Cusco Camber plates w/ Pillowball Mounts

[MrMazda92]

I'm having an issue getting these suckers tight enough when bolting them to the strut.

I've got a quality vice grip holding the strut shaft, it has zero play.
I'm using a long(lots of leverage here) crescent wrench to tighten the mount.

My problem is that it simply doesn't thread on very far, and comes loose after very little driving. I don't think blue thread locker would be enough to keep it in place, so I'm curious if anybody has any ideas? I've considered red thread locker, since it should be pretty sturdy, but this is under constant stress while driving, so I'm inclined to believe I'll need more.
Not to mention that it's a PITA to remove red.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

[Sleeper6]

Large flat washer and lock washer combo for each?

[RobMinhas]

I'm not 100% sure I understand what's going on but would an impact wrench work?

[mikeinaus]

i wouldnt recommend a impact for that bolt. i could easily see it snapping off the threaded part and ruining your strut. i agree with trying some washers though. why dont you try threadlocker blue and see how it holds up? how loose are we talking?

[Daninski]

Post a pic.

[MrMazda92]

This isn't my car, but it's the exact pillowball mount I'm talking about.


That threaded "nut", is a sleeve that fits inside the bearing, and threads directly onto the strut.
My problem, is that I can't get it to stay tight, despite having it torqued down 100%, i.e. no more thread travel is possible.

I used blue thread locker today, for the 2nd time, and I'll see how it holds up... Granted, my car is still unusable, since my recent work didn't correct all of my problems.

Adjusting the ride height up 1/4" DID alleviate the clunking, but I still have a lot of vibration in the front end when turning left.

[Daninski]

If I didn't know better I'd ask why there's no washers under those bolts? Is there a specified torque for the bolts?

[crazycanadian]

Sounds like the camber plates are made for a different strut design and you are trying to make apples from oranges... At the end of the day if you aren't getting enough threads and its loosening off then you need to do something to get more thread bite... If that's not an option try upgrading to either red or green lock tight...

[MrMazda92]

The thing is, they were used on a 323 with Tokico Blue struts, and the previous owner had no problem with the setup. Do the blues have more thread to work with at the top of the strut than the KYBs?

I have OEM strut mounts, but prefer to stick with the camber plates. I don't see a point in downgrading, especially when I could use the strut mounts on my other car(Needs them-.-)

The blue is holding so far, but I haven't driven the car much with the other issues.

[mikeinaus]

how far are the threads going down? at the minimum the threads should slightly stick out the top of the nut...

[RobMinhas]

I have Tokico blues and there is more thread available at the top of the shaft then OEM

[MrMazda92]

The threads cannot stick out past the nut with the KYBs. The Tokicos, I cannot say... It appears to come up farther in the original owner's worklog though.

I may end up selling the camber plates and going with OEM mounts. It'll depend on a few other things coming up.

[mikeinaus]

have you played with them out of the car? maybe they need to "sit" a certain way?

[MrMazda92]

I tightened them outside the car every time. I use a vice-grip style wrench to hold the strut in place while tightening it. There isn't enough thread to go farther down, I just need to stop it from turning.

I need bigass bump stops too -.-

[Ryan]

See if you can find a thinner thrust bearing. IIRC the ZX2 one was better than ours (metal instead of plastic, and larger I/D) maybe it was thinner too.

OR maybe I don't remember correctly how it exactly works up there... I'm just suggesting to reduce the thickness of the stuff between the resting surface on the top of the strut and the bottom of the nut.