Scorp struts into GA - negative camber - wtf

[tandanus]

Hi all,
Ive been puzzling over this for ages...
Ive put GH Scorp struts in a GA and now Ive got negative camber - not a lot but noticable.
With the original struts when the car was jacked up off the front wheels (ie the wheels where just hanging) it had a fair bit of positive camber that settled out when the car went down on its wheels. Now when the car is jacked up there is no positive camber.
What it cant be:
Springs - replaced with Lovels Lows, but they dont affect how much the shocks lengthen when hanging free.
Strut length - I thought GH Scorp struts are the same length as GA ones.
Ball joints - cant see how these could be wrong.
I replaced the GA steering arms with GH ones, but dont have the brain power to figure out how that could change the camber.
Tie rod adjustment? I thought it only affected Toe-in (?)
Any ideas what's going on?
T.

[stealth]

mate not sure on the galy but on the lancer the lower control arm BOLT is
adjustable
it a bollt with a circular piece off steel on end and can be rotated when in
place hence adjusting camber slightly
ps negative camber is a good thing and you can run 1.5 to 2 out on street no worryies
just rotate tyre often
if you cant get camber out get longer lower arm (the scorp arms)
or adjustable strut tops
cheers stealth

[davetrees]

Have you had the camber (before & after) actually measured, with the car sitting on it's wheels? That's the only time it matters.

What it looks like with suspension hanging unladen doesn't actually mean anything.

That said, I have heard that some Sigma struts have a little more neg camber than others (ie. greater angle between strut tube & stub axle).

If you now have a small amount of negative camber, that's a good thing ! (as long as it's the same amount on both sides)

[tandanus]

Spent some time on this today.
Cant find any camber adjustment ......
Comparing it with a standard setup, the only difference I can pick on the new one is that the standard setup has a ball joint shaft thats half an inch longer than the one in the new setup, ie the standard setup is half an inch longer from the control arm to the face of the strut (where it joins the steering arm). Which could explain the negative camber (new setup is shorter from strut to control arm so strut leans out so stub axle points up). The standard setup is early GA and I think they had a smaller diameter hole in the steering arm than the later GA onwards. The new setup has GC control arms. Ive had different advice as to whether the hole size in the control arms ever changed from early GA to GC. I have a GA control arm with the short ball joint but cant remember what its off. I have a pair of GA steering arms whose ball-joint hole matches the GH steering arms, and one GA steering arm with a small ball-joint hole (which I think is early). All the tie-rod holes match. All the steering arms have different numbers raised on them. So I guess the first thing to do is to try to swap the early GA ball joints onto the GC control arms and GH steering arms Not a nice job when you dont have a press ...
T.

[81GL]

What the? why are you trying to get rid of the negative camber? (Can i have it )

interesting with the two different sized ball joint lengths? never seen that before, would you be able to get a picture for us T ?

Ball joints... for $20 i let someone else do it... with out a press there impossible (to get square!)

Nick.

[davetrees]

Cant find any camber adjustment ......

There is no camber adjustment on Galants (without modification, anyway) .. or castor for that matter. Only thing adjustable ex-factory is toe. Factory camber setting (on GB - GA is probably the same ?) is +1deg

Certainly GC/GD Galants run a different balljoint to GA/GB in my experience.

If you have mixed & matched parts from different models, you shouldn't be surprised that the front end alignment has changed ....

As others have said ... why are you trying to get rid of the neg camber ? (unless there is a lot of it - which you will need to get properly measured on a wheel aligner to be able to tell). A small amount of neg camber (say -0.5 to -1 deg) will noticeably improve cornering without causing tyre wear issues.

[wheelnut]

if you measure your track and its wider than stock its something in your lower arm or attachments, roll your car back and foward a few times before you measure anything if its been jacked up it will need to settle.

[boyracer]

.
.
Ball joints are easy take your ball joints and lower arms to
your local engineering workshop or fencing company, ask
to look in their scrap bin get some round pipe bigger one
for under the lower arm and smaller one for ontop of ball
joint, mallet on, should get for free (scrap) they will most
likely cut it for you also, short pieces.
.


Hope you can understand this waffle.


