It would be good to also state what other suspension changes you've made prior to these changes (springs, strut cartridges, etc.).

The car is running some custom springs on the front it sits approximately 1.2 inches lower than stock, and I have tokico lowering springs 5020R rear and that sits 1.0 inches lower than stock. Strut cartridges are kyb struts. I am running poly LCA bushings on the front and solid and delrin on the rear.

[Jazz86]

On 8/30/2017 at 11:53 AM, seattlejester said:

Replacing the lock rings would also help. Remember to clean the bolts off really well as well. They are big and tend to have a bit of gunk on them.

 

Car looks quite good. Your lettering is a lot better than mine. Are they vinyl?

Tried blue locktite on them and they seem to be holding on well. If those ever come loose again I will get new lock washers and clean up the threads a lot more thoroughly. 

As for the tire letters those were using one of those tire makers, they tend to yellow and fade the harder I drive. However, all my friends seem to like the slightly faded look, they say it gives a touch of patina ... as if the car didn't have enough patina.