Camber

By Jon R. Belanger

It's been several months since the last Speed Secrets, but with the season drawing to a close it's time to get with it. The last few articles dealt with ride height, corner weight, and caster... it's now time to tackle camber. This is probably the single most important part of chassis set-up, and luckily it's one of the easiest.

Simply stated, at the rear wheels, 3 to 5 degrees total negative camber (the wheels tilted in at the top) will work for most vintage vees. To do this, first disconnect the Z-bar at one end. Then, under full weight (including driver), settle the car by rolling it back and forth on a level garage floor. Take your camber/caster gauge and lay it against the rim, this should give you an approximate camber reading... as many rims are not exactly true it's a good idea to take several reading and average them. If you need to increase the camber, (more tilt) simply relax that spring by lowering the spring perch for that wheel and if you need to decrease the camber simply raise the spring perch. Resettle the car each time you make an adjustment. Once this is accomplished you can hook up the Z-bar. A few points to remember are: 1) These camber readings are under full weight at each wheel, 2) If you make a significant change in camber you'll have to reset toe-in... you may even have to tinker with corner weight again.

Now would be a good time to check the Z-bar... set neutral, with NO pre-load (without the driver in the car), you should jack the back of the car off the ground allowing full droop of both wheels. The camber should be 0 to 1/2 degree positive at each wheel. If this isn't the case the pickup points for the Z-bar's driving links will have to be moved... in, towards the center of the bar, to stiffen it (and thus preventing droop) or out, towards the ends of the bar, to soften it (allowing more droop). Do NOT change the length of the driving links... that is for adjusting the pre-load and can be adjusted to fine tune the car to existing conditions and the track.

Front wheel camber is another story all-together. I don't care what anybody tells you, there's no way to achieve the desired camber (1/2 to 2 degrees negative) that is both safe and legal. If you shuffle link pin spacers all you'll accomplish is a bound up front end and poor handling. Another theory is to use worn out link pin bushings or even more stupidly, to intentionally elongate the bore of new bushings. Sure, this will give you the desired 1/2 to 2 degrees negative camber you're looking for, but it will change under heavy cornering loads... and that ain't safe.

So now what? This isn't somethin I normally advocate, and I may take a lot of flack for it, but what the heck. Get on the phone and call DRE, Lybarger Racing Enterprises, or Campbell Motorsports and purchase a set of angled bore link pin bushings. These are the best thing since sliced bread, and while they aren't technically legal, most front runners (both current and vintage) are using them. Properly installed, it's the only safe way to achieve negative camber.

This would be a good time to point out that if you can't get the proper camber in the left front it's probably due to a bent spindle. The left one is hollow to allow for the stock speedometer cable pick-up and is easily bent. If this is the case there is no cure but to replace it.

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