sraft

I while ago I started a topic inquiring about the camber brace for daily driving, and based on all the positive feedback, I ordered one and finally got it installed today. Since I have an unheated, detached garage, I had to wait for a heat wave (45 degrees today in New Jersey). Am I the only one who had to take the idler pully off to make clearance for the drivers side upper A-arm bolt? Other than that, the installation was pretty straightforward, and the results.....let's just say that a few laps around town have convinced me that it's the best $156 that I've spent to date. We'll OK, $156 worth of gasoline does provide lots of fun too.

thanks again to all who recommended this product, and thank you R-D Racing for the GP.

Steve :) :)

GDP

Still waiting on mine to come in. Glad to hear it rocks. :cheers:

Speedracer176

the camber brace rules & so does the cross bar. Wait until you see the difference when you jack up the car from either side versus the cross member!

:seeya

388 SOLid RoLLeR

does the crossbar help too? i thought it was for seatbelts and camera mounts. does it stiffen it up too? if it does im gonan get one too. i figure with a lexan windshield/windows/hatch + camber brace/x brace/srossbar it should stop flexin. :yesnod:

linkschamp

My son is REAL close to purchasing one of these - I wish someone had answered your question about the pulley removal... can you elaborate as to why it was necessary to remove the pulley? I've read it would be necessary to remove the brace to change the belt but hadn't heard you needed to remove anything to mount this brace.

Curious... :yesnod:

sraft

The drivers side upper A-arm bolt, which is about 5 inches long, is in the same plane as the belt and pulleys (at least on my car). When I removed it, there was just enough clearance to snake past the pulleys, but I did have to loosen the belt and slide it off the pulley. The flange on the camber brace is about 1/2" thick, and when re-installing the bolt, the loss of that 1/2" clearance wouldn't allow me to get to bolt lined up to the hole. The idler pulley is held on with one 14mm hex head bolt, which came off pretty easy and opened up the space. The bolt then went in without a hitch, I reinstalled the pulley, belt and hooked everything else back up. It took me an hour and a half, but a lot of that time was wasted in frustration before I removed the pulley. If I had to do it again today, I'd say it's a 45 minute job.

Tell your son to get the brace, it's a definate improvement.

No Ordinary 91

You can get the brace in without removing the idler, but it requires some fidgeting w/ the bolt. I do recall in the installation instructions it did say to remove the idler, but I was stuborn and didn't :D
Definately order it, it stiffens up the car substantially, and has very little effect on the ride (it does get a little rougher, but almost not noticable), but improves the responce and "feel" a whole lot more. :thumbs:
Going to order the cross bar as soon as the winter mods are paid for, and now I may have to get the X-brace that is being worked on too :cool: :cheers:

TIMSPEED

Would the camber brace help with my car bucking when I go over traintracks? Like, whenever I go over a traintrack, the car just basically bounces like heck! Also, would it stiffen up, and make the rattles and squeaks less? Thanks!

GDP

If you want to get rid of rattles and squeaks on the interior, go down to the local hardware store and buy yourself a can of expandable foam and some latex gloves. Put a tiny amount wherever it will be concealed and can stop a rattle.

sraft

TIMSPEED,

Having the car behave over bumps is exactly what I am hoping to improve with the camber brace. I was doing some spirited driving on a cloverleaf and when I drove over an expansion joint the front end got very unstable. I could feel the vibrations through the steering wheel. Yesterday, after I got the brace installed, I drove around LOOKING for bumps in the road. I went over them with both tires, one tire, on turns, etc., and the car appeared to behave better. Tomorrow I have a date with that cloverleaf again. :D

Steve

Speedracer176

the cross bar is the first piece I got. It helped, but not as much as the camber brace. The best way to tell this stuff works aside from driving your car is to jack up the car and see how it sits on the jack before & after these parts are installed.

