Camber plate debate. T3 vs. GC

[HRH]

That's it, which is better? Anyone use either, like the other, etc? I can't tell from the pictures, but it almost looks like the Ground Control setup is iron, not aluminum? Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

The positive side of the Techno Toy Tuning set is of course they're only $180, vs. $300 from Ground Control. The both look to be bolt in and go. Thoughts? Discussion? Talk amongst yourselves? :D

 

I'm going to be needing one of the other sometime soon. My stock '71 rubber mounts aren't liking all the jumping, they're kinda cracked.

 

http://www.ground-control-store.com/products/description.php/II=659/CA=27

http://www.technotoytuning.com/productdetail.php?p=820

[Skib]

Ill personally be going with T3 stuff for the Z, just based on opinion and price.

[Whoracle]

i have DPR camber plates (caster also) in my 510. They are 280$, but require cutting and drilling.

[greybeard]

I have the GC on my RX-7 and i can say they are good quality, nice parts.

 

On the RX-7 some trimming of the body in the center hole of the strut tower was required to have the full range of travel.

 

This was no problem and a nice template was included with the parts to make the cut.

 

The set I have sets camber and castor.

Edited December 29, 2009 by greybeard

[freaky510]

i would go with this guy http://datsun510.com/shop5/product_info.php?products_id=4&osCsid=4b7169e9b0ecdad26d57dbf753ac1343

 

 

and what about moog ??

[HRH]

That guy's just reselling the T3 set. Don't see any reason to do that. It's only $10 less and that will probably be taken up in freight. I'd rather buy right from the manufacturer for that.

[freaky510]

That guy's just reselling the T3 set. Don't see any reason to do that. It's only $10 less and that will probably be taken up in freight. I'd rather buy right from the manufacturer for that.

hes a fellow ratsun member for 1 and he is a friend for 2

[HRH]

Well shoot, you didn't say that. So if he's a friend AND a ratsun member, you know that makes them only worth $150 now, right? :D We ratsuners are cheap, eh hmm, frugal!

[sssr20det510]

The GC ones have caster adjustment and the T3 ones dont

[HRH]

Ah hah! I didn't see the mounting holes weren't slotted on the T3 set. Thanks sssr20det510!

 

Now, follow up question, do you think it's necessary to have caster adjustment as well as camber? I'd say the road race guys could use that a bit more, but not sure if it would be that applicable in rally, considering the speeds are generally less.

[sssr20det510]

depends on how much caster you want to run ive talked with a few people regarding this and they say with 5 to 6 degrees of caster the car handels way better and you would need caster plates, adjustable tc rods and adjustable lower control arms to achive this, the reason for the adjustable lower control arm is for the heim joint with 5-6 degrees of caster it will tear up the factory bushing.

 

you could just buy the camber plates and make a new mounting plate where the strut bolts to the car slotted for caster adjustment thats what im going to do

[SHADY280]

i have t3 ones on my race z, mine have slotted holes for caster. its not alot, but they do move for and aft a decent amount. i put mine on top of the shock tower tho, prolly not right, but it got the car to sit nicer. i may install them under once i get it ready to race.

[OpelWagenGT]

Does anyone know if 510 camber plates fit on a 1200 i can't seem to find ones made specifically for 1200's.

[72240z]

Ill personally be going with T3 stuff for the Z, just based on opinion and price.

 

Ya it's not fair for z guys though we have like 3 real options.

For z's t3 at $400 for all 4, $500 if you want tops hats can't be imo beat. They are even needle bearing style, where just about any other camber plates for any datsun in that price range would be pillow ball.

 

GC is good but they have had some teething problems. I read a lot of people were happy with the pillow ball sets ups they used to use (prior to them getting sloppy like all pillow ball set ups) but when they went to needle bearings there was premature wear. Think wag mentioned it happened to him as well in the ka kait thread.

[HRH]

Well, I have an installation question. As you might have noticed in the general thread, I got my t3 plates the other day, and I'm having a bit of a hang-up. Oh, and they do have slotted caster adjustment as well. Didn't think they did from the pictures on their website.

