MX-3.com

I read in one of your posts awhile back that you dont need a camber kit for the MX. that the camber can be adjusted by adjusting the strut. How does this work? If you could let me know it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.<BR>-Alex

Only the front camber can be adjusted without buying aftermarket parts. If you do want to adjust rear camber, check out <A HREF="http://www.specprod.com" TARGET=_blank>Specialty Products Company</A>. They have four different kits that will work w/ the MX-3.<BR>There is an adjustment for camber on the front, but it's not an analog type adjustment - instead there are four discreet settings to choose from. Look under the hood and find your strut towers (directly above the wheels on each side). There are four bolds that hold the top of the strut to the tower in a square bolt pattern. Between the bolts, you'll see the top of the strut mounting block (a round rubber piece). On one side of that rubber piece is a rubber knob sticking up - that's the direction indicator. By changing the direction of that indicator (rotating the strut mounting block so that the bolts go through different holes), you will change camber for that wheel. Rotating the strut mounting block is not too difficult (in theory) - just jack up that corner of the car, loosten the four nuts, reach up underneath and rotate the top of the strut until the bolts line up with the holes you want them to, retighten the nuts, and lower the car. Repeat for side 2.<BR>No need to worry about spring compressors or anything, since those nuts are not what hold the strut together. You may want to loosten nuts before jacking and jack the car up incrementally as you loosten to avoid having anything drop to far, etc...<BR>As far as where you should point the rubber knobby? From what I understand, the factory position is towards the inside (towards the engine). Pointing the indicator toward the outside (fender) will get you +29' (about 1/2 a degree), and no effect on caster angle. Pointing the indicator towards the front of the car will get you +14' of camber angle and -14' of caster angle. Pointing towards the rear of the car will give you +14' on both camber and caster angle.<BR>I'm not 100% sure on those numbers, but hopefully that gives you an idea.

thanks for the help. on the SPC page i noticed that the kits range from 1-2 deg. of adjustment. What is the best one to go w/. I figure its good to have the 0-2 deg. just because it gives you more range but im not 100% sure so I thought id ask.<P>Thanks Alot,<BR>-Alex

i did not need a kit for either the front or the rear. simple procedure -elongate the top hole in the rear struts. if you feel that the bolt alone is not enough to hold the strut in place, shim between the strut and the knuckle. i felt tightening the bolt was ok. i got quite a bit of adjustment out of this, and it is still holding fine

It kinda depends on what you´re trying to do... Are you trying to correct a camber that´s out of spec (from stock) or are you adjusting because the car´s lowered?

I think putting a shim in would give me a bit more of a warm fuzzy, but that´s just me... I like to put a lot of stress on my suspension while cornering :p

Im trying to adjust it because my car is lowered. So let me see If I got this straight.....I need to elongate the bolt hole for the strut and then move the strut u a little and tighten it back down. How much does it need to be elongated?<P>-Alex

just enough to reach your spec. and like i said a shim would eliminate any worries. i didnt use one though and i DRIVE my car. it hasnt and prolly wont get loose

To figure out how much to elongate, you could probably do a little trig (everybody loves math, right? ). you´ll be doing the top bolt, elongating the holes on the strut, only (not on the spindle) (is this how you did yours, boosted?) Anyway... You´ll need the distance from the center of that hole, down to the center of the wheel (not sure what that distance is, but we´ll call it D). Let´s say you want 1 degree on your camber angle, that will be your Φ. So, <P>Tan Φ = x/D <P>where x is the amount of elongation of the hole. Solve for x.<BR>Example:<BR>Let´s say the distance from that top hole to the center of the hub (straight up and down distance) is 8in. (THIS IS NOT THE ACTUAL NUMBER - I just don´t feel like going out to measure it.)<BR>We´ll say you want 1 degree on your camber angle.<BR>so, D=8 and Φ=1<P>Tan 1=x/8<BR>.017=x/8<BR>x= 0.14 in. which is just over 1/8 in (or 9/64 in. if you got a precision file )

Well i know who to come to for ne math problems LOL

hehe... well, what can I say, I was board

does anyone have a diagram of what to do. Im kinda visual. my cars in the body shop right now but next week sometime i plan on doing this. Thanks.<BR>-Alex