Speedracer176

yes it would timspeed

213LT4

The Camber Brace installation is straightforward on an L98, owing mostly to the tensioner being on the top of the pulley array and easy to get to. On an LT1/4, installation requires a contortionist and I haven't yet succeeded in completing it. First there is the problem of the driver side upper control arm bolt, which is in the same plane as the belt/pulleys. So to work the bolt out and back in is a challenge. Slackening the belt will allow you to work around this problem. Now, maybe it's because I have large hands and am lacking a joint between my wrists and my elbows, but once I got the Camber Brace in, I then could not gain access to re-thread the belt, nor could I get a wrench on the tensioner with any leverage. Of course I could address that problem if I removed the brace, but.....

Oddly, the whole thing would be very straightforward on an LT1/4 if the driver side bolt loop on the brace were open, in which case the bolt would only have to be loosened, the belt would not have to be removed, the tensioner would not have to be accessed, etc. It would take 10 minutes. If I can't find a way to address the physical contradictions of this installation, I will grind the end off the bolt loop and accept whatever stiffness loss occurs at that mounting point. If anyone has any observations or suggestions, I am all eyes, but I wanted to point out what I've experienced trying to put a Camber Brace in an LT4 car. The instructions show an L98 and imply it is equally easy on an LT1/4, but alas it is not.

I can see that the brace will be very effective if installed, and have a Crossbar in my convertible already. These are excellent, well-made products and I am eagerly anticipating a Chassis Brace, but the Camber Brace does present some undocumented difficulties in an LT1/4.

4GTWRK

Phil,

Give me a call sometime and lets review the instructions together. Your instructions should be LT-1/4 specific with only LT-1/4 pictures. I admit the front driver's side bolt is tough, but is very possible if you leave the right hand side out and insert the LH bolt at an angle with the slot in the bracket, then once the bolt starts into the hole, twist the bolt's head so the flat side passes by the pulley. I'm always available night or day and week-ends for anyone that is having trouble with an installation.

Thanks,
Dave Cooper
R-D Racing Enterprises, Inc.
573-756-6954

sraft

Phil,

I don't doubt that the method that Dave outlined above would work, but I recommend that removing the idler pulley become part of the procedure for the LT1/4. After 20 minutes of trying with no success and with my fingers cramping up, I gave up and removed the pulley. I took the camber brace all the way out, untensioned the serpentine belt and got it out of the way, removed the idler pulley, then easily installed the camber brace. I have small hands and was easily able to reinstall the idler pulley (I used a 14mm combination wrench to tighten bolt-a ratchet wouldn't fit). Getting the serpentine belt re-aligned on all the pulleys was a little harder with the brace in there, but didn't take more that one attempt.

If you were 30 instead of 3000 miles away, I'd offer to come over and help :)

Don't give up-once you get it in, you'll like the results.

Steve


[Modified by sraft, 1:40 PM 12/10/2002]

GS 163

I installed mine with no problems at all. Did not remove the pulley, like Dave said, you just have to twist the bolt a liile bit to get it in there. It will fit though.:)

John Row

The camber brace will probably help some, but I'll bet your bushings are worn out. If they're out of round or soft your suspension geometry changes as the wheel moves up and down then your wheels point in different directions and you get that squirrley feel.

The difference between worn out and new poly bushings is like driving a new car.

Right now I'm just bidding my time till R-D invents a brace that will fit around a Meziere (hint.. hint.. hint..).

baddmann

This is exactly what I was going to ask... Will it not fit if you have a Meziere?

The Example

Damn it! I had a Meziere water pump on my x-mas list, and I have a camber brace wrapped in tape in the garage (its been there since late summer). Looks like I can't have my cake and eat it too...

I tried to install the camber brace once and I ended up causing $350 in damage to the drivers door. Long story short - I need to borrow my neighbors jack and stands.

I'll get it in on the same day I rotate the tires, resilicone the hatch weatherstripping, seal the leaks, fix the rattling drivers mirror, install the rocker panel and fender rock/dirt deflectors, and readhere the hatch carpeting.

Sigh....I wish I had a heated garage. And a lift.

Lord Odin

These two things sound great but where do they go? Does anyone have any pics of them?