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Vorshlag Camber Plate Question

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Hello TOMer's ,

I had my camber plates installed on Monday. In prep I wanted to see how the worked so I jack up the front left, loosen the 4 strut tower nuts and get hardly any movement no matter what I do. What am I doing wrong please?

Thanks!
 
Or disconnect the swap bar link.
I will try the both up first. My goal is to learn how to be proficient and fast for when I need to swap wheels at the track. If I disconnect the sway bar I may create a mess for myself. That's one reason that I went with vorshlag. They are supposed to be easy and fast. When I couldn't get the one side to move I thought what if that was my first track day. I would have been in a real crapper. I'm moving forward with all the build and track readiness but the 1/2 continues 1/2 steps back are killing me. One a good note I never did any of this race, car prep, wrenching before and pretty far ahead for a newbie. It's only been 4 months since I got the car and had to learn, order stuff, wrench on some things and apply the enormous amount of knowledge. That's only a drop in the bucket. May will be awesome when I can hit the track for the first time!
 

racer47

Still winning after 30+ years
392
497
Exp. Type
W2W Racing
Exp. Level
20+ Years
SE WI
My goal is to learn how to be proficient and fast for when I need to swap wheels at the track.

Depending on your spring and bar rates, there is likely a partially jacked up, on only one side, region in which you can move the camber plate without disconnecting anything, meaning the tire is not off the ground yet but not fully loaded either and the camber plate is unloaded enough to adjust it.

I did this several times with my vorshlag plates. Jack up the drivers side part way, loosen drivers side camber plate, add camber, tighten plate, continue to jack up, remove LF tire, replace with A7. Lower. Repeat on passenger side. This is relatively fast. You don't need to disconnect the swaybar and you don't need to put the front end on jack stands. But adjusting camber does get old and I just gave up and left all the camber in all the time.
 
1,022
99
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
10-20 Years
Texas
Are you trying to set max negative camber? One way to do this is to loosen the plates with the car in the air then lower the weight of the car back onto the wheels. This should force the plates to max negative.
 
Are you trying to set max negative camber? One way to do this is to loosen the plates with the car in the air then lower the weight of the car back onto the wheels. This should force the plates to max negative.
Yes. The shop set me up real nice. At max camber full in I'm at 3 degrees and with both sides marked with a strait edge I can adjust back out to 1.3 for my street setup.

I only had one corner in the air. I actually left a message with the shop before I posted here last evening. They called me this AM and told me verbatim what @TMSBOSS said about the sway bar stopping the strut. It's raining here today. I'll get the front up in the air tomorrow or Sunday and play with it.

Thanks for the input from everyone! I'll post a pic or 2 when I get it all sorted.

Thanks
 
Depending on your spring and bar rates, there is likely a partially jacked up, on only one side, region in which you can move the camber plate without disconnecting anything, meaning the tire is not off the ground yet but not fully loaded either and the camber plate is unloaded enough to adjust it.

I did this several times with my vorshlag plates. Jack up the drivers side part way, loosen drivers side camber plate, add camber, tighten plate, continue to jack up, remove LF tire, replace with A7. Lower. Repeat on passenger side. This is relatively fast. You don't need to disconnect the swaybar and you don't need to put the front end on jack stands. But adjusting camber does get old and I just gave up and left all the camber in all the time.
I like the way you think - I might just do that leaving the camber in all of the time if it really turns into a pain. The shop said I could since was only driving less that 5 k per year. I figure might as well have both settings and try to preserve the street tires as long as possible. I'll try the switching for the first few times and see what happens. I'll have it up and have to swap wheels anyways.
 
1,022
99
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
10-20 Years
Texas
I like the way you think - I might just do that leaving the camber in all of the time if it really turns into a pain. The shop said I could since was only driving less that 5 k per year. I figure might as well have both settings and try to preserve the street tires as long as possible. I'll try the switching for the first few times and see what happens. I'll have it up and have to swap wheels anyways.
If you can rotate your tires with a square setup leaving the max camber would probably work. If you do too much street driving depending on the tire you're running it can cord pretty quickly. Just keep an eye on it.
 
I'm all set. Both wheels up. There must have been something binding the one plate. A little gentle love with a bar and a few and outs and fine. The only thing about having it off the ground is that it wants to come back a tad from the "in" setting and just have to hold in place. I know I could have dropped but didn't want to jack back up to put back to street setting. I think If I have my mojo going for me I probably can jack up, jack stand the one side, change camber settings, spacers and wheels the whole way around in no more than 15-20 min. The street setting looks like it's off but it's only the photo perception because the strut bolt is higher than the housing and was off to an angle when shooting the pic.KIMG4093.JPGKIMG4094.JPG
 
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1,246
1,243
In the V6L
I'm all set. Both wheels up. There must have been something binding the one plate. A little gentle love with a bar and a few and outs and fine. The only thing about having it off the ground is that it wants to come back a tad from the "in" setting and just have to hold in place. I know I could have dropped but didn't want to jack back up to put back to street setting. I think If I have my mojo going for me I probably can jack up, jack stand the one side, change camber settings, spacers and wheels the whole way around in no more than 15-20 min. The street setting looks like it's off but it's only the photo perception because the strut bolt is higher than the housing and was off to an angle when shooting the pic.View attachment 63602View attachment 63603
You should leave a small gap, 2 mm (3/32") or so, between the top of the strut and the edge of the hole in the strut tower. As the suspension moves up and down, the bottom of the strut swings in and out as the lower control arms pivots. As the bottom swings in and out, the top of the strut pivots on the famously strong Vorshlag spherical bearing that's housed down inside in the camber plate and that, in turn, means that as the bottom of the strut moves out, the top moves in. It's only a small amount inward, but the leverage is high because of the short distance.

When you're adjusting camber with the car is in the air, the bottom of the strut is about as far inward as it can go. As you lower the car back onto the ground, the bottom of the strut swings back outwards and if you didn't leave a gap for the strut top to move inward, then as the bottom swings out, the strut rod and nut gets jammed against the edge of the hole. The force is even higher when the car is in motion and the suspension is being compressed by cornering or bumps. There's a risk you might damage something - the strut, or the camber plate, or the strut tower - if you position the strut rod tight against the edge of the hole as you show it in the photo.
 
You should leave a small gap, 2 mm (3/32") or so, between the top of the strut and the edge of the hole in the strut tower. As the suspension moves up and down, the bottom of the strut swings in and out as the lower control arms pivots. As the bottom swings in and out, the top of the strut pivots on the famously strong Vorshlag spherical bearing that's housed down inside in the camber plate and that, in turn, means that as the bottom of the strut moves out, the top moves in. It's only a small amount inward, but the leverage is high because of the short distance.

When you're adjusting camber with the car is in the air, the bottom of the strut is about as far inward as it can go. As you lower the car back onto the ground, the bottom of the strut swings back outwards and if you didn't leave a gap for the strut top to move inward, then as the bottom swings out, the strut rod and nut gets jammed against the edge of the hole. The force is even higher when the car is in motion and the suspension is being compressed by cornering or bumps. There's a risk you might damage something - the strut, or the camber plate, or the strut tower - if you position the strut rod tight against the edge of the hole as you show it in the photo.
Thanks for the info and heads up! I'll make sure there is that small space when I adjust again early this summer at the track.
 

Dave_W

Cones - not just for ice cream
984
1,277
Exp. Type
Autocross
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Connecticut
Just a reminder, if you want to compete in SCCA autocross, grinding/cutting the strut opening in the shock tower for clearance (or any other reason) moves you up several categories. Don't know about the NASA class rules. I'd say leave it stock for now.
 

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