Camber adjustment 300zx

[TomL]

Greg -

At the risk of me possibly misunderstanding what you said in describing RX7 struts -

The ball joint on the 1st gen RX7 is bolted to the steering arm, not the strut directly. The steering arm is then bolted to the strut, which includes the stub axle and attached hub, strut tube, etc. This arrangement is used on (I think) all RWD Nissan/Datsuns until the 240SX (510s, Zs and ZXs thru '89, 200SX for sure). Plus 1st Gen RX7s and I'm sure several others.

Unlike a strut which bolts directly to the ball joint, adjusting the roll center on the RX7 through adding a spacer at the bottom of the standard strut is very simple. The one piece strut I have (on a 1974 Capri) is a much trickier thing to modify, because the ball joint hole is part of the stub axle forging. I've never been brave enough to try welding an extension to that part and, fortunately, it isn't much needed on the Capri.

[Greg Amy]

The ball joint on the 1st gen RX7 is bolted to the steering arm, not the strut directly....

Ugh.

OK, Tom, then let's go at this generically. Struts are free. As such, anything that is part of the strut - not bolted to it, but physically welded to the strut, such as a steering arm or a ball joint mounting location - is also free. If the steering arm is part of the strut, it can be relocated (and, thus, bump steer can be adjusted). If the ball joint mounting location is part of the strit, it can be relocated (and, thus, roll center can be adjusted).

If, however, The steering arm and/or the ball joint mounting location is NOT part of the strut, then you CANNOT relocate their position, neither via modifications or via spacers.

Said really generically: struts are free. Have at it.

How's that?

GA, done (I hope)....

[TomL]

All I said was that, on the RX7, the ball joint doesn't attach to the strut as you stated earlier. See Jeff Young's attachment in #28 for a picture. Now I'm not sure if you think I can legally use the spacers for roll center correction or not. (BTW, I can.) But you're right -it's pointless to continue this conversation. I'm out, too.