Re: Strut brace adjustment?

["Matt Rooke" <mrooke@fcpa.fujitsu.com>]

Thanks Scott.  Ended up leaving it a little pushed apart, but not as
much as you describe.  Alignment yielded camber of -1.1/ -1.3, I don't
know if there is room for more (setup for street, no track days in
immediate future).  After installing the control arm bushings and strut
mounts, the car was pulling badly.  Toe was off by about 1 degree.  Now
it is within a tenth and it handles perfectly.  Amazing how sensitive it is.

I'll put some hard miles on the car ;-) readjust the bar and get another
alignment.  I wanted to wait a couple weeks for the bushings to settle
in, but it was pulling so badly I had to get it done.

Incidentally, the bushings (2B delrin), strut mounts (Blau HD's- blue)
and strut tower brace have really enhanced the handling of the car,
very precise and immediate steering action.  Still a little over-assisted,
but the feedback is improved.  Coupled with the H&R springs and Bilstein
HD shocks I'd done last year, the car now handles like a go-kart. (and
rides like one, as I've seen others with these mods comment).  Gotta clean
the coins out of the ashtray, now it jingles like a slot machine over every
pavement imperfection.

For the record, 4-wheel alignment was $79 at the WheelWorks outlet down
the street (Alum Rock Ave. in E. San Jose).  Included free rotation and
re-balance (I bought the wheels/ tires there).  They've always done a good
job for me.

Matt Rooke
'91cq

>Many btdt, push it apart.  The reason for the brace is to keep the shock
>towers from closing in on each other during hard cornering.  If you've
>already done hard cornering they are already out of spec.  I'd push them
>apart as far as you can with a wrench (hand at the head of the wrench), and
>take it in for an alignment.  If you can't get enough negative camber
>(there's a concept) loosen the brace a little.  You will be amazed on how
>much you can really push the towers around if you do it on the alignment
>rack, +/- up to 2 degrees IME.