SPL Eccentric lockout kit question - Lockout camber arms only?
 

So, really not a short way to say this so I'll try to be as succinct and to the point as possible.

I have the SPL rear camber arms but I have the stock buckets that help adjust toe. When the car is stock, the rear has some adjustment of camber and toe using eccentric bolts on the top and bottom of each side. Now that I have proper camber arms, should I use an eccentric lock out kit to lock it up and adjust camber/toe exclusively through the arms?

The way I see it, this should remove one variable in the set up that would mess with my alignment over time. As I do not have after market spring buckets, I'll need to keep the bottom eccentric bolt to make sure I can dial in my toe.

Does anyone see any problems that I should take into consideration before doing this? Would the lockout kit mess with my suspension geometry as it moves throughout the compression and rebound range?

I'll edit this post with clarifications if I find I've left some detail out later on.
Serious answers only, please. :tiphat:

You need a lockout for the camber arm. I can sell you a set for like $20, shoot me a PM with your address

Andrew do you have picture of this eccentric lockout kit? I just want to know if this is the one I have. Thanks

What I have is SPC with toe bolts. Is this thing only for SPL?

For YOU, no, I don't...


I'll get one later today if I remember. If you didn't buy lockouts separately, you don't have them. Instead of a circular washer it's a square one

Yes, that's the whole point of the adjustable arms.

I have a similar question to the OP about the eccentric lockout kit.

I will be installing lowering springs or coilovers (1" drop or so). I will be ordering SPL rear camber arms, but to adjust for toe, most research I've done points to toe bolts (more specifically, the SPC ones).

Do I only need the rear camber arms and the eccentric lockout kit to solve all my rear camber and toe worries? Do I still need toe bolts?

Many report being able to return toe to within specs with the OEM adjusting bolt. If it were me I would try aligning it first and only use the SPC adjusting bolt if absolutely necessary.

I'm rather certain I'm only on a 1" drop, it's very mild because I track and need the suspension travel. However, I was not able to get my desired toe and camber settings even without the lockout kit.

My plan is to get the lock out kit for the upper camber arms in and get SPC bolts for further toe adjustment. I'm hoping I'll be able to get the alignment spec I want at that point.

I've got a brand new set of SPL rear camber arms sitting in my garage waiting to put on, so I guess I need the lockouts as well.

I am doing the SPL camber arms only (with lockouts) for the One Lap of America. Keeping the suspension stock otherwise in the rear. My goal is to set the camber and then the toe (with the eccentric bolts for toe). My plan is to do just a little tack weld on the eccentric bolts to hold them in place, which I hope, will do the trick

Tracy Ramsey

Wait -- so is this necessary no matter what, or only if toe cannot be returned to about zero? :confused:

Even if both points were adjusted independently, is the idea that having an extra region where you can make adjustments requires you to lock the other one due to changes in how force is exerted on the vehicle, which can cause one or the other to nudge out of alignment? If everything is torqued to spec, shouldn't it be fine?

I don't know about the SPL, but I though the SPC came with all needed hardware.

I don't think I understand...

What kind of driving do you usually do? I have had my setup for almost a year now, coilovers, spl toe and camber arms. I autocross and do spirited drives and my alignment is still where it was set to last march. You might not need them but I also don't daily drive my Z and now that snow is on the ground in CT I drive it even less, three days in the past two months.

There is an adjustment bolt on each of the lower links - one on the front lower link and one on the rear lower link. Download the service manual for a detailed description and alignment procedures.

Camber is set by adjusting the cam bolt on the front lower link (camber arm). Toe is set by adjusting the cam bolt on the rear lower link (that holds the spring). If you replace the front lower link (camber arm) then you will also replace the cam bolt with a lockout kit so the only adjustment is via the arm itself. There is no need to have two adjustment points.

The toe adjustment is accomplished with the cam bolt on the rear lower link. If the toe cannot be set within spec then you will replace this cam bolt with the SPC bolt which requires enlarging the hole at the inboard attachment of the lower link.

Hope this helps.

^^^ Okay -- that makes sense. Thank you for clarifying :tup:

Useful information! :tiphat:

However, could it be said that if the stock cam bolt is enough to keep the factory camber arms in place, they would also be enough to keep an aftermarket adjustable arm in place, thus making the lockout kit NOT 100% necessary...? Despite the fact that it is not necessary to have two points of adjustment, I think a lot of folks are wondering if they MUST get the lockout kit in order to use the SPL or SPC camber arms. To which the answer is no, you don't, BUT it would be a good idea to eliminate that variable.

