I have a set of Vorshlag adjustable caster/camber plates that I need to have installed on my 2016 GT350. I’m in central Indiana. Anyone here know of a shop in the Indy area that has experience with S550 suspension work? I reached out to Fathouse Fabrications, but they haven’t installed caster/camber plates on an S550 before. I’d prefer that my car not be a shop’s guinea pig if I can help it. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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Camber plate install near Indianapolis?
- Thread starterTHX 138
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Brenspeed is about 2 hours away in Pierceton, IN
http://www.brenspeed.com
http://www.brenspeed.com
Whoever you end up using, share the install gallery with them just to make things easier.
https://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Instructions/Camber-Plate-Install-Mustang/
https://vorshlag.smugmug.com/Instructions/Camber-Plate-Install-Mustang/
- Thread starter
- #4
- Thread starter
- #5
After talking to another GT350 owner who did this install himself, and reviewing a couple other installation videos, I think I may actually tackle this installation on my own. Can anyone who has a Ford GT350 shop manual give me the actual torque specs for the lower strut nuts (#3 in the diagram below)?
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JDee
Ancient Racer
After talking to another GT350 owner who did this install himself, and reviewing a couple other installation videos, I think I may actually tackle this installation on my own. Can anyone who has a Ford GT350 shop manual give me the actual torque specs for the lower strut nuts (#3 in the diagram below)?
184 lb/ft for GT.
Wow. That's just shy of tightening them until they get lose again...
JDee
Ancient Racer
Torque to yield I believe it's called? Single use bolts. Most, if not all, of the suspension and brake fasteners are that way. I don't pretend to understand the concept, it's new to me, but I'm sure there's a reason behind it beyond selling lots of fasteners to motorsports enthusiasts? Not a fan but it is what it is.
Still dont understand how it can be possible measure 80lbs ft when u put back the caliper..
And 184 is beyond any tourque wrench i found.. (Max 160)
So you suggest to replace the strut bolts fpr camber plate installation. I'll try to order them in Ford
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And 184 is beyond any tourque wrench i found.. (Max 160)
So you suggest to replace the strut bolts fpr camber plate installation. I'll try to order them in Ford
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JDee
Ancient Racer
I think I did it by turning the hub so that the back was pointing out which gave more room for the wrench. I have 3 different torque wrenches, the biggest one has a healthy long handle and goes up to 200 or so as I recall. I have developed a relationship with an online Ford dealer that sells and ships this stuff for a more reasonable price than the local stealer and now I am a stocking user of Ford nuts and bolts. I also bought the nut/bolt kit for the FR3 suspension package, which is a healthy pile of nuts and bolts with a $130 (Cdn) price tag, so I am a total convert to torque to yield, I guess. 
I have a torque wrench up to 150 but it cant fit to tight up the calipers..I think I did it by turning the hub so that the back was pointing out which gave more room for the wrench. I have 3 different torque wrenches, the biggest one has a healthy long handle and goes up to 200 or so as I recall. I have developed a relationship with an online Ford dealer that sells and ships this stuff for a more reasonable price than the local stealer and now I am a stocking user of Ford nuts and bolts. I also bought the nut/bolt kit for the FR3 suspension package, which is a healthy pile of nuts and bolts with a $130 (Cdn) price tag, so I am a total convert to torque to yield, I guess.
I'll buy nuts and bolts too
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Most high quality 1/2" inch drive torque wrenches go to 250. Here is a Craftsman on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Craftsman-Di...176&sr=8-18&keywords=torque+wrench+250+ft+lbs
https://www.amazon.com/Craftsman-Di...176&sr=8-18&keywords=torque+wrench+250+ft+lbs
- Thread starter
- #15
Was anyone able to find a decent case for that Craftsman torque wrench? It came in a "case" that is barely better than a blister pack
Update.
I did for the first time a camber plate installation.
From a technical point of view once you know that is tilted on the stock strut then you good to go.
You need the right instruments (including spring compressor possible not a screw one)
I'm putting down a word file with torque spec, socket sizes and steps.
It took me 19mins( i have a video)
to remove the front strut on the second camber plate. Then I play about 1 hr on the camber plate thinking that tilt was wrong.
Wrong.
Talked to vorshlag and Jason(one of their engineer) said it is normal and will flat under loading.
Learning curve is fast.
Very good experience.
Fly
Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk
I did for the first time a camber plate installation.
From a technical point of view once you know that is tilted on the stock strut then you good to go.
You need the right instruments (including spring compressor possible not a screw one)
I'm putting down a word file with torque spec, socket sizes and steps.
It took me 19mins( i have a video)
to remove the front strut on the second camber plate. Then I play about 1 hr on the camber plate thinking that tilt was wrong.
Wrong.
Talked to vorshlag and Jason(one of their engineer) said it is normal and will flat under loading.
Learning curve is fast.
Very good experience.
Fly
Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk
- Thread starter
- #18
I’ll add my update here as well. I attempted the camber plate install today, using an electric impact wrench, assorted impact sockets, a sledgehammer (!!), and a spring compressor from Harbor Freight. The passenger side went smoothly, but that’s only because I made my mistake on the driver’s side first.
