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UCA shims

Fst Blk

Well-Known Member
I need to buy new UCA shock tower bolts after adding bracing from Steve. I've got my measurement and really didn't want alot of excess bolt sticking out of into the engine bay, plus I wanted to put nylon lock nuts on them. So, I have roller UCA's, spherical LCA's with screw in ball joints and camber (?) kit from John, roller perches, and roller/adjustable strut rods. With all that will I still need to shim the UCA's? I don't want to not have enough bolt for this.

Bill
 
ORP "camber kit" is your adjustment on the LCA. 67's don't use UCA shims. I am using those on my 67. I don't have all the other mods you have but I don't think you will need shims
 
ORP "camber kit" is your adjustment on the LCA. 67's don't use UCA shims. I am using those on my 67. I don't have all the other mods you have but I don't think you will need shims

My car had shims on it when I took it apart I think... so long ago lol.

School me on this. Adjusting camber is done at the LCA with the kit I bought? Caster??? Toe end??? You would think I would know this, but I don't lol.

Bill
 
My car had shims on it when I took it apart I think... so long ago lol.

School me on this. Adjusting camber is done at the LCA with the kit I bought? Caster??? Toe end??? You would think I would know this, but I don't lol.

Bill
65/66's used UCA shims but after that camber was done with the LCA eccentric bolt. The camber kit eliminates the eccebtric bolt (which can move under hard loads). The camber kit has a series of different offset washers. You use those to get the camber set and they will not move on you.
Caster is controlled by the strut rods. They move the LCA forward or backward to set caster by tilting the spindle. Toe is set with the tie rod adjuster that connects the inner and outer tie rods. It's kind of like a turn buckle so to speak. It will lengthen or shorten the tie rods to change the toe
 
That is along the lines I was thinking, but didn't want to sound stupid. How was the strut rods moved on the stock setup?

Bill
 
That is along the lines I was thinking, but didn't want to sound stupid. How was the strut rods moved on the stock setup?

Bill
there are no stupid qustions!
The nuts that sandwitch the rubber are used to change the length/adjust the caster.
 
I know the question was answered but thought I might share for anyone looking for this info in reference to a 65/66. I have a 66 with the same setup.

65/66 strut rods were not adjustable from the factory. To adjust caster you can baseline set it by pulling the studs out of the UCA shaft and spinning it, which will adjust it forward/rearward. This also can affect the wheelbase side to side. Then, staggering the shims per stud on 1 UCA will adjust the upper ball joint forward/rearward for fine tuning the caster.

I went a little further and changed the upper balljoint angle and went 1.75" on my Shelby drop. I have the LCA in the inner-most setting for the camber kit and had to shim my UCAs (minimum 5/8" per stud) because I had way too much negative camber (-6 without any shims). I had to space the UCA out so far that I ended up running longer grade 8 bolts and shimmed with washers. Originally thought to use nylon lock nuts too but was so close to the headers I figured the nylon would melt. Swapping the knurled studs for bolts meant I had to hold a wrench on bolt sides of the fender apron.
 
In my 67 fastback , I did put a shim between the shocktower and front UCA bolt.
That way ,I can achieve a 3 degree caster and still have the correct wheelbase.
IOW the front wheel still sits nice/centered in the wheelopening so there is no tirerub when turning.
A camber kit is a must the way I see it.Expeccially when you to cross alot of speedbumps like overhere.
MHO.
 
Hey guys, sorry I'm late to the party. I don't have much to add other than that we often use shims on the 67-73 cars to add caster by putting them under the front bolt of the UCA. Sometimes, we'll swap in a longer 65-66 UCA bolt if the 67-73 bolt is too short.

Moving the upper ball joint back to add caster is better than moving the lower one forward in my opinion.
 
I used shims in combination with the adj strut rods to set my caster. Just as John mentioned above!
 
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