That being said, the toe bolts will likely be necessary to get within factory spec.

Key points:

• Lockout kit and toe/camber bolts are NOT the same thing
• No you do not HAVE to get the lockout kit to use aftermarket adjustable arms (but it would be a good idea if you are doing any sort of hard driving)
• There's no difference between the functionality of the SPL and SPC arms. SPL is just much higher quality

/thread

:iagree:

Agreed. The lockout kit is not absolutely required but is recommended to eliminate the second point of adjustment. Personally I would not forgo the lockout kit and leave the adjustment bolt in - it would feel incomplete and would bug me to no end. ;)

Great information guy +1 to you both!!!

Just installed the SPL camber links and eccentric lock out tonight. The whole purpose of theSPL arms is to have maximum control with no chance of camber adjustments slipping. The stock adjuster while adequate can still turn slip over time. One adjustment point is better for overall control over your camber andd toe.

I piggybacked on this related thread.
 

Great thread. It made it clear that I ought to get the lockouts for my SPL camber arms so all the camber adjustment is handled by the arms themselves.

Now my issue.....I have the SPC toe bolts for toe adustment on the lower spring buckets but have not installed them yet. I have the template for elongating the holes. The instructions make no mention at all of elongating the holes to the INBOARD side only of the stock holes. Is this right?
It appears that if I put the template in place to mark the hole it leads me to believe one ought to elongate the stock hole in both inboard and OUTBOARD directions since the template seems to be symmetrical. OR, do I just align the template to the outboard edge of the stock hole and elongate to inboard? I have not been able to find much other than toe bolt installs on 350s. Everything I've seen says to elongate the holes in only the one direction....inboard. Is the 370 different, or once the car is lowered, inboard is the only direction you'll need adjust to get the toe back to spec after the camber is set?
Sorry if I haven't made this clear.....if I were to just drag my butt under my car and take a good look it might be obvious and I wouldn't need to be asking this question.

Thanks. 104

The template is there to give the max range of adjustability afforded by the increased offset of the bolt. There is no realistic use for elongating the outboard holes. You only need the inboard holes.

Sort of what I was thinkng....
 

Thanks. 104

If you don't elongate in both directions, the bolt can only be turned half way in each direction. Someone not paying attention could crank on it and jimmy it up. Like if you went for an alignment and got the newbie at Firestone or some such.

You also won't be gaining the full range of toe-in.

Whether lowered on Swifts or on coilovers w/ SPL, I haven't needed the toe bolts to bring alignment within spec. Why do it if you don't need it?

You are one of the few, but many of us needed more adjustment. Or you can run camber at -2 or better front and rear without.

SPL Eccentric lockout kit question - Lockout camber arms only?
 

The "within spec" window on these cars is pretty big. So while you can get "within spec", it might not be where you really need it to be. That's why you get the toe bolts and elongate the holes.


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In my experience I did camber arms and traction arms and made my own lockout it. The 10.8 bolts are at advanced auto for like $1.50 each and I got a 1/4x2x12" bar stock of 6061 aluminium for $0.75. I just measured the space on the subframe and cut the aluminium to 1.33" squares. After everything was installed on Swift spec-Rs I could NOT achieve the numbers I wanted! My camber was fine but toe was horrible. When you adjust one it greatly effects the other. Also traction arms didn't do much but make my wheel base longer or shorter on one side or the other so I just reset them to identical length and measured wheel hub to wheel hub.

So what I did was weld all aluminium center holes closed and re drilled the squares off center. At the alignment shop we played around with the squares by rotating them 90* then playing with camber again. I got pretty damn close to what I wanted but it still wasn't perfect! I ended up buying SPL rear spring buckets and after I sold the Swifts and went true coils I sold the spring buckets and got toe links. I'm afraid for the perfect ride you need either SPL spring buckets or SPL toe links with lockout kits.

I had the SPC camber arms with toe bolts that came with it and when i went to get an alignment the mechanic could not get the toe to align. Whenever he did though the toe would slip out of spec with the slightest movement. So would it be better to with the lockout kit and SPL camber arms? Or is there some other rod I can change out to adjust toe? Really don't want SPL mid link @$700+ like OP