Hi all,

As some of you know I am the proud new owner of a '93 NA Z. It is in really good shape, but needed some minor maintenance since it has been sitting for a couple months. So this morning I manage to get the wife to help me bleed the brakes (which is easy as pie after looking it up in the FSM). After I got done and put all the wheels back on I noticed that the front two are out of whack in the camber department. I believe they are in the negative range ( top of wheel tilting in, towards car).

I have done some research and best I could find is people having issues with camber when lowering their Z's on aftermarket struts and whatnot. Mine, however is totally unmolested and stock.

I have also learned that for some reason the Z32 came from the factory with the camber pre-adjusted and that the only way to fix it on a stock car is to "inspect and replace worn parts." The suspension is way old and I know I'll be needed to replace it sooner rather than later, probably with an aftermarket set ($535 for a OEM set of struts at Z1, compared to $611 for eibach springs and tokico struts) but I would rather not burn through tires in the mean time.

So I suppose my question is twofold;

1. What could be causing the camber to be so far out on a stock car? While the suspension is old, its not shot yet. is there a certain control arm or something responsible for keeping camber in check, and;

2. What would I need to do to fix it

I'm pretty good with a wrench, and have access to a full shop when I need it. Thanks in advance yall.

 

yep.

there are adjustable upper links. these run for around $350 a set and will last forever, and give you all the adjustment you want and all is good no matter what suspension you run... almost. you also need adjustable tension rods that don't use the big rubber bushings, which run around $150 a set. they also allow you to adjust caster. OR

you can just shim out the OEM upper link as shown in this link.
http://www.twinturbo.net/net/viewmsg...&msg_id=755162
yeah, i know, pictures are expired. look at the top of your front suspension and you'll be able to figure it out. do some searching on the web and you'll find another thread on it somewhere. if you want to try the very cheap shim method, shoot me an email and i'll give you a gift that makes it a bit easier. no, not spam, just info i can't go around posting on the forums. willkrom554@yahoo.com

also, here are the potential reasons this is happening to you.
the shocks could be settling, which they almost certainly are. that's the most common explanation. it's also theorized that the shock towers start to bend inward over time. sure you can still get your camber back where it needs to be, but to fix the supposedly maybe bent inward shock towers, you'd need a strut tower brace. you can get them cheap, it's one of the few cheap ebay parts that i might consider putting on my car, but, you can also spend a lot and get one that's officially "good". it's not really necessary though. it's more of an upgrade. i'm not ready for one because i take my engine apart too much lol.

 

Email sent!

 

I did some more snooping around and I realized that the big rubber bushings on my tension rods are blown and the are twisted a bit. I wonder if that could be making this camber issue worse?

 

unlikely. they will cause the car to pull when braking. i haven't heard this confirmed but i have speculated that worn tension rod bushings could cause bad tire wear though due to essentially causing on over abundance of toe out at speed.

so, you've got a few options. best two:

shim out upper link bracket, buy new tension rods with new bushings (cheapest option)

OR: buy adjustable uppers and adjustable tension rods = ~ $ 500

 

... tension rods impact caster, not camber.

And a sagging stock suspension due to age can cause camber problems just like a purposely lowered suspension. Getting camber arms to adjust camber when the cause of your bad camber is probably worn springs is a band-aide fix... you're not addressing the root problem. That's like "my car isn't making enough power because it has an intake leak, so rather than address the intake leak to get my power back, I'll just spray nitrous." You probably need to replace your springs... and they're not too expensive.

Of course, you could always do both... camber arms are a good upgrade to have, as the stock suspension just isn't all that adjustable.

 

yeah i guess i did leave out the best option which is the new springs. i just had it in my head that he was looking for band aid fixes like i am. calling me out all over the place today!

never did say tension rods impacted camber though!

i thought about the tension rod -> toe thing though and i don't find that to be a good theory anymore lol. i was thinking outloud. on the forum... regressing...

 

He suggested his bent tension rods and worn bushings could add to the problem, I simply corrected him that it would impact another part of the suspension geometry. I don't go around the forums looking for mistakes you've posted, I simply correct whatever ones I see, no matter who says it.

And I never said camber arms couldn't fix the issue, I simply brought up the likely cause of the entire problem. You answered his question directly... in fact, he flat out said he knows his suspension is worn and wanted to know how he could fix the camber without addressing his worn suspension. I wasn't calling you out, rather I'm telling him he's an idiot for wanting the band-aide fix.

And I've also supported you recently (on TT.NET in the injector thread, for example).

 

i understand.