I just installed Vette Brakes and Products Smart Struts to replace the rear struts on my 67. I'll go have the car aligned once I figure out how to do it. The Smart Struts limit camber change during wheel travel. They have screw fittings at both ends of each strut AND they have the normal cam system of a stock midyear. My question is, Why have two ways to adjust camber? I am missing something here, and hopefully one of you guys has already figured out this riddle. The instructions that come with the Smart Struts amount to zilch.

 

I installed a smartstrut on my 65, but have not had it aligned yet. It was very easy to install and give more adjustment to alignment and much easier to use. I installed it when I was rebuilding my entire rear.

It just bolts in place of your camber adustment bracket and to the trailing arms. You'll see how it goes on as soon as you pull off your strut rods.

Good luck, Dave

 

LouieM -
The original cam method of adjusting the camber is less precise than using the smart struts. I would suggest using the cams to get the camber in the ball park and then leave them alone. Use the smart struts for final alignment. One other advantage of the smart struts is that you can try different camber settings if you'd like to, and you can always return to the original setting by simply counting the number of turns in or out on the strut.

 

A word of experience with the smart struts. Make sure the threads are absolutely clean and jam the lock nuts on as hard as you can. I must have had some sort of lubricant on my hands when I put mine on. Due to the stress applied to the ends of the strut rod, it wants to pull them (stretch) apart. When this happens the lock nuts do not hold and the adjusting rod is free to rotate and adjust your camber. I found out the hard way when I drove it work one day and noticed the wheels were angled severely in at the top.

I finally got them to stop moving only after trying lock-tite and then after it happened again, I used a little bead of JB Weld across the lock nut and camber adjusting cylinder.

I called VBP and they did say that they heard of other people having that problem.

Good luck with yours

 

The jam nut on my struts also came loose after installation. They came loose a couple of times. I last adjusted the camber a little over a year ago and used red Loctite. They have not come loose again. I do not know whether it is the Loctite, age, or the extra torque of unknown quantity that I used last time. I do like the struts because of the ease of fine tuning that they allow, and I will keep them on the car. But, aftermarket and racing parts almost always seem to require a little bit more attention and headache.

 

I've got the Guldstrand equivalent, although these elimnate the camber bolts. As much as you want to eyeball them, you will likely be way off when it comes time to get it done right. Unless you have the right tools, your eyeball better be calibrated really well. I tried it once back when I had the cam setup and was about 5 degrees off!

As for loosening, I've never heard of this problem or seen it with the Guldstrand version.

 

Struts unscrewing themselves? Yikes! :eek: That sounds scary, so I called a local Corvette-only mechanic about this. He says he has installed the Smart Struts before and has had no problems with them. I'll go by later this week and he'll align the car and tighten the struts.

Thanks for the warning! :thumbs:

 

Louie, to get back to your original question, why have two ways to adjust the camber? The cam isn't used so much to adjust camber in this case, it's more to move the pivot point of the strut, which affects camber change during cornering. Theoretically, if the strut and the halfshaft are parallel, and the vertical lines formed by the pivot points are also parallel, then camber would remain constant as the wheel moves up and down. You can get pretty close to this with the smart strut, but you can also set it to increase or decrease camber as the wheel moves up - good to cure handling problems on the track, and possibly on the street if you drive it hard enough.
And it makes for a great bench racing discussion.

Bruce

 

I have had VB adjustable struts for about ten years. They have never come loose, but then I spray a light coat of black paint on ANY bare metal under my car.

They installed in place of the camber cams, and the only caveat is to have the spot welds on the diff bracket reinforced with a short weld bead if you will use poly bushings. Poly bushings give less on bumps and tend to hammer the spot welds a little harder. :banghead: While I had the struts out, it took 20 minutes and $10 to get the welds reinforced at a weld shop. :skep:

 

Ditto on welding the plates. I welded mine during installation and all went well. :auto:

 

Glad I read this thread... I'm getting ready to install a set new adjustable strut rods that look like the VB type. Only There are made by another Co. Can't remember the name.

So you guys are saying to touch up the welds on the small brackets whare the cam bolt rotates in???? The brackets that are welded to the main strut bracket????

