MN81C3

I have SmartStruts installed on my 81 and recently had the trailing arms replaced. I noticed one side the camber was siightly different that the other. I jacked the car up and was able to adjust both wheels to 0 degree camber after a few drives and readjusting. Having new BFG’s I want to help them wear evenly. So my question is – zero degree or negative 1/2 or ?? Thanks in advance.

Van Steel

0 for street and 1/2 degree for more advanced street driving ie some autocross runs or sprinted driving.

How are you checking camber with the car jacked up? What are you doing to achieve ride height when it's in the air?

7T1vette

To minimize wear, you want the car to run at 0 deg. camber. That means with an operating load [your weight in driver's seat, average fuel load], your rears end up at 0 degrees. Use your best judgement on what the "empty" camber settings need to be; or set the rear camber with a "normal" level of fuel in the tank and a dummy weight in the driver's seat.

MN81C3

I jacked the car up to take the load off, loosened the lock nuts and turned the rods about a 1/4 turn. Took the car off the jacks and drove around the block and checked the camber once again (sitting off the jacks in the garage). I repeated until i was able to get both sides at zero. I checked for zero by using a level I cut down to fit just inside the raised outter lip on the rims so the i could get a true level. Once everything was at zero, i tightened up the lock nuts.

Sound Right?

MN-Brent

Interesting. What are you using as a tool?

7T1vette

VegasJen

if you have even wear with 0* camber, you drive like my grandma!

GUSTO14

With Smart-Struts which minimize camber change through full travel, 0 degrees is a good setting for street use. I installed Guldstrand's system on my '73 back in the early 90's for autocrossing. I can't remember the amount of camber change it allows, but is is very minimal and worked extremely well for me.

I believe that at one time VB&P published a tip about taking a level and taping two small, identically sized blocks to the edge of the level to offset it from the sidewall of the tire. Space them so that they touch the rim but not the tire and it will save you from cutting down a perfectly good level. Of course you need to check this with the car sitting on a perfectly level surface for it to be valid.

Good luck... GUSTO

MN81C3

With the back wheels off the ground taking the load off the suspension and loosening the lock/jam nuts, I was able to turn the strut by hand. The Struts do have a flatten area in the middle for a wrench if necessary. I watched the treads on the hime joint to determine if I was moving the bottom in or out to make the adjustments. I also put a mark on the strut to see how much I was truning them. I was amazingly easy. After each adjustment, I drove around the block and then checked the camber with the car on level ground and off the jacks. It took a few adjustments but I have both sides at zero and tightened the lock/jam nuts.

MN81C3

What I did was cut an old 24" aluminum level down to size to fit just inside the raised outer edge of the rims. i believe it was just a little less than 16". I did use the blocks at first but found this was easier.

MN-Brent

How can you tell if its +/-1 degree or 1/2 degree or ?

In my experience. all a level is going to do is get you near level in your estimation or "yeah, it looks pretty good".

That little bubble doesnt give out degrees and that is the type of accuracy I thought is required to give you any usable camber adjustment.

The home use camber tools you buy are set-up to give you a degree reading. Not sure if all they base that on is a level that is semi-accurate as well.

Im planning to redo my rear suspension & gears this winter-spring and this is a problem I would like to overcome on my own to save a little coin. Great post and a great topic. Let me know your thoughts on how well the level worked for you. How about a pic of the level measurement

B.