positive camber on Toyota celica left front wheel

[86911TLCAB]

94 Toyota celica
I have 2 degrees of positive camber on the driver side front tire of my toyota celica. have been searching for a solution for while it isnt that big a deal I wanted to see if i could repair it and stop the slight pull i get to he left. The car was in an accident, and I have already swapped out the lower control arm, but I there might be some slight damage to the shock tower.

I read one post where a suggestion was made to notch the bolt area to allow the top bolt to move backward just slightly. I checked yesterday and it appears that I could enlarge the top hole just slightly and in fact it would be almost enough to create a 2 degreee difference.

Is this safe to do? Have also seen camber adjustment bolts etc, and will buy one if needed, but thought i would ask if anyone had done this before doing either.

Thanks...

[Trak Ratt]

Pics would help but it should work ok. Rumor has it some "stock" PCA racer cars may have "excessive wear" in their top strut mount areas!

[Potomac-Greg]

If you can use a camber bolt (depends on the strut configuration) that'll be the easiest option. If it already adjusts from a camber bolt, the camber bolt upgrade might not work.

Reaming the strut mounts is easier said than done. You need to have enough clearance to move the strut mount to a new spot.

[86911TLCAB]

There is no camber adjustment on the car in stock configuration. the only adjustment during the alignment is toe.

I am not talking about changing the holes on the car under the hood where the strut mounts. My intention was notch the top hole (both sides) at the base of the strut (on the strut itself) where the two bolts connect it to the hub. My understanding from the write up was that one could push it back and torque it and it would stay in place.

It is worth a try, worse thing i mess up is a 50 dollar strut, just thought i would see if anyone else had any similar experience. might also try a camber bolt first to see if it will do the trick.

[Dr K]

Did you have a mishap with the car at some point? If a part in the suspension is subtly bent, replacing it might fix the problems. I assume the car did not come with all this positive camber.

[HoodPin]

Elongating the strut top bolt holes can work well (did anyway on our LeMons RX7 :p) as long as there's clearance for the strut to move inward at the top. For a '94 Celica this can indeed be a cost-effective repair alternative.

Also, FWIW, check the top plate on the strut, to see if there might even be some built-in adjustability. On our RX7, the bolt placement is off-centered. Rotating the top allows 4 slightly different combinations of camber & caster.

[86911TLCAB]

The car was t-boned while being towed. Insurance company totalled it and gave me the car back. I decided to see if i could fix it. I replaced both front lower control arms and front shocks and was able to get it aligned with the exception of 2 degrees positive camber. have been driving it all summer (as it has ac) and so am just trying to get the last two degrees of camber out. had a toyota mechanic tell me the possibility existed that the shck tower was slightly damaged casuing the 2 degrees of camber. dont care to spend any money on the car getting it repaired...if i can fix it fine, if not... then not.

[86911TLCAB]

Thanks. I pulled the wheel yesterday, and measured the lie of the rotor, then took the top bolt out, pushed the hub in and measured about 1 1/2 to 2 degrees of difference. So it appears there is sufficient room between the back of the spindle and the strut. I just wasnt sure if there was any real danger in making the strut weaker such that something might fail on me by making the hole larger. I didnt look at elongating the holes at the mount but will look at that also.

[Dr K]

Since it's likely bent, how about strapping the car to a large tree with tow straps, and pulling the top of the strut (with a truck or something). I remember Dubovsky and the Salazar Racing guys doing similar unibody straightening on the "totaled" E36 race car they raced (and had crushed) at Lemons. Maybe SD or Wonger could chime in here.

[86911TLCAB]

I will pass...and just try making the hole a little bigger...