How much camber gain is too much??

[cdrod]

How much camber gain is needed for a street driven GM A-body? I have a '72 Olds 442 convertible with stock lower arms and SPC upper arms pretty much at factory ride height. I also have .+9" taller upper ball joint's and +.3" taller lower ball joints. Right now I can measure -3.8˚ of camber gain at full bump (4" of travel measured at the BJ) with 1/4" of shims at the frame mounts. Is this too much camber gain for spirited street driving, no autocross? I'm sure the convertible frame will twist if I push it too hard. I also have Hellwig tubular sway bars (1.25" front and 1.125" rear on the softest setting) and rear frame braces from QA1.

I can adjust the camber gain by changing the length of the upper arm and moving the pivot point with shim packs. If I remove the shims and shorten the arms I can get -4˚ of camber gain at full bump. If I lengthen the arms and add more shims I can reduce the amount of camber gain.

Looking forward to your comments.

Rodney

[nokones]

What is your static camber?

[cdrod]

I'm shooting for 4-5˚ of caster and probably -1/2˚ static camber.

Rodney

[Chad-1stGen]

1* per inch is a pretty good target for a street going sportscar. Though keep in mind that measurement will be for the first inch and the curve is not linear. I don’t think that’s too much camber gain. Especially if you have 4” of travel from ride height. That tells me you will probably have a fair amount to a lot of body roll which removes camber gain.

[cdrod]

Chad:
My camber gain curve is as follows:

Ride Height Camber
0" 0.0˚
-1" -0.7˚
-2" -1.5˚
-3" -2.7˚
-4" -3.8˚

I'm still assembling the car so the final ride height may not allow the full 4" of compression travel but I think this is close. My front spring rate is only 488lb/in. so I'm not expecting a super stiff ride; looking for that elusive compromise between ride comfort and quick cornering. Thanks for your input.

Rodney

[Sleeper68]

That's a really good curve. 0.65°-0.8° of negative camber gain in the first inch of bump travel is the sweet spot for front engine, RWD cars.

[cdrod]

Sleeper:
Thanks for the info. I went kind of rogue for my build; instead of buying a kit I've assembled my own parts so I hope it all works out for me. I'm running stock LCAs with rubber bushings (for comfort), SPC UCAs with tall balljoints and stock spindles, Hellwig tubular sway bar, Moog 5450 front springs (454 in/lb. rate) and Bilstein RCD shocks. I misspoke in my previous post, the front spring rate is 454 in/lb. not 488. I bought the RCD shocks off eBay before I fully knew my plans for the front suspension. They are not adjustable and I can't seem to find much info about them on the web but I have had good experience with Bilstein shocks/struts on my Toyota 4Runner so I hope they don't disappoint. I'm not looking to track this car, my goal was to fix most of the inherent factory geometry issues and make it more fun to drive. I have a bump steer kit for the outer tie rods if I need it, but I'm hoping that the +5˚ of caster will raise the outer tie rod enough to minimize this factory deficiency.

Rodney

[Sleeper68]

Sleeper:
Thanks for the info. I went kind of rogue for my build; instead of buying a kit I've assembled my own parts so I hope it all works out for me. I'm running stock LCAs with rubber bushings (for comfort), SPC UCAs with tall balljoints and stock spindles, Hellwig tubular sway bar, Moog 5450 front springs (454 in/lb. rate) and Bilstein RCD shocks. I misspoke in my previous post, the front spring rate is 454 in/lb. not 488. I bought the RCD shocks off eBay before I fully knew my plans for the front suspension. They are not adjustable and I can't seem to find much info about them on the web but I have had good experience with Bilstein shocks/struts on my Toyota 4Runner so I hope they don't disappoint. I'm not looking to track this car, my goal was to fix most of the inherent factory geometry issues and make it more fun to drive. I have a bump steer kit for the outer tie rods if I need it, but I'm hoping that the +5˚ of caster will raise the outer tie rod enough to minimize this factory deficiency.

Rodney

Wouldn't hurt to install the bumpsteer kit and dial in the bumpsteer curve as best you can.

Seems like your setup will work great for what you want.