When your sure somethings fixed, forget about it for a while and all seems good, remember the slightest change can un fix it. My sway bar is whacking my stock camber arms. We all know about the sway/aftermarket arm problem but this is different. What did I change? DOT race tires. The first 2 events with them the car was a bullet. The last 2, I was fighting the car but distracted by my Meth malfunction and POP. After inspecting the suspension a month or so ago I noticed all my bumps stops were either cracked (1) or missing (3) which indicates I was really leaning on them because of the extra grippy tires. Also my front K&W shocks were spewing oil. Ordered up some new bump stops from Fat Cat Motorsports and new shocks from Rob. The bump stops went in before latest race and the car was terrible. Today I disassembled the suspension and found a missing bump stop on the front and nice big divots in the STOCK camber arms.

The rear of the car is at the maximum height K&W recommends with the spring perches. The bump stops look fine in the rear. I've got to think on which way to fix this problem. (stiffer springs is the no brainer answer)

What I did today was install the new front shocks with the stops cut in half. Rears with tall soft stops and I disconnected the rear sway bar. I guess the guy that was asking who'd run with the rear bar disconnected will have an answer in a month or so. The last thing I expected to see was dents in the top of the camber arms ..... speechless.

Les

 

I have to tell you les the few times I get really wild on a track I am so glad I have the travel of the stock suspension. We flex everything. I can only imagine lap after lap a that pace. What we need is a whole new set up. Stronger everything. Going straight I am good for now.

 

Would putting back a little pre load on the sway bar help prevent the contact, or make it worse? Stiffer sway bar maybe? Does anyone make a stiffer one for us than what we have? But then you'd probably have to reinforce the chassis mounting locations. You're obviously getting faster and finding new limits. Good luck with ironing it out. I'd buy your MikeR adjustable sway bar links if your not going to use them, LOL.

 

H&R makes stiffer sway bars, front and rear. I'm going to be intelligent about this and inspect every part of the rear suspension before making any changes. I'll most likely run the next event with the rear bar disconnected. Then it's whether to fit stiffer springs or have custom curved camber arms fabricated. Hustler already did the leg work on the springs and the options are few and none. The only reason I haven't followed his lead is because my car is still a street car, I drive it to work when necessary and the stiffer springs would render the car difficult to live with on the street. The options aren't progressive. The K&W's first inch of travel is real soft. If the K&W's weren't progressive I think they'd be too hard for a DD.

Les

 

I'm going to predict massive amounts of understeer. Can you send me a pic of where you're rubbing and or whacking the camber arm. Also it is very common for cars on the BMW e36 platform to run with the rear bar disconnected just fyi.

 

I'll take a picture tomorrow while I'm under the car. The other solution is to take a hammer and enlarge the divot in the camber arms ...... I just may do that, I have a spare set of stock camber arms if I get carried away with the hammer.

Les

 

Too bad we don't have someone with access to a water jet cutter that would cut 3/4" steel plate into something like this you could then drill and tap for the end fittings .......

( excuse the tiny drawing )

 

http://cms.skunk2.com/photo/g-447-be...eb8ec28cf9.jpg

Something like these, but made to fit the R170. I know you've probably seen these on another thread here before, but sure are awesome pretty. They just scream $$ though.

 

Would a laser be good enough for you? Now comes the question of "what's it worth" huh.. LOL

 

That's an easy one : $0.00 to me, since I'm not racing or planning to lower my car.
I was just responding to Les.

 

^^^ Likewise.. I was just responding to you. .

 

I'll just hog out the notch in the body seam some more. I forgot about that possible course of action.

Les

 

Sorry Les, I'm a slow learner here. I guess that with not enough arc on any particular custom camber bar, it would contact the sway bar. And, too much arc would allow it to hit the body seam, is that it? I've only lowered a 1/2 coil all the way around and haven't gotten to the extremes on the track as you have yet.

 

I believe this depends on the length of the sway link. If you are lowered and running the stock link, it is now longer than it needs to be and you have more preload on the sway itself. In this case, when everything compresses the sway ends up hitting the body first and then the camber arm hammers both. When you have the shorter link installed the sway is forced up into the body by the camber arm hitting it first. You have to play to find a sweet spot but if you are low enough, something is going to rub/hit at some point from my experience with this car.

(There are people that have no problems it seems but others hear BANG! from time to time when everything collides )

Can't see the body contact spot from this angle but you can see when the sway binds up on the camber arm.

 

While under the car today, before jacking it up, I put my finger between the camber arm and sway bar, lifted as much as I could and pulled down as much as I could and the distance closed between the 2 on compression and lengthened as I lifted. This indicates the lower you are the closer they are at rest. The same for the distance between the sway bar and body seam. So, I used my drill and metal eating tool and opened the body seam notch some more and reconnected the sway bar link. The notch picture is before opening it up more. The drivers side is suffering harder contact than the passenger side, go figure, diet time? No post grinding pictures for you. I lengthened the width of the notch as well as taking out another 1/4 inch.

Les

 

Hey Velociabstract. Good luck with your project. Did you use a GoPro in your video? Thanks.. Squirrel Crusher

 

I use a go pro but the video posted isn't mine. If memory serves me correctly, it was taken with an Iphone 4.

Les

 

Looks like you have a lot more contact with the body than I do. ( Not surprising given your height with coil overs and the abuse you throw at it on the track) When I check mine you can tell where the body contact is but there is a lot more evidence of the sway/camber contact.

As far as your findings on the gap I agree from my playing around. On mine though I can't even get a finger between the camber bar and the sway. After I realized how close they are at rest I figured lengthening the sway link was the answer but it creates other problems. I went to 7 3/4" from just under 7 thinking there would be a 1:1 correlation with the gap and the length of the link but that is not the case. I might have gained a 1/4" of gap but the real change was the load on the sway. I can definitely tell the difference in the way the rear feels and on uneven surfaces you can actually tell visibally.