Once the new camber plate is installed on the strut assembly, you lift the assembly into place and insert the three upper strut bolts through the corresponding holes, and place the washers and nylock nuts onto them to hold the strut assembly in place. Then you tighten the three nylock nuts to 33 ft.-lbs. The three upper strut bolts are tack-welded to a flat ring on the camber plate assembly below, so they won’t move.
Unfortunately, I was following the Vorshlag instruction page and mistakenly thought it showed them tightening the upper strut nuts with an impact wrench before making the final torque setting. So I did the same. But only halfway down the upper strut bolt, one of the nylock nuts started spinning the bolt freely. The tack weld had broken. Evidently the tack weld could not hold up to the vibrations of the impact wrench.
Fun fact: Although the tack-welded (or not...) upper strut bolts have an Allen wrench fitting, it is impossible to fit an Allen wrench into that hole with the camber plate installed on the strut. After about 30 minutes trying to figure out how I was going to loosen the nylock nut from the bolt with the bolt spinning freely, I finally took a Dremel with a metal cutting disc and made a slot in the top of the bolt so I could hold the bolt steady with a flat-blade screwdriver while I used an open-end wrench to take the nut off. That worked, and I was able to remove the strut assembly from the car.
I’m going to call Vorshlag in the morning and ask them to send me another ring with the three tack-welded bolts on it. Worst-case scenario is that they make me pay $30 for it. (They sell it as a separate assembly for dumb people like me.)
At any rate, as I said, the passenger-side assembly went on with relative ease, since I VERY CAREFULLY used only a socket wrench and a torque wrench to tighten the nylock nuts onto the upper strut bolts on that side.
TL;DR: Don’t use an impact wrench AT ALL when installing the nylock nuts onto the upper strut bolts. Use only hand tools for that part of the installation.
Once the new camber plate is installed on the strut assembly, you lift the assembly into place and insert the three upper strut bolts through the corresponding holes, and place the washers and nylock nuts onto them to hold the strut assembly in place. Then you tighten the three nylock nuts to 33 ft.-lbs. The three upper strut bolts are tack-welded to a flat ring on the camber plate assembly below, so they won’t move.
Unfortunately, I was following the Vorshlag instruction page and mistakenly thought it showed them tightening the upper strut nuts with an impact wrench before making the final torque setting. So I did the same. But only halfway down the upper strut bolt, one of the nylock nuts started spinning the bolt freely. The tack weld had broken.
Evidently the tack weld could not hold up to the vibrations of the impact wrench.Fun fact: Although the tack-welded (or not...) upper strut bolts have an Allen wrench fitting, it is impossible to fit an Allen wrench into that hole with the camber plate installed on the strut. After about 30 minutes trying to figure out how I was going to loosen the nylock nut from the bolt with the bolt spinning freely, I finally took a Dremel with a metal cutting disc and made a slot in the top of the bolt so I could hold the bolt steady with a flat-blade screwdriver while I used an open-end wrench to take the nut off. That worked, and I was able to remove the strut assembly from the car.
I’m going to call Vorshlag in the morning and ask them to send me another ring with the three tack-welded bolts on it. Worst-case scenario is that they make me pay $30 for it. (They sell it as a separate assembly for dumb people like me.)
At any rate, as I said, the passenger-side assembly went on with relative ease, since I VERY CAREFULLY used only a socket wrench and a torque wrench to tighten the nylock nuts onto the upper strut bolts on that side.
TL;DR: Don’t use an impact wrench AT ALL when installing the nylock nuts onto the upper strut bolts. Use only hand tools for that part of the installation.
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Are you talking about this picture in their instruction gallery?
If so, then what you see above is not an impact wrench (aka impact gun), it is an impact driver. An impact wrench is orders of magnitude more powerful than an impact driver.
An impact driver uses a hex bit to drive a socket. The socket shown is not even an impact socket. It's a regular chrome socket.
I was also confused by your calling the three camber plate bolts "upper strut bolts." There is only one upper strut bolt (actually strut shaft) and that is the one in the middle. The nut that goes on that is the only one upon which you should use an impact wrench.
If so, then what you see above is not an impact wrench (aka impact gun), it is an impact driver. An impact wrench is orders of magnitude more powerful than an impact driver.
An impact driver uses a hex bit to drive a socket. The socket shown is not even an impact socket. It's a regular chrome socket.
I was also confused by your calling the three camber plate bolts "upper strut bolts." There is only one upper strut bolt (actually strut shaft) and that is the one in the middle. The nut that goes on that is the only one upon which you should use an impact wrench.
- Thread starter
- #20
Learn something new every day. I didn't even know there was a difference between an impact wrench and an impact driver. Thanks for the clarification.
Sorry for incorrectly calling the three upright bolts coming out of the camber plate assembly "upper strut bolts." It was nearly two in the morning when I posted, and I didn't have the energy to go look up what they are actually called. I figured from the context, everyone would know what I meant. I apologize for any confusion. As always, I'm only on this board to share information and try to help others in similar situations, as well as learning what I can from the others here.
Sorry for incorrectly calling the three upright bolts coming out of the camber plate assembly "upper strut bolts." It was nearly two in the morning when I posted, and I didn't have the energy to go look up what they are actually called. I figured from the context, everyone would know what I meant. I apologize for any confusion. As always, I'm only on this board to share information and try to help others in similar situations, as well as learning what I can from the others here.
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