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Strut tower cut-off for camber adjustment

EVILAUDI

Ready to race!
Location
Madison, WI
^ Thank you Cliff. That is fantastic news. Did you find you had to space your plate down from the shock tower to get to maximum camber? On my platform I'm encountering some plate interference prior to reaching full negative camber.

Are you not using the horseshoe over the top?
 

NopeR

Autocross Champion
Car(s)
18 Golf R
Stock DCC struts with 034 camber plates. I was tired of having to drop the strut to tighten the nut. Bear in mind my buddy with GC plates even after cutting literally the entire top off made no camber improvements due to how the plates were designed.

... And now I'm rethinking installing those mounts.
 

Cliff

Drag Racing Champion
Location
San Francisco Bay Area
Car(s)
2015 Cayman GTS
Cliff did how did they enlarge the opening? That's exactly what I need to do with mine, but I'm worried a cutoff wheel will be too hot and bubble/burn nearby paint, and there doesn't seem to be an easy way to line up a huge holesaw lol.

I have no idea what tool they used. Given how perfectly circular the hole is, I imagine they used some sort of rotary cutting bit.
 

EVILAUDI

Ready to race!
Location
Madison, WI
I have no idea what tool they used. Given how perfectly circular the hole is, I imagine they used some sort of rotary cutting bit.
.

Most people use a conduit knock out. The come in various sizes but the 2” should do the trick. This vid shows how it works:
 

Crild

Drag Race Newbie
Location
Florida
I know the camber plates fit fine as I have been test fitting. The catch is that the GC plates recover about an inch of travel moving the shock up and higher in the shock tower. That threaded portion of my shock shaft is protruding from the top nut of the camber plate. That will require me to open up the shock tower. I'm curious if any of you have experienced any side effects from opening it up. As for noise, I really didn't notice much (5%) with the Vorshlag plates and they were metal on metal as well. I don't expect to have any additional NVH with the GC.

Here is an example of what is required when running coilovers that protrude the opening. This is an RS3 shock tower that was punched out using a conduit punch.


I know I could space the shock down but that eats up precious bump travel.


The reason I'm asking about strength is because a fellow TTRS driver hooked the backside of a track corner curb and that caused his suspension to push his 034 camber plates up into the tower hard enough to damage them. I have to wonder if those domes provide any rigidity or strength and how this impact would have been different if the towers were modded. If you look closely at the second pic, the shock was enough to cause paint to flake off the dome!



The tops of the towers are in no way shape or form structural. You can trim them as needed to accommodate.

Do to professionally and paint it up to keep it oem looking. Someone could say your car is messed up due to cutting the frame if/when you try to sell it. Just a fyi
 

EVILAUDI

Ready to race!
Location
Madison, WI
My plan B will likely be a Nibbler tool. I don't own one but I bet home depot will rent me one. Milwaukee Tool makes one that goes up to a 10 gauge. It's a messy approach but they work well. You can always finish the cut off with a file. Here is a video if you aren't familiar with them:
 

EVILAUDI

Ready to race!
Location
Madison, WI
I thought I was getting away from the "make it work" type mods too but no cigar. I have to cut the bottom of my ohlins off to get more suspension travel at specified ride height.
 

Crild

Drag Race Newbie
Location
Florida
I thought I was getting away from the "make it work" type mods too but no cigar. I have to cut the bottom of my ohlins off to get more suspension travel at specified ride height.
I'm sorry what????

I"m assuming you mean because at preload height it doesn't drop the car enough? please explain.
 

EVILAUDI

Ready to race!
Location
Madison, WI
Yes. The shocks for the TTRS are much shorter than those on the MK7. As a result even when lowered all the way it's not quite lowered enough AND you have next to no suspension bump travel. That's the reason I'm testing camber plates and trying to find other ways to recover travel. The Ohlins having the adjuster on the bottom, give up some shock travel by surrounding that adjuster with hollow tubing. If you want to improve the performance of the shock by increasing bump travel you have to cut the hollow part off so the shock will sit lower in the spindle. There is plenty of room between the CV and the adjuster so there's really no negative to doing so. I actually spoke to Ohlins about this and they had considered doing the same thing.

Here is a mod



This is what it looked like before cutting
 

yirayira

Go Kart Newbie
Location
Chicago, IL
Car(s)
2015 GTI SE
You think so? The strut towers are pretty well hidden under the plastic shroud. My top hats are cut and I have to look closely to see my bright red Vorshlag plates.
IMG_20200118_191735~2.jpgIMG_20200118_191619~2.jpg
 

EVILAUDI

Ready to race!
Location
Madison, WI
One more follow-up to the above post. My Vorshlag camber plates consumed the more travel than any other camber plate. This is partly because they have a dual row heavy duty bearing but also because they are designed for cars that can leverage an adjustable shock body. My EVO9 had no issues with travel because the bottom of the shock could be moved to provide the appropriate ride height. This platform doesn't offer that so we sacrifice travel for ride height. Giving my shock body and abortion is similar to adjusting shock length on a different platform.

With the vorshlag plates and ohlins with 10k front springs set at the lowest setting it was bottoming out over the slightest imperfect transition. My buddies have swapped camber plates and chopped the shocks which DOUBLED the available travel. This solved all of their problems. I'm still looking at changing direction by going with JRZ PRO, JRI or KW ClubSport 3-way adjustables as I don't know of another track ready solution. The KW V3 and PSS are more of a street shock that has WAY TOO SOFT of springs for track work. I don't believe either will allow you to have the shocks custom valved to the springs. I'm nearly convinced that to get sufficient stroke to clip rumble strips at the track we will need to have an remote reservoir shock. If the lower perch is maxed out then we will be bottoming out the shock as once lowered it leaves only 1.25" of suspension bump travel.


 

EVILAUDI

Ready to race!
Location
Madison, WI
The following pics will help explain this in more detail. The center point for the ohlins shocks is out of whack on our platform. The shock provides WAY more droop travel (2.5") than bump travel (1.25"). The droop is actually affected by the sway bar endlinks as well. The endlinks prevent the shock from using all of the available droop. The bump travel is very limited meaning once you lower your car to the ground and get in it, you are pretty much riding on the bump stop. This is what mine looks like when static. The crud on the sleeve is the end of shock travel. Hitting this creates a thunderous boom that makes me cringe. These undampened suddent impacts are also what crowned my Vorshlag camber plates.


Max droop with sway bar endlinks connected:

Shows all available travel:
 
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