Smart Struts
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 19,610
Likes: 778
From: Forked River NJ
Smart Struts
I have the Adjustable Poly camber rods in therear of my car and have for years. I did not get the smart strut bracket, why I did not I don't know. My question is it worth it and will it fit. My exhaust runs right under where the rod attaches to the bracket. How much lower is the Smart Strut bracket. I only have about 1/2 inch clearance right now. They are on back order right now and will take a few weeks. I might cancel if it is not worth it or will not fit.
Pro
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 633
Likes: 1
From: Hamilton, ON, Canada
I think you'll have to move your exhaust. As I recall, the smart struts are about an inch lower than the OEM bracket. I'll check when I go out to the garage later. Is it worth it? The smart strut bracket definitely reduced camber change with suspension movement. I was in the same position as you with the adjustable rods but the OEM bracket. Then a couple of years ago, I got the smart struts bracket based on forum comments. I was surprised at the difference such a small change can make in camber change.
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 19,610
Likes: 778
From: Forked River NJ
When I talked to VB they wanted the half shaft as parallel to the camber rod as can be. Right now the car is lowered andthe halfshaft is right at parallel. The camber rod is at 5 degrees. So there is a difference in the two. I'll have to snap a pic and you will see.
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Last edited by Gordonm; Dec 17, 2006 at 11:07 AM.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 8,812
Likes: 2,028
From: eastern NC
Gordonm,
If your exhaust is installed as factory, the Smart-Struts will clear. I purchased the setup in the early 90's and when I looked at the way it was manufactured, I felt it needed to be boxed better, so I had that done. I had not taken care when originally installing my exhaust, so I had to loosen the pipes and reposition them on the header pipe so that the closest point of the two pipes was directly under the struts. Once I did this, everything cleared perfectly.
I've been very pleased with the setup on my '73 and have had no issues. Combined with all poly bushings, Bilsteins and a larger rear sway bar, the car is very flat in transitions. I autocrossed it for 3 years in Hawaii and it handled great. Unfortunately the 3:36 rear never let me get out of 1st and I'm sure I was giving up a lot.
Good luck... GUSTO
If your exhaust is installed as factory, the Smart-Struts will clear. I purchased the setup in the early 90's and when I looked at the way it was manufactured, I felt it needed to be boxed better, so I had that done. I had not taken care when originally installing my exhaust, so I had to loosen the pipes and reposition them on the header pipe so that the closest point of the two pipes was directly under the struts. Once I did this, everything cleared perfectly.
I've been very pleased with the setup on my '73 and have had no issues. Combined with all poly bushings, Bilsteins and a larger rear sway bar, the car is very flat in transitions. I autocrossed it for 3 years in Hawaii and it handled great. Unfortunately the 3:36 rear never let me get out of 1st and I'm sure I was giving up a lot.
Good luck... GUSTO
Pro
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 633
Likes: 1
From: Hamilton, ON, Canada
Just measured OEM & smart strut brackets. OEM is 1 3/8" deep at the ends from the differential seating surface. Smart strut bracket is 2 3/8" deep. Your exhaust pipes are not in original location. They should be inboard of the strut bolts. There was a heat shield there to shield the spring & attaching bolts. This is even more important with the smart strut bracket because it allows the pipes to be tucked up into the space between the ends of the bracket to maximize ground clearance. Also measured the distance from the halfshaft to the strut rod, with the smart strut bracket. They're not parallel. The inboard dimension is 1/4" less than the outboard dimension, meaning that to get them parallel, the strut bracket must be lowered another 1/4" more than the smart strut bracket. As I recall someone on the forum, possibly norvalwilhelm, fabbed a custom bracket to make the halfshaft & strut rod parallel.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 2,441
Likes: 0
They won't fit based on that picture, here's a pic on mine w/o the exhaust. The pipes need to run right under the diff, good place for an X-pipe.
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Drifting
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 1,951
Likes: 1
From: Shore NJ
Looks like wer'e out of luck based on the photos and measurments others have given you....our custom exhaust now is only 1/2" from the bracket, too much trouble to move the welded exhaust inboard, or get a really wide bracket that's outside the exhaust and shorten the strut rods alot.......