 

The ground control setup I have with the stock top mount, pushes the aluminum spring top hat a little past the first step in the strut rod, then onto the actual sealing shaft, so it only has a gnat's ass of clearance, which was fine, because it didn't allow the spring to wallow around the strut.

 

The diameters on the T3 set are the same, but due to the shallowness of the top camber plate, once it's cinched down, the top plate for the spring sits on the first step, not on the sealing surface. So there's a little more than a 1/16th of play side to side, which means the spring will be able to move that much also. Aside from a spacer to push the lower mount down, any ideas on that? I'll try and post up some pictures here in a second to better illustrate the problem.

[HRH]

Okay, here's the problem illustrated. A little easier to see. Any input welcome, I'm scratching my head on it now. T3 plates shown in bottom pictures.

 

 

 

 

[HRH]

Okay, that was less time than I expected. Think I figured out a way to make it work, as seen here:

 

 

So you have the T3 block, then you need a washer so the round o.e. bearing doesn't gouge it, then the o.e. bearing (I re-greased mine a while back, they work fine), the dust cover associated with it, which will also keep more crap out of the new needle bearing top hat, then the leftover washer from the GC coilover kit top hat. You can probably use a big fender washer. I'm going to look for those in a minute since I need two more washers.

 

Anyway, the washer rides on the needle bearings which allows proper weight distribution and turning of the bearing ring. Then the top hat, and at that point, it's the correct height so it doesn't allow the spring to wallow around as it's compressed and decompressed. Once the bottom is taken care of, the top is perfect as the threaded sleeve goes right down on the strut rod, effectively making it dead center.

[CorAce]

Looks like it should work. If you’re going to use the OE bearing you might as well send the needle bearing top hat back for a refund. Are their any gains in suspension travel or height adjustment?

[HRH]

Actually, I'm keeping the needle bearings. I just tightened up both assemblies and it rotates on the needle bearings, not the old o.e. bearing. It's either just a better, freer bearing, or the other one's old and pinched. Either way, it works better than it did before. Probably just due to age I'm thinking. They used to be pretty hard to turn once the springs were on. And I'm actually at 1/4 more preload since the top hat is a little thicker than the GC one.

 

No gains in height or travel. I'm pretty much stuck with about 5.5" of travel until it hits the bumpstop. Not sure how much it compresses, but probably doesn't quite go to 6" of total travel. That's with 12" springs mind you. (Rally)

[freekwonder]

I've got 240sx Tein camber plates and the techno toy tuning needle bearings. Everything seams to fit fine. They came with a spacer.

[HRH]

There's a sleeve/spacer there, or is that the shaft of the strut? Look nice, of course Tein usually is, I'm way too cheap for those. :)

[wilderb]

sorry to thread jack but has anyone here used the T3 plates with MR2 strut inserts?

 

I just ordered a set of MR2 inserts front 91-95 that I will try to mate with the T3 camber plates that I had, hope they work because I think that the MR2 uses a 14mm nut and nissan uses a 12mm nut for their shocks

[freekwonder]

There's a sleeve/spacer there, or is that the shaft of the strut? Look nice, of course Tein usually is, I'm way too cheap for those. :)

 

Yeah there is a spacer there. As for price, I can't remember exactly how much I paid, but it really wasn't different than the T3 and GC, got them on ebay.

[HRH]

Wow, holy camber batman. Reminds me of the Miata now, except my steering sucks. That's one of the things I plan to fix. Just took her for a drive, and MUCH better turning ability. Lots more noise too, but oh well. Price you pay, and I don't really care that much about it. If I wanted it quiet, I would have left it stock. :D

 

Oh, and skidplates. Found on that bridge jump the other night, it definitely bottomed out. My oil pan is a little striated, as is the front crossmember. Fortunately the crossmember took the brunt of the impact.

[HRH]

Side note on the camber plate install. I trenched the yard. Had to put the 510 back in the garage and get a running start after quite a few times of back and forth. Finally got it out, but left an 8" trough for quite a ways. Then I drove the truck over it. Good thing I have mud tires. The downside is it chewed it up worse than it is in this picture, because I had the brilliant idea to run over it a few times to flatten it out. Yeahhhh. Didn't work.

 

 

And of course, here are the new plates and the resulting camber. It's not quite settled in this picture, has a bit more.