Frame shop in Houston?

[Pranav]

It's been bugging me too long for a year now, driver's side shock tower may have moved outward when I hit the wall at Hallett last year, been having trouble getting camber out of that side despite sticking the LCA out all of the way and having the wheel poke out flush with the fender.

Who are you guys using some frame/tower pulling?

[mach1]

who are you guys using some frame/tower pulling?

f350, 7.3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuLV-6PpSGo

[Tilton]

I'm sure Marshall and Sam could lend you a hand.

[marshall_mosty]

In a pinch, the body shop next door to the race shop... Thankfully haven't had to use them.

[Rob Liebbe]

It's been bugging me too long for a year now, driver's side shock tower may have moved outward when I hit the wall at Hallett last year, been having trouble getting camber out of that side despite sticking the LCA out all of the way and having the wheel poke out flush with the fender.

Who are you guys using some frame/tower pulling?

In the past, I have used Lakewood Car Clinic on Louetta just west of 249. Talk to the owner Rick Cook and tell him I sent you. They can be a bit slow and are not likely to be the cheapest place around but they are more than the run of the mill mechanic and body shop as they also build a lot of restomods and race cars. 281-320-1185

I've never used them but Johnny's Bang and Bump in Tomball they were very receptive when I talked to them. They have been around forever and the owner has been racing drag cars forever. 281-351-4482

Good Luck

[Pranav]

Thanks Rob, called Lakewood and talked to Ed. Looks like they have spent some time with Camaros. Their setup fee was reasonable so I think I'll end up going there (close to the house too).

Funny how that works, a Ford guy sending me to a GM shop :)

[Rob Liebbe]

Thanks Rob, called Lakewood and talked to Ed. Looks like they have spent some time with Camaros. Their setup fee was reasonable so I think I'll end up going there (close to the house too).

Funny how that works, a Ford guy sending me to a GM shop :)

They work on everything. A lot of restored and restomod cars are built in that shop right along side run of the mill repair and bodywork. They worked on my Mustangs and Randy's Camaro. I will say, keep up on them about timing. Make sure they know your deadline.

[Rob Liebbe]

I'll let you return the favor Pranav. You got any dyno shop recommendations? Preferably on the north side of Houston/Spring/Woodlands.

[Pranav]

Chris Car Doc in Humble. Once you go there and deal with Chris, you won't want to go anywhere else. So far Records, Jander, and myself have been there, no complaints. He's a Mustang shop.

[blk96gt]

He normally charges $55 for two pulls, but every time I've gone up there he just charges me $55 for three.

[mach1]

Funny how that works, a Ford guy sending me to a GM shop :)

We are all family.

[ShadowBolt]

We are family......Sister Sledge 1979

Fixed it for you.


JJ

[mach1]

Fixed it for you.


JJ

I got all my sisters with me!

[Rob Liebbe]

I got all my sisters with me!

The Sister Sledge reference is messing with my mind...a drunken midnight drag queen performance by Tyler, Jerry, and Pranav is now stuck in my mind. I may never sleep again. Thanks for that. And the rest of you are welcome for the image now as well.

[ShadowBolt]

The Sister Sledge reference is messing with my mind...a drunken midnight drag queen performance by Tyler, Jerry, and Pranav is now stuck in my mind. I may never sleep again. Thanks for that. And the rest of you are welcome for the image now as well.


Tyler is the one with the "We are family" I just remembered the song.

JJ

[dtanker65]

The Sister Sledge reference is messing with my mind...a drunken midnight drag queen performance by Tyler, Jerry, and Pranav is now stuck in my mind. I may never sleep again. Thanks for that. And the rest of you are welcome for the image now as well.

Thanks Rob...... I dipped in for some free technical gear set up data and now I have that image burned into my noggin :-)

[Storm Trooper]

The Sister Sledge reference is messing with my mind...a drunken midnight drag queen performance by Tyler, Jerry, and Pranav is now stuck in my mind. I may never sleep again. Thanks for that. And the rest of you are welcome for the image now as well.

And of course YMCA!:cool:

[Rob Liebbe]

And of course YMCA!:cool:

Settle down there Princess Lea. 8-)

[Pranav]

Thanks for the reco Rob, they're doing good work. It's on the rack now but they were having trouble getting good shock tower measurements with the lasers so an adapter for that is due in Monday.

