I was warned off the camber plates by Aero Racing.......they were not happy fitting them unless I allowed them to heat treat the upper kingpin mounting to avoid potential stress in that area. The cost .....a number of hours...put me off!
That's interesting Jays, and I'm curious as to why they say this, not least because as I've posted previously my car has had negative camber plates (approx. 1/2 degree neg) fitted by RPM, Perth on behalf of the previous owner.
I can see that that if the kingpin is slightly pushed outwards by the bottom mounting plate (i.e. negative camber) then there is some angular load induced on the top pick up point. But the top pickup is a fairly robust assembly comprising the solid cross tube and a preformed collar and flange unit that is welded to the cross tube. It must e reasonable to assume that this a durable assembly as it carries most of the front suspension compression load. It must also be reasonable to assume that, as it is quite a crude assembly tolerances wise, not all front suspension assemblies deliver perfect front suspension geometry "out of the box". So, some camber and castor adjustment will either be required at assembly, or there will have to be an acceptance that the camber and castor set up is "near enough" for the relatively crude sliding axle front suspension.
I had heard that some front suspension final alignment is done using "heat treatment" during assembly at MMC (which suggested to me that if this is indeed so, they bend the cross tubes to get the kingpins aligned). Perhaps that is why they have moved to the new adjustable camber plates, in order to reduce build time and manufacturing costs? If this is so, then it suggests that any minor angular loadings this imparts to the top pickup points is acceptable... hopefully.
Would appreciate your thoughts, particularly if you get the chance to discuss it at a factory visit (you're much nearer than I am up North)
MZ
