Fellow Small Chassis Owners,
In the past some of you have asked about the camber compensator I
installed on my '61 Herald. It's a small modification used to limit the
vertical travel on swing axle cars. The post below illustrates why I
have one of these on my car, and why you might consider doing the same.
The car in question here belongs to a friend of mine. It was a cherry
'67 Herald convertible, and before the vultures descend he has every
intention of repairing it. Here's part of the e-mail he sent me.
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I wrecked the car today. Rolled it actually. In case your interested,
I'm
okay.
I truly didn't get hurt. I have a bump on the leg from where it hit the
inside door handle. I have a couple of scratches on my hands, (when I
went over I put my hands up to protect myself.) and my neck is stiff
tonight. I'm told it will be worse tommorrow.
FYI, I came off of an offramp, (Coleman off S. 880, for the locals
reading this) it is a tight turn and I was probably going too fast.
Although I really don't know how fast. As I came out of the turn, the
back wheels hit some gravel, and the tires slipped. The car went
sideways, then started to go over. When I realized it was going over, I
tucked over to the passengers side and over I went. Although I used the
word "over" about 10 times is the last sentence, the fact of the matter
is I only went over once. Once too many times if you ask me.
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That's it. It happens really really fast, and there's nothing you can do
about it once it starts. This can happen in any swing axle car (just ask
any VW mechanic). Below is a description of the unit I made for my car.
Cheap insurance if you ask me. I have to credit Rocky Entriken, "Sports
Car" Columnist and Spitfire racer with the original concept here, or at
least the instructions I followed. Thanks!!!
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Here it is, I assume no responsibility for your actions etc... But, I
highly recomend this modification for anyone who's rear spring is not
already so worn that they have ~5 deg. negative camber.
I'll try to describe it as it's pretty
simple.
1. Remove the large bolts that hold the upper shock absorber.
2. Drill & tap the ends of these to accept a 1/4 or 5/16 bolt with a
shoulder. Replace the shock mount bolts.
3. Buy 2 pulleys that have a spindle the same size as your bolts.
4. Remove the spindle from the pulleys and fit the pulley/bolt
combination so it's flush with end of the shock mount bolt.
5. Get some steel aircraft cable, and hardware to put loops in the end,
make sure it's pretty strong ie. 1/8' or better. If you want an
adjustable setup you can use a turnbuckle in the middle of it.
6. Put the car on stands, resting on the axles. Weight it down with
something (I used one of my heavier friends).
7. Run the cable through the pulleys, behind the spring.
8. Attach the ends of the cable to the bottom of the shock mount by
making a loop in the cable and putting it on the stud behind the shock.
This should do it. The top shock mount bolts are really monster in size
so there's no problem in drilling them to mount the pulleys. Of course
you want to make sure whatever hardware you use is up to the task. I
used 5/16" grade 8 bolts, 1/8" stainless aircraft cable, and pulleys
rated to 490 lbs. but use your own judgement. If this doesn't seem right
e-mail me privately and I'll try to explain
it better.
Saftey monitor mode of, we now return you to your regular programming.
Cheers,
John Matthews
'61 racin' Herald
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