I brought it in because my DRIVER's side can't seem to get enough negative camber. However initial hand measurements are showing the PASSENGER shock tower is pushed IN giving me more than usual negative camber on that side while they are not yet sure on the driver's yet.

As it sits, when I center my subframe and max out the LCAs, my driver's side maxes out at around -1.6* while the passenger goes all the way to -3.1. From what I understand most 4th gens max out in the high 2s so their initial assessment seems right for the passenger side. There is 1/4" of slack on the subframe side to side that can even the camber a bit, but the swaybar ends up being crooked if I go this way.

I'll probably ask that they pull the passenger out the least amount possible.

Anyways, about the driver's side, any of you 4th gen guys can stick more than one finger between the master cylinder barrel and their shock tower? We think my passenger tower has been lifted, likely when I bottomed out hard when going into the wall last year. There isn't much room left to pull the shock tower IN laterally. Hopefully the computer measurements should prove this as they don't have reliable way to get height measurements until the adapters come in.

[Pranav]

The frame rails were fine, but they found that the shock towers are actually sucked inwards a little towards the engine. Straightening them back out would only decrease my camber further, so I paid the for the diagnosis and took it home.

I had already ruled out the subframe and LCA, but I suspected that maybe the upright I put on last summer after the Hallett incident was the culprit, so I swapped it and had no change in results. I measured/check all three of my driver side uprights and wasn't getting anywhere. With the subframe centered I was at -2.9ish passenger, -1.6ish driver with both LCAs maxed out.

Sliding the subframe over would move just under -0.5 degrees from the passengers to the driver's but I didn't like how it made the swaybar sit crooked, and I need to get both sides closer to -2.5*

Not knowing what else to do, I slotted the hell out of the UCA mount and got the driver's side down to -2.5. With a tiny nudge of the subframe over and I'll end up with equal camber on both sides at around -2.7, then dial it down to -2.5 for both sides. Glad to finally have it fixed, hopefully my front tires will be much happier at the next event.

[Fbody383]

Not knowing what else to do, I slotted the hell out of the UCA mount That's with the lower mounts slotted? Weird.

[Rob Liebbe]

Maybe I should get a ratchet strap and pull my strut towers together. :cool:

[Pranav]

That's with the lower mounts slotted? Weird.

Yep, if I slot the lowers any further there won't be anything left to bolt on, bizzare, I don't get it. Some things I will never figure out, I guess this car was meant for circle track.

Dropped the car off to fix body damage this morning, will be nice to have it out of sight for a few weeks.

[dtanker65]

[QUOTE=Pranav;75500]Yep, if I slot the lowers any further there won't be anything left to bolt on, bizzare, I don't get it. Some things I will never figure out, I guess this car was meant for circle track.

Sounds like the upper mount is out of whack. I asked my body guy in Dallas, but he didn't have a recommendation for a Houston area frame shop. The new frame machines are pretty amazing. You probably need to have it put on the frame machine and have it tweaked. Being a race car, the frame shop won't have much liability exposure so you might ask if they can adjust both sides to give you the camber adjustment range you need. Set it up the same as Alamo Mike and if you go slower than you did before, you will know it is the driver :-)

[RichardP]

The Silver Camaro didn't have enough negative camber on either side after we slotted the lower mounts and moved the upper arm mounts as much as we could. We tweaked the uprights in the 20 ton press...


Richard P.

[Fbody383]

That settles it... Orange must just have "race adjusted" uprights.

[Pranav]

The Silver Camaro didn't have enough negative camber on either side after we slotted the lower mounts and moved the upper arm mounts as much as we could. We tweaked the uprights in the 20 ton press...


Richard P.

I did that on my first car, a Honda.

If you guys want, Sean Richardson has my passenger spindle that I bent at the last race, it is good for -4* at least.


Yep, if I slot the lowers any further there won't be anything left to bolt on, bizzare, I don't get it. Some things I will never figure out, I guess this car was meant for circle track.

