how much Camber do i really need?

[ed94r]

Camber doesn't kill tires, excessive toe-in/out does.

True. Fact.

Ed

[TXBDan]

I would avoid Kmacs. they are complete junk. They are a PAIN to adjust, there is no repeatablilty or setting of adjustments, and they have been known to slip. At least the E36 ones which i have and hate. They look identical to those shown for th eE30.

[kommissar]

I would avoid Kmacs. they are complete junk. They are a PAIN to adjust, there is no repeatablilty or setting of adjustments, and they have been known to slip. At least the E36 ones which i have and hate. They look identical to those shown for th eE30.

Thanks for the tip.

You are right, the ratcheting mechanism that they use does not look like you would be able to take note of your camber settings for future use.

I'll remember this when purchasing my own.

[Tucker]

GC Spec E30 Plates

As Jlevie mentioned, GC does now have Spec E30 camber plates. I just installed them this weekend along with H&R Race Springs and the Bilstein Sport Shocks.

They're pretty nice units, but are limited in camber adjustment by the spring top hats. I'm sure that's the same with almost any camber plates that use the stock sized springs. They didn't come with any installation instructions, but it wasn't too hard to figure out.

Adjusting caster via the bolts that attach to the body of the car will be difficult since you have to get an allen wrench on the underside of the camber plate to hold the bolts in place, but the spring top hat will block the way. This means (as far as I can tell) you pretty much get one shot at adjusting the orientation and caster of the plates when you first install the plates. I'm not sure how the other camber plates allow for this.

[jlevie]

Did you see the note about an upgrade "to the actual mounting screws" becoming available in Dec for the GC plates? I checked their site last night and it did show the "e30bracket". The site wouldn't let me order them (complained about the no cost order), so I'm going to call them today.

I don't know what the upgrade does (maybe I can find out when I talk to them) but perhaps it addresses the problem of caster adjustment. I don't think caster adjustment is that big of a deal because I'm told that you want all you can get via the plates and using offset CABs.

Did you find that the bearing was a bit tall for the threads on the Bilsteins? Looks to me like the self locking portion of the nut just barely hits the threads. I'm thinking of locktite for final assembly. I may wait for final assembly until I have the improved parts in hand and i think I'll take that opportunity to get new spring pads. When I took every thing apart this weekend I noticed that the pads on the left and right sides (and the struts) were different (one red strut and one yellow strut). Thin pads on one side were thicker than on the other. Probably doesn't make a big difference, but I'd rather just replace the pads on both sides so they are the same.

Not quite on topic, but getting to the center bolt of the passenger side control arm is just about impossible with the exhaust in the way. I've decided to just drop the cross member, which would also make it easier to change the motor mounts.

[Charlie]

Not quite on topic, but getting to the center bolt of the passenger side control arm is just about impossible with the exhaust in the way. I've decided to just drop the cross member, which would also make it easier to change the motor mounts.

It's not *that* bad on an m20 car. I usually use a long 22/20mm box end for leverage under the car, then slip a 22mm stubby wrench on after that. As long as you've got a jack underneath the joint, it's not awful.

-Charlie

[jlevie]

I may try that if I can find a stubby 22mm wrench. But the motor has to go up enough to change the mounts anyhow, so at that point I'm only six bolts or so from having the cross-member down.

[Digitalwave]

It's easier to take the downpipes off the exhaust and get to the bolt from the top with an extension and ratchet than to drop the subframe.

Hayden, I know you've done quite a bit of mods to your E30 lately. Just be careful with your classing because its very easy to outclass yourself in an E30 with certain common mods.

[Slick92GS-R]

It's easier to take the downpipes off the exhaust and get to the bolt from the top with an extension and ratchet than to drop the subframe.

Hayden, I know you've done quite a bit of mods to your E30 lately. Just be careful with your classing because its very easy to outclass yourself in an E30 with certain common mods.

for right now, i doubt i'll be running any type of HPDE that will put me in a class.. i just the car to handle halfway decent ---
i still haven't even looked at putting the suspension on --let me know when can u come down to help me, lol--

[Digitalwave]

Every autocross I've run has done classing...

[Slick92GS-R]

Every autocross I've run has done classing...

those IE camber plates are SpecE30 series legal

[Digitalwave]

those IE camber plates are SpecE30 series legal

Spec E30 isn't an autocross class though.

[jlevie]

It's easier to take the downpipes off the exhaust and get to the bolt from the top with an extension and ratchet than to drop the subframe.

Which way would have been easier became a moot point when I discovered that the nut had been rounded off on the right side. So I dropped subframe, which turned out to be fairly easy. The only difficult part was coaxing the steering rack back into place as I raised the subframe. If you go slow and work the rack back in that's not real difficult.

The GC camber plates are installed. With stock size springs you are limited in what additional camber you can get. The spring hat hits the shock tower, but that's true for any camber plate. And the small diameter of the hole in the top of the shock mount essentially eliminates any caster adjustment because the camber adjustment screws hit the shock tower. I'll have to wait until I can borrow a camber gage to see what I have for camber.

[Slick92GS-R]

Spec E30 isn't an autocross class though.

oh just stop it--

i got the rear shock/springs & billet rear shock mount in today --