Our 1972 914 1.7L has almost 2 deg. of negative camber on both rear wheels. We want to reduce the camber to less than 1 degree. There appears to be one thick shim (or spacer) on each side (estimate about 1/4" thick). I do not know if these are original or not. I have not taken it loose yet.

Question is, what is supposed to be there, shim(s) or shim(s) plus a fixed thickness spacer that all cars came with? To get the desired factory -1/2 deg. negative camber were the cars delivered with a fixed spacer and then a series of shim(s) added to get the desired camber, or was the space totally filled with shim(s) of various thicknesses to get the camber? Could a car have been delivered with no shims, or was there always at least one (thick?) shim/spacer? In my case it it possible that shims have been removed by a PO and what is left is the spacer, or what is there is a shim and I have another problem? I understand it is possible our springs are weak which could cause the excessive camber.

What have other owners found when they went to adjust their camber?

Thanks,
jjs3rd914

Start with new springs.
DOnt bother with the camber unless you have new springs.
Rich

-2 with 1/4" shim does not sound right.

i had a similar setup on my car and it turned out my trailingarms were bend!

with straight arms i got around -2 deg. of camber *without* any shims. you add shims to reduce negative camber. too many shims requires longer bolts for the mounts ...
Andy

sagging springs won't help much ...

We do have adjustable spring collars, but I understand that that will effect only the ride heigth and will not adjust the camber to any extent. If that is true then I may need new springs.

Thanks,
jjs3rd914

Now you are not being totally up front.

What is the current setup on the car.
Dont play.

Adjustable perches are not stock.
Do you have a rear sway bar?
Are the trailing arms modified from stock?
Rubber bushings or bearings?

If you have adjustable perches, somebody may have changed alot more.
The camber on the rear is a dynamic setting.
The lower you have the spring perch, the more negative camber you have.
So, while the wheel is traveling up and down, it swings through a camber curve.

If you look up (using search) trailing arm modification, you will find a few pretty good charts describing this.
Rich

To add to the information already posted, Per Automobile Atlanta Dr. 914's book "700 Tech Tips", there are three different sizes shims to adjust 914 rear camber- 2,3, and 4 m. Each millimeter reduces the negative camber by 10 minutes. So, 2 mm = 20 minutes, 3 mm = 30 minutes etc. 60 minutes = 1 degree. This is good info for spacer changes needed, once you know what you have. He also mentions the need to have good springs as well as the fact that twisted swing arms can give you increased negative camber. In addition to the outstanding support available from this web site, the tech tip book is a pretty good resource to have for a lot of the things on a 914, for a pretty good price.

We installed the adjustable spring perches. Used the Coleman racing collar setup on new stock Boge shocks. We had the same 2 deg of negative camber with the new shocks before the mod, then did the mod. We initially adjusted the spring length exactly the same as it was before the adjustable collars were added and have changed the length very little.

We do have a factory rear sway bar. We do not know if the rubber bushings are original but believe so. We have never had the trailing arms off so cannot really determine thier condition (bent or not)?

Thanks,
jjs3rd914

yes, but did you lower the car a little bit from standard ride height?

Did you know that I have been searching for "stock" rear ride height for a long long time and NEVER have seen anything stating what the rear ride height is supposed to be?

The front is published in many places, but not the rear.

Please let me know what the "factory" rear ride height is and where it is measured to.

I typically measure my cars to the bottom of the donuts on all 4 corners and make the car have about 1/4"-1/2" higher in the rear.


I try to keep the rear axle shafts level.

And that is the correct way to determine the rear ride height.
Set the front, bounce and roll the car, even drive it a bit..it will settle.
Once you have confirmed it after you drive and bounce and reset it..
Then you measure and set the rear 1/4 in higher. Done.

To the original poster.
Take a pic of your car and post it.
Lets see where it sits right now.
You may have an issue.

Rich

Well after looking through my lil book...the only reference I found to ride height is here......

Click to view attachment

I wonder if these SOLID TRAILING ARM BRACKETS could help matters at all?

http://www.tangerineracing.com/suspension....20Arm%20Bracket

Apparently they "simplify" alignment.

uhmmm, you really think his trailing arm mounts "flex" while the car is sitting in the garage ???
Andy

Uh, noooooo.....They may help in simplifying the alignment process when he is re-assembling his suspension.... Sean