Hi, done a lot of suspesion work to my 1990 5.0l Manual Camaro

• Lowered my Car 1.5"(all round including new shocks/struts to match) Striped cleaned and poly bushed the whole of my suspension (front and back), Recently had new inner and outer tie-rod arms and ball joints. Steering components generally seem to be tight and are service regularly.
• Steering box has been adjusted and tighten up. tracking is set perfectly.
• The strut top mounts are as far over as they can go for negative camber,
• Welded up and strengthen where they crack under the steering box.

The car wanders quite badly, it feels like there is very little self centering of the steering (can you adjust castor?).

Before any of this work was done the steering of the car was fine.
Is there any known problems caused with steering and lowering with these cars?

 

Yes u can adjust caster, the strut tower mounts move fro t to back as well as side to side. Have the car properly aligned at a shop.

 

Do they? they don't look like there slotted to move any other direct than that of towards engine - away from engine (if that makes sense?).

I live in the UK, people round here aren't particularly good with American cars lol.

 

There's 2 sets of slots, one on top of the other. One is front to back, the other is side to side. One is underneath; you can't see it, but it's definitely there.

Have the car aligned, but NOT to the stock specs. I have no clue what pact with the devil some engineering intern made when doing his summer project, which then probably the same guy that approved that switch without requiring THAT intern to assign a new part # must have signed off without even looking at; but they're BAD. They perform EXACTLY as you describe, and additionally will EAT the outer edges off of the tires so fast it's scary.

Correct specs are:

Caster +4 - +4½°, with the wheel toward the curb about ½° higher than the wheel toward the center

Camber -½ - -1°, again with a slight split toward the curb wheel

Toe about .5 - 1mm IN

 

I've just noticed the second slot of holes, did earlier models not have these? After googling image i noticed most didn't? But found an image of mine with no components on and it does. Just pushed them back at the minute to see if there drive able, will then take it to a garage to get it done.


Thanks for your replys and help!

 

Make sure its toe in and plenty of positive caster. Toe out will wander and not enough positive caster will not return to center as desired. A little negative camber is good too.

DON'T LET THE SHOP JUST MAKE THE NUMBERS ON THE SCREEN TURN GREEN.

 

You mentioned adjusting the steering box to be "tight".. This is important to notice that if you adjust this top screw too tightly, the steering wheel will not re-center itself correctly. Try adjusting it to be "TIGHT", and then back it off 1/4 of a turn (or 90 degrees), this should be tight enough for precise handling, but loose enough to return to center.

 

Still seem to be having this problem. And constant creaking from drivers side front.

Steering box has been welded up after cracking.

 

Creaking makes me think of a bad strut mount. The rubber inside sometimes fails. Have they been replaced and if so are they stock or after-market?
Poly is supposed to make noise as well and aren't as easily lubed (depending on type/brand).

Do you have the wonder bar to alleviate the frame cracking issue? It's a bar that connects the frame rails from underneath (next to the sway bar).

 

The mounts could be anywhere between 2-24 years old, so will have alook for any play. No, I haven't been able to get one easily as I live in the uk. Is it worth looking into after market strut tops to alter the castor?

I understand the noise from poly bushes, it's just strange how it's one side one I know they are lubed up quite abit to stop creaking

 

For what you have into it with the other parts, I would strongly consider it. Some of the after-market mounts are offset to allow the struts on a dropped vehicle to operate within their normal range. 1.5" isn't too much but if you're in the market it might be worthwhile on both counts.

From what I understand the wonder bar (goes by other names as well) was added by GM to address frame cracking by the steering box. So I would definitely look into one of those. It is possible to fabricate one if shipping is an issue. It helps to have a friend that is willing to loan you one for that purpose though.

Sounds like you already know about the bushings.


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I didn't read all of the following but there is some good information on the wonderbar with images of the cracks.
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/susp...ring-gear.html

Sorry I took this a little off track but I felt the information is useful.