:confused:

 

To quote directly from the instruction sheet for the VB&P Adjustable Strut Rods................."Unbolt strut rod bracket from beneath differential housing. It is reccommended that the existing strut rod bracket tabs be welded on each side of the strut rod bracket since they were only spot welded at the factory. (A total of 4 places, 2 on each bracket end). NOTE: If strut rod bracket tabs are already welded in place, omit this step."

This is one of the differences in the Adjustable S.R. Kit and the Smart Struts........the Smart Struts come with their own bracket from VB&P because they use a different cam setup.

 

Heh Thanks for clearing that up ..7 Vettes.

Glad I read this thread...... :cheers:

 

Bruce,
Thanks for clearing up what the cam bolts are for on Smart Struts. It makes sense now that you've explained it. Sometimes the simple things are not obvious, esp. when the manufacturer doesn't explain things.

BTW welding the square pieces onto the stock strut rod bracket is a good idea, since one of them fell off my stock diff bracket once I got things apart, the spot welds broke.

7vettes (wow, do you really have seven Vettes?! :eek: :cool: :cheers: ),
I'm jealous that VBP sent you actual instructions with your adjustable strut rods. My Smart Struts came with not much more than "Here's what you bought, now enjoy it."

BTW I discovered that putting in struts, Smart or dumb ones, is way easier if you disconnect the spring from the trailing arms.

I'd like to take part in more of these postings, but since the Forum got glacially slow on my Mac a few weeks ago, being at this site --- my favorite one in the virtual universe-- is EXTREMELY :mad frustrating.

Louie :auto:

 

Quote: 7vettes (wow, do you really have seven Vettes?! :eek: :cool: :cheers: )

No, I've had seven Vettes (which is no big deal around this Forum) but I've not been without a Vette since 1962. They've all been C1's or C2's.

Quote: I'm jealous that VBP sent you actual instructions with your adjustable strut rods. My Smart Struts came with not much more than "Here's what you bought, now enjoy it."

I bought my kit directly from VB&P at one of the NCRS Shows in Orlando. We opened the package, inspected the parts and reviewed the instructions on-the-spot. The instruction sheet was packaged along with the strut rods in the plastic wrapper. I had so many dumb questions, I'm sure they were glad they had a set of instructions to refer to.

Quote: BTW I discovered that putting in struts, Smart or dumb ones, is way easier if you disconnect the spring from the trailing arms.

That's one of the dumb questions I had and the very first instruction said.................................... ..........."DO ONE SIDE AT A TIME 1. Remove rear spring end bolt from trailing arm by jacking up spring. Use vise grips (on steel spring only) to prevent jack from sliding up the spring."

My guess is, the Smart Strut instructions would've said the same thing......too bad you didn't have them, I can't understand why they weren't included.

I expect to see these guys again at Eckler's Spring Show on May 03, 2003. If you'd still like a set of Smart Strut instructions for your records (I'd recommend it), let me know and I'll get a set for you. Send me your address via IM or E-Mail.


[Modified by 7vettes, 7:38 PM 4/12/2003]

 

[B] I Ain't Taken Nooooooooo Chances !!!!!!





[Modified by Viet Nam Vett, 10:57 PM 4/14/2003]

 

<<<<<No, I've had seven Vettes (which is no big deal around this Forum) but I've not been without a Vette since 1962. They've all been C1's or C2's.>>>>>

You started your Vette life 6 years before I did. Unfortunately, I had an 11-year gap in my Vette life until I recently bought a 67 again. In one week I went from having a maroon/black 350hp 4-spd factory AC coupe AND matching convertible to zero Vettes. I'm not sure why I dropped away from midyears, just went temporarily nuts or something.

<<<<<The instruction sheet was packaged along with the strut rods in the plastic wrapper. >>>>>

Guess the instruction-sheet guy was out on break when my struts came down the production line.


<<<<<?.. the very first instruction said DO ONE SIDE AT A TIME 1. Remove rear spring end bolt from trailing arm by jacking up spring.>>>>>

Yup, that's how it works. Just took me a few hours under the car grunting and cursing before I figured it out.


<<<<<I expect to see these guys again at Eckler's Spring Show on May 03, 2003. If you'd still like a set of Smart Strut instructions for your records (I'd recommend it), let me know and I'll get a set for you. >>>>>

That would be great. My email is <lmarin@best.com> Have fun at the show.