Guest BadKarmaCreepin Posted December 11, 2002 Share Posted December 11, 2002 so i'm putting 17x7's with 225/45 tires and coilovers lowered to eliminate wheel gap. so the questions are.... do i need camber plates or whatever to offset the changed geometry? how bad will my alignment be off? i know i have to get one when everything is installed, but is it even worth it? thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katman Posted December 11, 2002 Share Posted December 11, 2002 As you lower a Z the front will toe out. How much depends on how much you lower it. Camber will also change to the negative side initially. Whether or not you need to correct it again depends on how much you lower it. As you decamber the front wheels the toe moves back in. Count on an alignment and some way to adjust the camber. The cheapo method is to just slot the strut towers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BadKarmaCreepin Posted December 11, 2002 Share Posted December 11, 2002 the car has stock 14's on it now, and i'd like the car to be higher than it is now, which it will be with the wheels and tires, but not so there's a huge gap between the wheel and fender lip. so i imagine it might be pretty close to the same height. how much are camber correction kits? and how hard is the poor man's version (better idea)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted December 11, 2002 Share Posted December 11, 2002 Check out the JTR manual on the suspension chapter wich details the ultra cheap but labor intensive re-postioning of the lower control arm pivot hole. Strut spacers can be had off "Datsun" eBay about any day of the week for $50.00. Per JTR you can also slot the 3 front strut mounting holes to adjust camber. Camber plates are very expensive. Check out Victoria British and MSA catalogs for other schemes to affect camber. Put your big tires on first before fretting about camber and caster becuz the installation might just solve it's own problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katman Posted December 11, 2002 Share Posted December 11, 2002 Originally posted by BadKarmaCreepin:the car has stock 14's on it now, and i'd like the car to be higher than it is now, which it will be with the wheels and tires, but not so there's a huge gap between the wheel and fender lip. so i imagine it might be pretty close to the same height. how much are camber correction kits? and how hard is the poor man's version (better idea)? A 225/45-17 will only be about 0.2 inches bigger in diameter than a stock wheel/tire. Anyway, just drill another same diameter hole on either side of the existing strut tower holes, directly inboard and outboard, and file out the remains to form a slot for each of the three strut tower holes. Typical camber plate setups for Z's run about $500 to do the 4 strut towers and require much more work than the poor man's version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BadKarmaCreepin Posted December 11, 2002 Share Posted December 11, 2002 these $50 strut spacers off of "datsun" ebay (hahahaha) will solve the problem? my whole thing is i don't want the car running around with slanted-in wheels (the camber), it just looks funny and will destroy my tires, and i hear it's a problem when lowering the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted December 11, 2002 Share Posted December 11, 2002 I've got a PAIR of Carrera Camber plates I'll sell you for $125... They will do one end of the car... I can also hook you up with some control arms for it... $300 per pair for the front... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BadKarmaCreepin Posted December 13, 2002 Share Posted December 13, 2002 so the msa coilovers come with camber plates, and for $839 i think, would be cheaper than getting the coilovers and camber plates separately, right? anyone ever use these and had good results? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slownrusty Posted December 13, 2002 Share Posted December 13, 2002 I am running 20mm strut spacers that I bought off eBay and that eliminated any negative camber (I lovered my car 2") on kmy car. You can see pics at: www.picturetrail.com/slownrusty Hope that helps you. Negative camber is not all that bad, many Japanese races like a coupel of degrees of negative camber for very quick trakc turn in, I don;t mind how it looks, but yes it will wear your tires unevenly. Hope that helps - Yasin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted December 13, 2002 Share Posted December 13, 2002 Well the MSA setup is NOT the best setup out there... The camber adjustment is extremely limited and not really a plate type system. There is a reason they only sell a few of those setups per year, and a GOOD reason the whole KIT is one $895... Just an FYI... