redman76

EDIT - Sorry, I think I meant neg toe, not camber. But I think if you look at the numbers, you'll know what I'm trying to say.

I'm trying to rap up my suspension project (My Winter Project - Rear Suspension Rebuild) and have run into a problem with the front alignment that I hope someone can help me with.

I'm setting the car up for advanced street specs as listed below:

Advanced Street Specs
Front

Toe………………………0-1/16” Negative - Total
Camber………………….0
Caster……………………Max Possible


Rear
Toe……………………..1/8” Negative - Total
Camber………………….1/4 – ½ Degree Negative


Here is where the specs sit today. They ran out of shims on the rear, so I'm getting more so they can finish rear. In the meantime, I have an issue with the front. The numbers you see are with no shims installed, but they have no more room to get the neg toe.



My understanding is that from the inside of the top control arm to the other side should be 26 3/8. I'm at 26 1/8. What are my options to compensate or correct that so I can get the camber dialed-in?

Scott Marzahl

Maybe you need to use offset upper A-Arm shafts since its lowered.

zwede

0 camber in the front of BS. You will wear out the outer edges of your tires unless you drive like a granny.

On my '71 I've tried many alignments (do them myself) and I get perfectly even wear with -0.7 dgr camber in the front (that's negative camber).

You get neg camber by ADDING shims so you can easily get there.

For the rear, ask them to go down to -0.5 dgr camber.

Solid LT1

To put in large amounts of Negative camber you need, offset upper control arm shafts (Moog brand), longer studs or custom upper control arms from Vette Brakes or Speed Direct. I use ARP 3" long wheel studs for a drum brake Chevy in my upper control arm mounts to allow a BIG stack of shims to get my Autocross alingment in my 72 LT-1. I also use a stress bar to allow myself to sleep at night when cantalivering those forces through a set of 7/16" diameter fasteners. I would run at leats a 1/2 degree of negative camber if I intended to drive my Vette hard while cornering. I am getting my long term project LT-1 Vette aligned tomorrow and I will tell them, 3/4degree negative front, 1/2 degree negative rear (camber), zero toe front, 3/16 toe IN rear, and as much postivie caster as the shim pack will allow after the first most important camber setting is established. Positive caster helps the wheel return to center and effects steering feel but, my camber is MORE important for tire performance/wear so I want that figure first. It isn't too hard to knock out the old studs and change them out for longer ones BUT I would definatley use a spreader bar if I were stacking ore than 3/8" of shim behind the upper control arm shaft of my Vette.

zwede

SolidLT1: Notice he says he has NO SHIMS installed and he wants to get 0 camber. He currently has some negative. He just needs to add a few shims to get -0.5 to -0.7 camber. He won't need any offset cross-shafts, longer studs or anything like that. His problem is he's trying to align it to bad specs. If he aligns it the way we suggest (-0.5 to -0.7 camber), everything will line up nicely.

Sky65

Check your target specs against these recommendations by VBP.

VBP Align Specs.pdf

redman76

Thanks for all the good feedback. The alignment shop suggested the offset shafts and VanSteel suggested the spreader bar. I need to sit down and take all the info and try to get my head around the specs.

Anyone have any input on the measurement from shaft to shaft and whether that is a real issue and how I can correct? I think I will put the car on jackstands and remeasure to see how much frame sag is a factor. I'm thinking that maybe the spreaderbar can hold everything in place where it needs to be so I can dial-in the additional degrees.