Slotting Lca For More Camber/track, What About The Rear?

[No Crust Racing]

So, removed the whole hub as I couldn't get a good swing at the ball joint to split it from the LCA (replacing ball joints and putting new castor arms in).

While it's all out I was thinking I could slot the LCA inner mount 5mm or so, gain some camber and get a little extra track.

Any issues with doing this?

The other thing I considered was how I match that in the rear, I have a little extra camber adjustment left that might get me the camber I need, but I can't slot the LCA mounts the same way as they are boxed and there;s nothing to work with. The other issue was if I add track up front I need to add it out the back too, slip on 5mm hub centric spacer or something?

[No Crust Racing]

Drilling new holes rather, not slotting the existing ones. Up front I'm talking.

[Duncan]

yeah that's what we have to do in production cars; ie inner end of the LCA control arm can be moved to "achieve the required alignment"....which in my case was about 10mm out.

its the best way to achieve camber at the front. I guess you are talking about S chassis (struts) but in double wishbone shortening the upper arm reduces the overall track while moving the LCA out increases it.

[No Crust Racing]

I think the front should work as I have all the other bits there, adjustable castor, roll centre adjusters (25mm) an am looking at extended tie rods for bump steer.

What about the rear though? If I put a new hole 5mm out up front, then the total track will be 10mm wider on the front end. Is the easiest way to match that on the rear just run a basic 5mm slip on hub centric spacer?

Yes, S chassis.

[Duncan]

well I did mean front, moving the LCA out works nicely and keeps everything lined up OK.

In the rear I'm not allowed to change the mounting points so I haven't in the race car. We did a whole heap of work on another 32 years ago including 3 mounting points for the LCA to lower the car without stuffing the roll angles but that car never ran so I don't know if it helped. Certainly you would not need to move the rear LCA out to get more camber, there is already plenty available just with bushes.

[No Crust Racing]

Camber I can sort in the rear, it has adjustable arms i can also get offset bushes to help, what I'm takling about is making sure the track is even front and back.

[No Crust Racing]

Also what are your thoughts on needing after market traction rods?

[GTSBoy]

Don't worry about matching track front to rear. Make no decisions because of track.

[No Crust Racing]

It makes sense to me to match the track if possible for balance. My only question is if a 5mm spacer poses a problem.

Also, rear traction rods... nobody talks about them at all...

[GTSBoy]

A 5mm spacer is a slip on spacer and slip on spacers should never be used ever.

And what is a "traction rod"?

Edited May 24, 2015 by GTSBoy

[No Crust Racing]

http://www.gktech.com/index.php/adjustable-rear-traction-rods.html

Those. Bump steer correction/traction tuning in the rear.

What's the issue? studs not long enough? issues centering rim to hub?

[GTSBoy]

What's the issue? studs not long enough? issues centering rim to hub?

I'm not sure I follow. If you plan on moving anything else around in the rear end (upper arms or lower control arms) then you need to be able to adjust the length of the diagonal arms otherwise you lose control over what happens to the direction the wheel is pointing as it moves up and down through it's arc of travel. Worst case, if you were to length and/or shorten the other arms you might find a stock length diagonal arm causing the bushes/spherical joints to load up a lot and bind. If you have that situation and then put bump load into the suspension you can bend or break shit.

[No Crust Racing]

I think you're on a different tangent.

1) I am looking to drill a new hole for the FRONT LCA to gain some extra camber and track.

2) I am looking at using a spacer possibly, to match the REAR track width with the front. I cannot easily lengthen anything in the rear so a small spacer seemed like the best choice.
3) I am looking at rear traction rods, simply because mine are stock, just out of interest as nobody talks about them.

[GTSBoy]

Oh I see. You had gone back to the spacer question.

Slip on spacers are f**king stupid and should never be used for any reason at all ever. Yes, stud length and lack of centering location are both reasons to not use them.

I re-iterate, don't bother trying to "match track" as it is already not the same anyway and you will never notice a 5mm change at either end. It's simply not something to bother yourself with.

No-one talks about rear traction rods because they're not interesting. Start fiddling with the length of the other arms and you simply have to change them too, so there's not really anything to talk about.

[No Crust Racing]

I realise they are not even track wise but if I recall, the front is already wider than the rear, 5mm total rings a bell.

So going another 5mm per side sees a 15mm total difference. Could get that back to 5mm (or whatever is original) with spacers. Can get a 5mm hub centric spacer, I wouldn't use the multifit slide all over the place ones.

"Proper" bolt on spacers don't come in anything smaller than 20mm, I guess I could go 20mm in the front and 25mm in the rear. Guard clearance would be an issue then,

[GTSBoy]

I know you don't want to think about buying wheels, but you'd be better off changing the offset of the rear wheels than trying to push them and/or the front ones around with spacers. That is apart from the loss of ability to run the same wheel at both ends of course.

[No Crust Racing]

I could do it, as I have a 2 sets of wheels that when sold would likely get me to the cost of "better" wheels, but that's a lot more hassle and cost than a set of spacers, or not touching the rear track at all.

Does it really matter though, whether it's through spacers or offset, if the track is increased from beyond the hub it's still more stress on the studs/hub either way. I could put an S14 rear cradle in it too, but that's getting a bit carried away.

[Duncan]

Well I've got no direct experience with adjusting track either, except to say they aren't even stock, and I know lots of cars have a very wide variance from factory too....so I'd guess it isn't an issue

As for the traction arm, adjustable ones are a disaster unless you get a proper wheel alignment at the same time. The only thing they really do is control/adjust bump steer, so if you put adjustable ones in and don't set the bump steer you've almost certainly made it worse. On the other hand, if you *know* you have a bump steer problem, they are the way to fix that. As usual I'd use bushes not rose joints so they last a bit longer.

[ichi-go]

If you are interested in adjusting traction rod, have a read here:

http://www.nissanroadracing.com/showthread.php?t=1652

It's a detailed explaination on how to properly set it

Long story short, they are a pain to set up correctly and each cars differ from each other (much like toe/traction adjustments) as ride height affects this

Save yourself the pain and leave it stock, unless you are ready to build your own bump steer graph to adjust the traction rod

[No Crust Racing]

Good info guys, thanks