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 19,610
Likes: 778
From: Forked River NJ
Looks like I'll be cancelling my order. There is no way it will fit with the exhaust I have on there. No it is not stock at all the stock pipes are flat in that area and they just plain suck. This system flows so much better than the stock I would never go back. I'm not going to hack up the pipes in order for this to fit. The car already handles like it is on rails I'm just still chasing the wheel hop problem. I think I'll be looking into shocks or something else. Thanks for the posts and pictures. 
Safety Car
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 3,960
Likes: 572
From: Lompoc, CA. Santa Barbara County
This is not a smart strut, but before I got my new exhaust system, the old exhuast was against this strut bar mount hard. No vibration or heat issues. I ran it like that for over six months.
Safety Car
Joined: Oct 1999
Posts: 4,101
Likes: 10
From: NorCal
Man, those are some honkin' big pipes! Even if you don't run the bracket (which I highly recommend!), I'd run some NASCAR style flat pipes in that area, the ones that are 4" across and 2" deep. I't all about volume, not shape, and there should be room. Be a killer look too.
Hans
Hans
Safety Car
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 3,997
Likes: 1
From: WAY DEEP INSIDE AMERICO,YES YOU LIVE HERE TO!! TX
Everyone has their own opinion. But I say They are only good for straight
line racing. Other than that you don't need them. Kinda like asking should
I get the front mono spring conversion for street driving??
line racing. Other than that you don't need them. Kinda like asking should
I get the front mono spring conversion for street driving??
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 19,610
Likes: 778
From: Forked River NJ
Actually they are more for road racing and cornering. They are designed to keep the wheel camber the same over the arc of wheel travel. The stockers get about 2 degrees camber variation over the arc of wheel travel. The VB Smart Struts will give you less than .1 degrees of camber change over the arc of wheel travel. In drag racing as the car squats the camber will change and the contact patch might change slightly but in cornering the camber change will also change your contact patch allowing less road grip. It should help out in both circumstances.
Race Director
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 16,945
Likes: 9
It's the other way around, keeping the camber static is NOT an improvment on handling, it's a penalty. Every car rolls and therefore needs camber to gain to keep as much of the tire in contact with the ground as possible, static camber is for straight line racing. I fear that the marketing lingo has clouded the true meaning of the changes... if you want to corner you need a camber curve that matches the car's roll characteristics and the roll characteristics are influenced by weight, weight placement, shock and spring stiffness, roll bars and a lot more..that's why it's so difficult to get a race car dialed in as everything influences everything.
Static camber is for drag racing.
Static camber is for drag racing.
Race Director
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 16,945
Likes: 9
Okay, I reread this whole thing... why is VB&P recommending parallel camber struts and halfshafts? It's the same deal as with the parallel 6 link system. Why on earth does someone want that? Is it because it sounds "racy" or something? I'm really not getting it. The only time you want no camber change for a car that goes around the twisties is if you have no body roll, in which case you probably don't have a suspension...but a go kart. Might as well weld everything in place 
Yellow, what's "D" height??
Me thinks these things should be called fools struts
Yellow, what's "D" height??
Me thinks these things should be called fools struts
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 19,610
Likes: 778
From: Forked River NJ
Yea your right on that but as the body rolls you want the contact patch of the tire to remain fairly flat. Yes the camber will change to the body of the car but the tire should remain in a fairly vertical position. Am I right or wrong on this. 
Race Director
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 16,945
Likes: 9
yes, you want the tire to remain flat so as the unsprung chassis rolls you want the wheel angle towards the chassis to chainge, for the inboard wheel this means gaining camber towards and into positive and for the outboard wheel gaining negative, this is what keeps the tire contact patch as large as it can be, full thread width contact.
If the camber does not change then there's a body roll angle at which the patch is max. and anything beyond that makes it smaller
If the camber does not change then there's a body roll angle at which the patch is max. and anything beyond that makes it smaller