Installing front camber boxes - any gotchas?

[cstreit]

Hey gang,

I'm installing a set of front camber boxes from SRP in the racecar and am taking an huge amount of time getting everything setup properly.

I can't help but feel that I'm overdesigning/overthinking this, but would love the benefit of your experience. Are there any tips/tricks/gotcha's when installing these?

Thanks,

[cstreit]

Anyone?

I did the layouts for the castor angle cuts tonight... Not long before I fire up the cutoff tool... Could use the advice.

[Jim2]

Have not done a 911 but I did an m3. From a welding perspective you might under-trim the wheel house by about a half an inch, then after welding go back and trim the excess off the wheel house where it protrudes into the camber box. The more meat you can leave in place while welding will lessen warping/gaps and burn back of the wheel house sheet metal. Dot sized mig tacks first to stabilize the wheel house sheet metal.

Jim

[Cookie Porsche]

Chris,

Move them up as high as possible!

This will allow you to drop the car alot, and still retain some shock travel. It of course depends on your level of mods, but we found that with the car ultra low the shock had insufficient travel.

Just make sure that the top of the shock anf the lock-nut clears the bonnet...

By moving the camberplate / box up higher you also lower the center of gravity.

And you're not going to move it once it's in!

Tom

[gestalt1]

hi chris, do the camber box's edge meet up to the contours of the fender well? i'm wondering if you could align the camber box over the stock strut location, weld them on and cut away the wheel well metal afterwords. that way there is a better chance of aligning the camber boxes. maybe even bolting the stock strut mount to the new adjustable mount placed over it - if it is possible.
-matt

[cstreit]

Unfortunately they do not meet flush with the existing fenders. However what I did is make a locater plate that bolted to the fender to identify the "former" location of the top of the strut. Combine this with my angle measurements of the strut angle I can get it back into place. I've got a bar that simulates the strut from the ball-joint through to the top to re-locate everything.

[cstreit]

[Mahler9th]

I am sure you know this already... but...

If you have questions, just call SRP. They know the product very well. If for some reason, you have a question that Rich, Gary or Jerry cannot answer, they can probably provide Hamlin's phone number, I think he make them. I have Hamlin's phone number around here as well I think. But I'd suggest going to the source if you have questions. I know that for most or nearly all of what they sell, SRP go to great lengths too develop their instructions.

[cstreit]

I spoke with Gary yesterday to confirm a few things... Wanted to tap into the collective wisdom here too. This won't be easy to do twice!

[cstreit]

In an effort to get more road-holding camber into the racecar I am ditching the offset ball-joints and upper camber plates and putting in some true camber-boxes into the front of the racecar. It is a fairly major operation with 3D locating of toe boxes into the existing chassis, and some substantial cutting into the chassis itself.

Used a laser and protractor to locate first cut line. Vertical cut lines in place, 6 degrees from vertical.



It took some serious courage of conviction to start hacking into the chassis once all the lines were drawn out. I had to cut out part of the support bar in the center which I'll weld back in later. Here's the first box tacked into place.



Then through the magic of the internet, an houir or so of grinding, trimming, and lots of re-checking the angles, the boxes are in, painted, and the support bar welded back in place!

[cstreit]

I actually took quite a few hours measuring, checking, remeasuring these before I even thought about cutting. I figured if I could get 3 repeatable measurements that came out within 1mm and 0.5 degrees then I was ready to cut. That took a while.

Essentially I set up the chassis to rolling level. Then I projected a vertical laser line (how the hell else would you get a straight line ont hat 3D surface?!) and verified it with a tool that I made. I printed out a protractor and mounted it onto a level. I set the laser to zero degrees inclination. Once done I then roated the laser line so that it was 6 degrees on the protractor (which was now mounted perfectly level) and let that line project onto the chassis.

I had also previous made some locator plates that bolted onto fixed points on the chassis that referenced the location of the strut tops before removal. I knew these were exactly at -2 camber and 6 castor. This way when I tacked in the boxes I could use the plates to make sure that the location was correct.

[Cory M]

Thanks for sharing Chris. Looks like the laser worked well.

[Green 912]

I just installed a set myself and it is a sweaty forehead cut for sure. In looking at yoru pix I see we both cut right in the same place as noted in the cut through the front single hole. I found that I was able to measure out to fixed points using the box bolts and fine tune the fit after I made the cuts a bit tight. Tweaked the fit with a blending wheel. I tacked them in, trimmed the excess from the inside the fender wells and folded welded the metal in place.

Next time I might instal a 935 setup and leave the stock strut top points in place. 935 system is pricey but lets you dial all the camber you want and increase track too.

[jpnovak]

Kurt, you didn't leave much of that car...

[Green 912]

I got the tub down to just over 300 pounds after cutting and before tubing. The fire walls will be going back in.

Back to Chris's car. good idea on the lazer level BTW.

[porsche735]

I know this is a very old thread, but I have a couple of questions as i am doing this myself now. I see that the caster angle preset is 6 degrees. Is the top angle set to 2 degrees or something else? How high up do you mount them? Seems like as high as possible to clear the nut on top... How far in did you mount them as that will set the base camber? Any key words of wisdom? Seems like the best approach is to not cut the chassis at all at first, weld the boxes in and then trim the inside?
Also, it seems these are the Ground Control camber plates. Did you have to mill your strut tops to fit the spherical bearings? Who did this for you?

Thanks,
Chris

[Mahler9th]

Hey Chris, haven't seen you for a while. Hope you and Chuck and families are well.

In addition to checking here, it might be a good idea to pop in or call Rich, Jerry, et al at JWE in Campbell. They have a lot of recent experience with several builds and likely have some good advice.

Good luck.

- Mike

[cstreit]

For some reason 11 degrees is coming to mind for some measurement, but I cannot figure out why. Do you have the instructions? I'd be happy to review them.

Yes get them as high as possible. It allows the best shock travel and neutral position with a lowered car. I don't know who manufactured the plate, I got the whole setup from smart racing.

My strut tops fit into the spherical bearing just fine. I think there are two versions of that strut though, and one fits and the other doesn't. You'll just have to try it I think.

SOme of the guys from Smart are at Jerry Woods aren't they? Perhaps a call into there?

[Mahler9th]

Jerry, Rich, Gary and Craig were the partners of SRP. I think they sourced those parts from Hamlin Fabrication. Not sure if they are available anymore. Nevertheless, I am sure that they have experience to help. Might even be leveraged if they install them at JWE.

B the way, SRP have a new web site, so you can now get SmartCamber and SmartStrings from Craig/SRP. Not sure if they will sell other products.

[ALEX P]

Does anyone know if the SRP camber boxes actually came with fitting instructions or not?

I can't find much information about setting them up or measurements to take to ensure they are in the correct position.

Can you just use the existing hole to centre the plate then draw around it, cut it and weld it?

Bit tricky to ask SRP now they're NLA!