Hey guys just wanna gauge some interest on some fabrication I have been doing to improve the alignment on my drift car. I am no noob to welding/fabricating. I make my own toe links, crash bars, intercooler pipng, aluminum/stainless/steel tig, mig, stick wedling, etc. But what I have been working on and testing and feel an improvement in are these new camber/caster plates. Since caster is not adjustable drastically on fc's I wanted to make them adjustable and I can do this for a very reasonable price. Let me know what you think. A few friends and I are running them and love em. Thinking of becoming a vendor...

 

how much do they run? I might be interested to replace my pbm plates.

 

Thinking they would run about 160 a set with hardware. If There was a group buy to start I could work it even lower. I'm gonna try and contact someone with PBMs in my area to get measurements and see if dimensions are same as my Megan's. Plates are CNC'd from 3/8s aluminum and anodized. On my car I got well over an extra degree of adjustment and on a friends car he was at about another degree. Of course adjustment is also affected by other suspension components but thinking making the next run with more of an adjustment range.

 

How far can the caster be adjusted? And what is factory caster spec?

A suggestion.. Cut the slots for the pillow ball further from the center so the user can make bigger adjustments. If he or she wants less caster, install them with the slots in front, and adjust from there.

I don't think anyone would want to decrease caster from the stock spec, so the big benefit (in my eyes) would be the ability to increase it further. Your slots look like they would provide ~1* of added caster. Have you done any measurements?

Just some thoughts I had.

 

Yes deffinetly want it add caster. But I machined them to be able adjust both ways. As everybody has a different driving style. I believe the caster on my car was just under 4.5 degrees. Stock spec is low 4s if I recall. I now have 5.5 degrees and 4 degrees of camber without ball joint extensions... Still working on making a bolt on extension with press in ball joints.

 

These look identical to the ones Ground Control sells. What improvements would these have?

 

Better camber/caster settings. I did see ground control sells them. Theirs are quite a bit more but do come with spring perches I believe. That's a little more work to change. These are just changing out the mounts. I have a pic of these ontop of the plates that came originally on my coil overs to show the adjustment difference.

 

As far as camber, GC plates are probably about as aggressive as you can get. You actually have to cut the strut tower hole to make use of the entire range. You can still get decent negative camber without cutting the hole though.

As far as caster, I haven't checked if there is more range on the table, but you can get 8 degrees on GC plates. Do you really need more than that for drifting?

GC is willing to work with you to customize their plates so that they fit your shocks, if your not using some kind of standard shaft diameter.

Go nuts if you want, but it seems like you are reinventing the wheel, and will likely make mistakes that are already corrected on an off the shelf solution

 

There is no reinventing. I am making a plate to help me allow to get my alignment where I like it. I haven't seen many reviews on people playing with caster and did not know GC ones are that aggressive. Sure I could make these that aggressive but that is probably a little excessive. And I can make these for far less than the GC ones would run me. So why buy them off the shelf if I'm capable of making a good product.

 

Just wanted other thoughts and opinions an I thank you and appreciate yours.

 

https://www.rx7club.com/drifting-226.../#post11101054

i've had mine for 5+ years. they have extra camber adjustment. the caster has a huge range on my plates. they can be set to stock +/- 6º. i run about 6.5 on my car and love it. i can do a lot with KPA, camber, caster, track, trail, etc. it definitely made the car more "dynamic" to drive. haha

not all coilovers are the same unfortunately. i've even seen different models from the same BRAND have different measurements. that's the big reason i never made them for the general public. too many combos out with spacing and bearing housing size.

 

Awesome George thanks for the link! Yea that's why I wanna get measurements off other coil overs. All my friends run different setups and that's why I am kinda testing the waters first and this next run im gonna do I wanted to get more caster adjustment. I wanted to get mine in the 6's

 

George your ball joint and whole suspension setup for that matter is amazing. Wish you woulda been running fdatl so we coulda met you in pits. Doin any events this year?

 

thanks man! i've been doing a lot of trial and error with the front setup and i'm starting to learn what works and what doesn't on these.

i'm a big fan of caster so i definitely like the idea of that plate.

probably no FD events this year. personal life is crazy with moving jobs, cities, houses, etc. focusing on getting all that squared away then I'll get driving again, i miss it too much!

 

Bummer well hopefully next season we will see you out there an everything in your personal life is well!
Any other input? Gonna run some for myself with more adjustment. Want to get my suspension dialed in.

 

the best advice i can give is to try a few different settings and see how you like it. remember if you run more caster the wheel will tend to "flop" over at full lock and you'll be riding the sidewall. i ended up with a little bit more than stock caster.

 

^This.

I would say a lot of guys (including myself) would be interested if you could design them as Mike just suggested. As he stated, there's really no demand for removing degrees of caster, but more so adding it.

This is hard for me to explain, but a way to maximize this (while still allowing for a stock setting) would be to design a plate that has an offset pillowball slot. When the plate is flipped with the slot closest to the front of the car, and then adjusted (pushed) all the way back towards the firewall, that it has the stock degree of caster. Tricky to visualize. Kinda reverse engineering it. If i drew you guys a picture it might make more sense.

 

Basically, if you could design them to give a few more degrees caster, at your price, 200 bones less than the GC plates, I think you would sell a few of them.

 

Thanks for the input. Gonna work on em and a few other thigs after I get my car back together

 

I'd be down for a set if they fit my tein super drifts

 

Any progress on these?

 

what happen to these?

 

i could use some for the rears with the tein super drift....if itll be compatible

 

it would do nothing for the rear.

 

Yea thought about the rear but really nothing would be achieved. There are good parts available already for the rears. Not much more news. Machined more for my car with more adjustment an love them. Other than that just been real busy with work. Not really sure if I should machine a lot and get a vendor account and a group buy going. Any thought