Sounds like the upper mount is out of whack. I asked my body guy in Dallas, but he didn't have a recommendation for a Houston area frame shop. The new frame machines are pretty amazing. You probably need to have it put on the frame machine and have it tweaked. Being a race car, the frame shop won't have much liability exposure so you might ask if they can adjust both sides to give you the camber adjustment range you need. Set it up the same as Alamo Mike and if you go slower than you did before, you will know it is the driver :-)

Dennis, you may have missed my previous post in this thread, the car spent a week on the frame rack. They found that the shock towers are already in all the way and past the spec. The correct action would've been to pull them out to meet spec, which would make the camber situation worse. It really does seem like something is out of whack with the upper mount, but if I pull it in any further it will collide with the master cylinder.

I also realized that long before last year's shunt, I had it on an alignment rack and it read -3.3 pass, -2.3 driver's with both LCA's maxed out, just a slightly different ride height, so the car has been off center since the start.

For now I'm satisfied with slotting the UCA pivot point. If a future shunt causes me to lose more camber, I have a good handle on what would be bent...

[RichardP]

That settles it... Orange must just have "race adjusted" uprights.

The lower control arm mounts on the other car have been cracked multiple times. It realistically gets a little bit wider every time we weld up the gap.

Proctor's old car had plenty of negative camber when we first checked it. It wasn't even adjusted all the way out. Found a huge crack/gap in the mounts that had to be welded up...


Richard P.

[dtanker65]

Beats me Pranav. I would try to find a chassis reference diagram, level the uni-body on jacks and measure the reference points, something is out. I have a laser level if you need it.

[Supercharged111]

That settles it... Orange must just have "race adjusted" uprights.

I'm nearly over-adjusted now. I can barely take the camber out of the right side. Car drives straight and feels good though. If it gets any worse, I'll be hogging out the UCAs for positive camber. My issue last year post-Hallett with the car having a slight pull turned out being cross-KPA, i.e. a bent knuckle/knuckles since they didn't match when I bought the car anyway. Some day I'll hit a frame rack to see where the car's at, but I usually prioritize things like brakes and self-contained power steering racks over such luxuries vs. missing a race to have a straight car only to get it tweaked again. Mine's been on the track since 2004, so I kinda cringe at the stuff they're gonna find.

[marshall_mosty]

I have a frame diagram "book" that I bought for 4th gen Camaros. I can bring it to MSR-H.. You can have it.

[Pranav]

Thanks! I won't be there but I'll have Daniel or someone grab it.

[Pranav]

So last summer when the frame shop was no help I just slotted the driver's shock tower holes and was good to go.

Since then I did the LS swap and changed subframes, thought I had the front end set for 2.4* drivers 2.6* passengers.

Last night I did a full spring/shock change and raised the ride height a tiny bit then used my new laser level to set up a level pad in the garage using tiles and 2x4s. New reading is 2.4* driver and 3.8* passenger. The wheels "look" the same from before, and I think my post swap reading was suspect, but will try to recheck this weekend with someone else's camber gauge.
3.8* is a lot and pretty much impossible on a 4th gen, and the driver's 2.4* doesn't really "look" like 2.4.

The subframe on 4th gens is bolted into floating captured nuts, so there is a ton of room for it to move side to side and a little front/back when loose.

If I feel like the passenger wheel is burning up the inside, I may use use the porta power to slide the subframe over to the driver's side to try even out the camber. The passenger wheel looks like it is set back a little which would give it less caster and more camber as well so maybe the subframe needs to come forward a little on that side as well.

[dtanker65]

I can bring my digital level, toeplates and camber tool. 3.8 I think would be visible

[Supercharged111]

3.8* is a lot and pretty much impossible on a 4th gen, and the driver's 2.4* doesn't really "look" like 2.4.


3.8? Randy has 6, time to step up your game.

[rleng1]

3.8? Randy has 6, time to step up your game.

Wouldn't you know it, I got my 6 from Pranav. Car handles great.

[Pranav]

Lol, the wheel that has 3.8 is the one that hit Randy I think. We both gained :(

Randy I saw that you race a while back, did you finally get it to the frame shop?

[Supercharged111]

He's still dragging his feet. I keep pestering him about it but he seems to love that camber.

[Al Fernandez]

Its only one deal off.