I was curious, because I have no idea where to start, what does adjusting each suspension components do? I have an adjustable torque arm, lcas and panhard. So If I turn the torque arm out and bring the rear end face down, it will?

 

BAD, BAD, BAD!

Adjustable Torque arms are for adjusting your pinion angle mainly after lowering. You need the correct angle, to avoid vibrations, cap wear, etc.

You don't wanna just start playing with it.

Why'd you buy all the adjustable stuff, when you didn't understand how it all worked? Instead of just buying the fixed-length stuff?

 

The adjuster changes the pinion angle, but the real reason for an after-market torque arm has to do with instant center and anti-squat. The shorter the arm, the more it forces the tires to bite on acceleration. See:
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/post...506-post4.html

 

I got the lcas and panhard in a package deal and was able to sell a remaining item for as much as I paid for everything. I needed the spohn torque arm and crossmember to go with my trans and 9". That's why I got all of it, but now that I have it, I want to know what to do with it.
----------
Interesting read, but it didnt quite get my question of the pinion angle, or the lca or panhard adjustments.

 

This is counterproductive advice. SO he sould just bolt on fixed length parts and live with everything at stock height and settings or be stuck with bad geometry with any changes made- good advice, really helps his question.

Scorchmaster,
The parts you bought will help not only you but your alignemnt mechanic(if he's a good one) make the proper adjustments to make your vehicles suspension function in the proper articulation ranges.

LCA adjustments can be used to keep the rear tires centered in the wheel wheels and to keep the rear thust angle from doglegging the car down the road . THis can happen from a number of things from adding LCARB's to getting into an accident, to altering the ride height.

Torque arm adjustments keep the pinon in proper angle when the ride heght is again altered. How to set the pinon? Its this plan and simple. With the rear axle loaded (floor jacks under the axle, not the chassis) measure the angle diffenrence between the trans output shaft and the driveshaft. NOW MATCH that angle with the driveshaft to pinion, THEN rotate the front of the pinon downward ONE MORE DEGREE. You are done! Under acceleration thrust, the pinion will flex upward about 1* making the two anlges match eachother and cancel out harmonics that can cause vibration and destroy the u-joints.

Panhard? Just cenmter the rear tires side to side under the fender lips.

LCARB's (Relocation brackets)? These get alot more complex. Just try to keep the LCAs as close to parallel to the gound as possible. If you are experiencing any wheel hop on burnouts, then move the rear of the LCA's down one hole at a time in the LCARB's until wheelhop is non existant. That is a good basic generic setting to keep you out of trouble. This adjustment can be used far more advanced as a suspension tuning tool for cornering but it gets complex and with each other change to the car this can also need readjusting or could become very dangerous at high speed (roll oversteer/roll understeer- its basically where you setup the rear axle to actually steer one way or the other when the chassis leans- this is done through geometry). Just leave them close to neutral at parallel to ground setting. Shortening the LCA's can also increase the effectiveness of these settings and make a car shorter in wheelbase and much more resonsive at low speed racing such as autox.

 

man- what great info. i was just trying to firure out what to get, and i think i will get adjustable now that i know how it works. my cami has all stock suspension, with a beastly 383, and re-built 700r4, which means I need as much of this info as i can read(since i am making a list for suspension parts now!)

 

Wow, thanks Duracell

 

My point was...It is safer to live with fixed lengths, that are KNOWN to be good, for stock applications, than to risk adjusting things, or buy things that are adjusted out of whack. A person could risk causing parts failures, through the trial and error method.

I'll say this though...He did ask first, instead of posting with "I bought this stuff, adjusted it, and now my u-joints are trashed..." etc.

 

Well I surely do not have enough suspension knowledge to adjust the adjustables properly myself, so that is why I will take the car to my suspension guy after I get the parts on the car. I am just beginning the suspension process, so I am still trying to prioritize coming straight from stock 89 RS.

Thank you guys for all the info. It seems like I only post 1 time for every 1 million threads I read...