My car was in an accident before I owned it, and the front right shock tower was displaced forward and outward (from the center of the car). I have 1.4 degrees of caster on that corner, and 4.2 degrees on the other. The car pulls pretty bad, as expected, especially under braking.

I took it to a frame repair place that deals with unibodies, and they said that if the car is 'pulled', it will definitely rip the chassis. They recommended I instead "get the shock hole enlarged and move it back" to get the caster back. They gave me the name/number of a place right down the street, and they said they basically make a slot to slide the shock back, then fill the void in with a bushing.

Now this is obviously relocating the stock suspension points. Rule 7.8.k says: "Cars may add stayrod(s) between the shock towers and/or lower suspension mounting points. Note: All suspension parts must retain their original attachment points at the chassis, and the suspension must maintain its original design and function."

My intent is just to get stock caster settings back, not take advantage of it. I intend to race at Nationals, and if there, and I do well, could this be used to protest and DQ me?

I have not put the roll cage in the car yet, and want to know what the fate of the chassis is. My roll cage appointment is Thursday, hopefully we can come up with a judgement by then...

 

how is moving the shock going to change caster?

Are you sure that none suspension bits and parts are broken?

4.2 caster is A LOT to have unless you have done something to the UCA.

 

Yeah, nothing is broken. In fact, almost everything in the suspension has been replaced since the first time I discovered this 2 years ago.

I think he meant that he was going to move the UCA mount points, but same issue...relocating suspension pickup points

 

moving the shock will do ZERO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
to do ANY caster adjustments, you have to move the knuckle. in order to do that you have to either move the uca which ever way it needs to go to fix the problem -or- move where the knuckle picks up the uca. one way is to cut out and weld in a new shock tower (or an entire front clip) since thee arent many parts for that chassis to adjust caster. a shop that does racecar chassis repairs should be able to fix it. pull it, clip it or whatever needs doing. and all of that would be legal since its accident repair.

 

Can you shim the radius rod or run a traction bar?

 

yup but it seams the ammount he needs might start to bund the lca bushings

 

I tried that, and the radius rod wouldn't come forward, it ended up stripping the nut. And traction bars are illegal for HC, not that it would fix it.

 

It would be the upper control arms you would be relocating, not the shock.

 

If you are looking to add additional caster with the car by moving the UCA, take a look at PCI (ProCar-Innovations) Bronze offset bushing kit packaged up with Hard Race arms. They will keep the UCA in the same mounting position while utilizing an offset bronze bushing to move the control arm.

Feel free to PM me for details if you are interested.

-Charles

 

In his second post he stats that he would need to move the UCA not the strut.

He isn't trying to increase caster, his car is bent and he is trying to get the alignment the same on each corner of the car.

The frame guy says the car will "rip" if they pull it. So he suggest moving the UCA mounting points.

His question is, would it be legal to move the mounting points to fix crash damage.

The answer is NO.

I'd say have them at least try and pull it out. Maybe they can fix it partially so it isn't as far off corner to corner as it is now.


IMO i would find a straight(er), relatively rust free, decent condition, CRX and swap everything over to the new chassis.

 

Hatch correct me if i am wrong but if the frame does rip a bit he can have it seam wielded and still be with in the rules. i believe that is way the seam wielding rule was added this year.

 

Sure he could repair it like that.

But from some of the incidences/repairs i have seen sometimes that rip could go unnoticed and or just be in a PITA spot to get to. Not to mention it could be on the 2nd or 3rd layer of sheet metal and the top layer is fine...

 

I would get a second opinion at another frame shop. My car has seen a few walls and it gets faster every time I fix it.