Friends, I have a couple questions around upper a-arm shims and the bolts that bolt in the A-arm. I have a 1985 Cutlass and I need to buy some shims for the uppers and also the two nuts and bolts that hold the a-arm cross bar to the frame of the car. I am having significant trouble finding either of these via the web or what I find, when I search for fitment says may not fit. Does anyone have any links to these or advice on where to get them?
Secondly, how do you best set up the shims to ensure the front end is set up correct. I know most will say get it close and take it to a shop for alignment, but here is the issue: my Cutlass is a lowrider (keep the boos to a minimum please lol) and I have hydraulics. The reason I need to shim my uppers is because we run extended upper a arms. Meaning we take stock a arms and extend them at the ears, in my case 1" and then mold the a arms. Reason we do this is so when we drive locked up (lifted all the way), we do not have a ton of negative camber. Granted when dumped (dropped all the way) we have a good amount of positive camber. The trick is, now that I have everything installed, I still have a little to much positive camber fully locked up, so I want to shim the uppers back a little bit. Looking at the frame and how it is not a true 90* angle to the mounting point of the a arm, I am guessing I will not shim equally. I talked to one shop that said they could get it close for me, but when they found out my suspension is full chrome (a arms upper&lower, springs, cylinders, spindle and so on) they said they wont touch it! So, I am looking for some advice to get this thing dialed in as best we can. We have a few tricks in the lowrider world for adjusting toe using the rear wheels and a string (it actually works well) but I can not seem to find any tricks on how to shim correctly and get it set up safe.
Thanks for reading my long post and look forward to the info!
Secondly, how do you best set up the shims to ensure the front end is set up correct. I know most will say get it close and take it to a shop for alignment, but here is the issue: my Cutlass is a lowrider (keep the boos to a minimum please lol) and I have hydraulics. The reason I need to shim my uppers is because we run extended upper a arms. Meaning we take stock a arms and extend them at the ears, in my case 1" and then mold the a arms. Reason we do this is so when we drive locked up (lifted all the way), we do not have a ton of negative camber. Granted when dumped (dropped all the way) we have a good amount of positive camber. The trick is, now that I have everything installed, I still have a little to much positive camber fully locked up, so I want to shim the uppers back a little bit. Looking at the frame and how it is not a true 90* angle to the mounting point of the a arm, I am guessing I will not shim equally. I talked to one shop that said they could get it close for me, but when they found out my suspension is full chrome (a arms upper&lower, springs, cylinders, spindle and so on) they said they wont touch it! So, I am looking for some advice to get this thing dialed in as best we can. We have a few tricks in the lowrider world for adjusting toe using the rear wheels and a string (it actually works well) but I can not seem to find any tricks on how to shim correctly and get it set up safe.
Thanks for reading my long post and look forward to the info!