--------------------------------------------------------
REGULAR GUY
3 X LA LANCER 2 DR
1 X GC GALANT HARDTOP
1 X GD GALANT HARDTOP

[stealth]

hey tandanus

does the galant have this bolt arrangment?
this pic is taken from front of car
cheers stealth

[tandanus]

hey tandanus
does the galant have this bolt arrangment?
this pic is taken from front of car
cheers stealth

No. It has a bolt, but no eccentric
On the Galant the bolt goes through the control arm first (reading from the front).
I'm thinking what's happened is that Ive lost half an inch of ride height by going to GC ball joints and then gone to Lovells low springs as well (which the catalogue says can drop the car up to 40mm) so the car is sitting REAL low. I found that I could get a little positive camber by jacking the car up then pushing down on the wheel. On a car with standard springs I guess they would do this for me, but lows are shorter so they dont push the wheel down so much. I think I'll live with it, unless someone wants to donate a set of King lows so I can see how they go
T.

[Torana68]

hey tandanus
does the galant have this bolt arrangment?
this pic is taken from front of car
cheers stealth

Thats an aftermarket camber kit, Lancers dont have that standard.
Roger

[stealth]

every la lancer ive ever owned and my beloved la which was bought brand new buy my
parents has had these
it factory
cheers stealth

[kodos]

hey tandanus
does the galant have this bolt arrangment?
this pic is taken from front of car
cheers stealth

No. It has a bolt, but no eccentric
On the Galant the bolt goes through the control arm first (reading from the front).
I'm thinking what's happened is that Ive lost half an inch of ride height by going to GC ball joints and then gone to Lovells low springs as well (which the catalogue says can drop the car up to 40mm) so the car is sitting REAL low. I found that I could get a little positive camber by jacking the car up then pushing down on the wheel. On a car with standard springs I guess they would do this for me, but lows are shorter so they dont push the wheel down so much. I think I'll live with it, unless someone wants to donate a set of King lows so I can see how they go
T.

I might have some, will have a look when it stops raining

[stealth]

im pretty sure i got a set sitting in the boot of my coupe
when i get back home ill look but kodos is closer
and ill only lend them as i want them back
cheers stealth

[Torana68]

every la lancer ive ever owned and my beloved la which was bought brand new buy my
parents has had these it factory cheers stealth

Ive had 3 green Lancers does that mean that all Lancers are green? no.... I have 5 ish crossmembers here and the only one with camber pins is the one I fitted, find a factory parts number and photo , until then your wrong. (dont look in the '74 parts book as they are not in there), std to me is "Fitted by the manufacturer as the car went along the production line" what happened at the dealer I dont care about
Roger

[kodos]

Hey T,
Sorry mate they are standard height king springs I believe from the part number. Still if you want them

[tandanus]

No worries Kodos, thanks for checking. And thanks for the offer Stealth - there's no geat hurry on this, so I'll keep it in mind.
Cheers
T.

[HoonBoy]

Never seen a factory eccentric bolt, not on the parts list either.

[77GDWAGON]

Their is no eccentric bolt in the lancer sports kit manual either just shows as posted above

[stealth]

well fair enough
as i said my beast which my parents bought from purnell bros in bankstown nsw
had them fitted and was never optioned
and iv owned at least twenty la over the years and all have had them
i put ass in assume
cheers stealth
does any one want pics of the bolt out and the cross member?

[cheaterparts]

well fair enough
as i said my beast which my parents bought from purnell bros in bankstown nsw
had them fitted and was never optioned
and iv owned at least twenty la over the years and all have had them
i put ass in assume
cheers stealth
does any one want pics of the bolt out and the cross member?

if its any help I just used ford I think XD pivot bolts and used nolathane bushes
the inner steel had to be drilled out from 12 mm to 14 mm
and slotted the front end bolt holes ( I used a late model sigma cross member )
the early model sigma like the lancer had a large hole in the rear
by IPRA rules I couldn't fill the hole and slot it but I could change to a later cross member

[HoonBoy]

Well my Lancer was bought new by my father-in-law and has standard bolts

Camber adjusters are a common fitment to fix alignment problems, not just a modification for better handling. It's not unuusual to find them on all sorts of cars, usually a sign of other problems like bent suspension or chassis.

[stealth]

like i said im happy to admitt im wrong
anyway back to T's post
the springs i got in the boot are KING springs KDRL-83 unsprung length is
295mm
if you pay postage both ways ill lend um to you
cheers stealth

[COBWBS]

I used GH struts..

and they are fine.