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katman Posted December 13, 2002 Share Posted December 13, 2002 The strut spacers were intended to correct bump steer when you lower the car, they have a little effect on camber. For the street a half degree negative isn't such a bad thing. Around a degree you start noticing increased wear. My experience anyway. On a 280ZX as you lower the rear you also change toe there, so other mods have to be done to the control arm attachments to correct that. Suspensions are like Mr. Rubik's cube, you change one thing and it affects several other things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BadKarmaCreepin Posted December 13, 2002 Share Posted December 13, 2002 so i get the coilovers from ross, get the 20mm strut spacers from ebay, slap on the 4 lug spacers for my rims and tires, and i'm good to go get an alignment? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted December 13, 2002 Share Posted December 13, 2002 Yup, that is a better solution... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modern Motorsports Ltd Posted December 13, 2002 Share Posted December 13, 2002 I'd rec'd doing the wheels/coilovers and then go for an alignment at your desired ride height. You may find it's bang on or very close.....and if it's not you'll discover how far out it is, if it's only a little or quite a bit and then it's easier to pick your parts to correct it. Z's that stay near stock height often don't require too much to achieve decent handling and tire wear. If you're doing a thousand miles a week and running pricey tires and once your install is done you don't have any allowance for down time to add parts then I'd suggest bucking up for all full adjustment parts straight up.....but most can do mods progressively to see what's required if you have a spare vehicle etc. I measured on my 280ZX the camber I wanted to gain and slotted my tires accordingly after doing some simple trig, worked out fine and I didn't end up with very large slots on my towers (using my own 280ZX custom MML camber plates). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted December 14, 2002 Share Posted December 14, 2002 Mikelly. you have mail. If BKC wants to spend his money with MSA.. I am interested in the Carrera camber plates Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BadKarmaCreepin Posted December 14, 2002 Share Posted December 14, 2002 oh i'm def not spending at msa, but i will get the strut spacers eventually from ebay. but the coilovers/struts/wheel spacers are coming from ross, after next payday! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted December 14, 2002 Share Posted December 14, 2002 Dan... good choice.. Are you interested in Mikelly's camber plates?. I want them to duplicate and fabricate future home made sets.. I sourced this 240 Z with highly modified suspension and perfect V8 potential for my pal Ocbar who stole it for a paltry $350.00. He was to remove one of the camber plates for me to duplicate. I cannot even get him to take off one of the $200.00 wheels much less a camber plate.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted December 14, 2002 Share Posted December 14, 2002 I bought the MSA camber plates from the old catalog (therefore sight unseen) and though they work, wouldn't have been my first choice though I did save some $$. The spacers you're talking about are the ones that go between the bottom of the strut and the control arm? If so I'm pretty sure those are to correct the camber on a stock/no camber plate/1-1.5" lowered car, not necessarily a bump steer correction. My car came with them and they are now off the car since I have camber adjustment (I'll give them to you if you want them) BTW don't confuse excessive toe-out as a bump steer problem on a Z (well, a 240z at least). Go to an alignment shop that has some performance tuning experience. BTW, with 1.8 degrees of -front camber on my old set-up I didn't see any excessive tire wear after 3K miles though the bfg's are a pretty hard compound. My 2 cents. Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted December 14, 2002 Share Posted December 14, 2002 Jumbo.. good points. IMHO the lower control arm pivot hole re-location is a better remedy for bumpsteer. We lowered Nezzie 76's Vello Rossa about 4 inches without the pivot hole location and it looks totally knock-kneed as opposed to the Tomahawk which recieved the same treatment with the 2 inch section of the strut tubes but got the control arm pivot holes relocated. We are waiting to mount the 15 inch tires on the VR to see if that improves the "knock knees" to a more suitable tire wearing camber appearance.I just want Camber plates to have them. I have a polished Corvette aluminum driveshaft that I want everyone to see before it goes underground out of sight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted December 14, 2002 Share Posted December 14, 2002 Yes Tomahawk. I'm not an expert so everyone take this with a grain of salt and DO YOUR RESEARCH, but from what I've read is the best you can do with a Z is try to get the tie rod and the L-control arm as parallel as possible to help with bump steer. Terry mentioned this to me also. And to me, Terry is the Ford Z God. Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.