installing front camber arms. how to?


scotty89

New Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2009
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133
hi all, ive just recently lowered my car on bc coilovers (pics will be up soon) so of course my cambers are out, so ive ordered front and rear buddy club camber arms, they arrived today and are ready to be installed. the rears look fairly straight forward to install but am unsure on the fronts, can anyone help me out on installation of the front arms? i have searched the suspension area but cant see no thread showing how to fit these>

cheers guys
 
I went with a Skunk2 front camber kit (which I got new for $175). The kit is very simple. It comes with two adjustable upper arms. The install is simple enough but Skunk2 does not provide any instructions, so I figured now would be the time to write up a how-to article.
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Here we go:

The Skunk2 camber kit
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You'll need these tools

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First, jack up the car and take the wheel off. I started on the driver's side (left) first.

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Look at the tread... ouch

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A couple pics of the OEM upper arm.

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Now open the hood and locate the two 14mm flange bolt (by the red arrows)

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you might have to move the hose a bit to fit the tool in there to take the flange bolt off.

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Loosen them up with the 14mm socket.

Next, remove the cotter pin, then loosen and remove the castle nut beneath the ball joint boot on the upper arm. This is indicated by the blue arrow on the close-up pic above.

This is where I ran into a little trouble. After removing the castle nut and the two flange bolts, I couldn't get the old upper arm off. I got kind of frustrated and hacked the ball joint boot to pieces and hammered it out from beneath. It worked but it was a bit messy.

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Then take the old upper arm off and replace it with the skunk2 unit. Each arm is stamped with either and R for Right or L for Left. I don't think it really matters, but remember to put the L on the driver's side and R on the passenger's. If your car is a right hand drive, L on the passenger side and R on the drivers side :)

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Here is what it looks like after putting the skunk2 unit on and tightening the bolts (the flange bolts should be tightened to 40 lbf.ft according to the service manual)

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Put the wheel back on after checking the bolts and you're done for that side!
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The other side was a lot easier. Now that I knew how to do it it was a breeze and I didn't even have to destroy the old ball joint boot. One thing is you'll have to take out the battery when working on the passenger's side (driver side if your car is a right hand drive).

Here are where the passenger (drivers if RHD) side flange bolts are

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This whole install shouldn't take you more than an hour and a half.

Hope this helps... sticky.
 

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brilliant, cheers rvm. will be using this info tomorrow to fit mine. il let u all know how i get on.

cheers again
 
what would you recomend setting them to in relation to the sliding part? and would you set this before you put the skunk2 arm in place? good guide dude btw, this will help me a lot.
 
You need to have them properly set up, where they are set on the sliding part relates to the camber setting......

They can be adjusted easily once in place with a 4mm allen key (some kits may use other sizes of bolts, commonly 4mm though)

Couple of tips.....

-Copper slip the camber adjustment bolts, as I mentioned most use a 4mm allen head which can round easy, copper slipping the bolts should allow you to turn them easier and prevent rounding of the heads

-The front upper arms are offset slightly, when fitting fit the OS arm to the NS and the NS arm to the OS (opposite of what you should do). Doing this utilises the offset in the arms and gives you a touch more positive castor and improves turn in. This trick works best on EG/DC2 arms as they have more offset to them..........
 
afaik swapping arms to gain caster is only something the eg/dc did, on the ek's the arms were symmetrical so swapping arms didn't do anything unfortunately

you can however run the spc caster/camber arms, using some now in my ek and they're great :)
 
i need front an rear camber adjusters where best to get them from for good price?

will be puttin this thread into practise thanks guys
 
afaik swapping arms to gain caster is only something the eg/dc did, on the ek's the arms were symmetrical so swapping arms didn't do anything unfortunately

you can however run the spc caster/camber arms, using some now in my ek and they're great :)

Incorrect

ek arms ARE offset, although just not quite as much as the eg/dc2 ones
 
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