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Diy strut rods

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aaron1

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I have been cruising the archives on several forums about DIY Camber strut rods. There seems to be conflicting info on whether you should lower the inner mounting bracket.:hb

Norvil said that he modded his bracket and lowered the holes 1-1/2 inches. This would make the strut rods parallel with the 1/2 shafts when sitting at normal ride height. He had some photos posted.

Two others said that you want to sandwich two pieces of 1/4 aluminum plate between the mounting bracket and the diff. One said that this would be the best mod you could make!

Herb Adams book said lower it 3/8 of an inch.

And another person said "Absolutely do not lower the bracket, because then you will have zero camber change". ?:confused;help

Unless I misread ....:W

Also what if you are using the factory rear y-pipe? there is a heat shield that bolts to the bottom of the bracket. by lowering bracket would this interfeer with exhaust piping?

Thank You for your help!

Aaron1
 
A bad feature of the production '63-'82 rear suspension is a lot of camber change as the wheels move up or down and this becomes a serious problem on a car with wide tires. On acceleration, the rear end squats, the wheels gain negative camber and tire contact patch is reduced. This makes for less traction-exactly what you don't need if you have wide tires and lots of power.

Vette Brakes and Products' 'Smart Struts' kit uses a strut rod mounting bracket having revised positions for the rods' inner pick-up points that are lower than those of either of the three, stock brackets. The new pick-up points are adjustable through a limited range and alter suspension geometry such that camber change is either reduced or eliminated. The stock, '63-'67 rear suspension has 3.5° of camber change in 2.5 inches of compression. The '68-'82, which uses a different rod mounting bracket, is a little better with 2.5°. Smart Struts can be adjusted for between 0 and 1.25° camber change in 2.5-in. of travel, a significant improvement. Smart Strut kit can be ordered several ways. The ones I have on my C3 use struts with spherical bearing rod ends. I've had Smart Struts on my C3 for about 18 years and I'm glad I made the change.

It is true that brackets with strut rod pick-up point lower than the OE 68-82 positions, may interfere with the exhaust. On my 71, I had to have the exhaust changed a bit because of the Smart Struts' different bracket.
 

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