# HOW TO: Add more adjustability to the front alignment on the 2G DSM **URL:** \ **Category:** Builds\ **Created:** [September 17, 2005, 11:00am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/how-to-add-more-adjustability-to-the-front-alignment-on-the-2g-dsm/2452 "2005-09-17T11:00:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rx3](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/rx3/32/7194_2.png) [@Rx3](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Rx3)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2005, 11:00am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/how-to-add-more-adjustability-to-the-front-alignment-on-the-2g-dsm/2452/1 "2005-09-17T11:00:35Z")
Over the summer while building up my suspension, I decided to tackle the issue my car has with having a useable camber adjustment range for the front of my car (97 Mitsu Eclipse AWD turbo; it has none basically). After some research, and talking to a lot of other fellow DSM people that autocross or road race, I combined ideas some people were doing separately into one. I took my stock front upper control arms off the car, cleaned the rust off with a die grinder and steel brush bit, then had them media blasted. I coated them with anti-rust paint. I then pressed out the stock ball joints and replaced them with SPC’s Adjustable balljoints. These balljoints can be set +/- 3 degrees for camber ( rotating the ball joint mount in the slot to set either positive or negative) with the “camber plate” and bolt on top. I also added SPC’s adjustable anchor bolts, and reversed them to add -1.5 degrees of camber adjustment. If you put them in the normal the adjustment is positive instead of negative. You will need the smaller bolt, as the bigger one is too big to be reversed. Here is a pic showing the difference between the two: ![http://www.burned.org/gallery/d/12833-2/DSC00089.jpg](http://www.burned.org/gallery/d/12833-2/DSC00089.jpg) **You want the camber bolt on the _LEFT_ for this project** Here are pictures of the finished product: ![http://www.burned.org/gallery/d/12837-2/DSC00016.jpg](http://www.burned.org/gallery/d/12837-2/DSC00016.jpg) ![http://www.burned.org/gallery/d/12840-2/DSC00017.jpg](http://www.burned.org/gallery/d/12840-2/DSC00017.jpg) ![http://www.burned.org/gallery/d/12843-2/DSC00018.jpg](http://www.burned.org/gallery/d/12843-2/DSC00018.jpg) ![http://www.burned.org/gallery/d/12846-2/DSC00019.jpg](http://www.burned.org/gallery/d/12846-2/DSC00019.jpg) ![http://www.burned.org/gallery/d/12849-2/DSC00020.jpg](http://www.burned.org/gallery/d/12849-2/DSC00020.jpg) The result is +/- 4.5 degrees in camber adjustment for the front. With proper suspension tuning, I think some of the inherent characteristics of the 2G can be corrected or remedied to make the car easier to flick and turn. The trick will be to get the adjustment while keeping the toe and caster within reasonable spec. This will take some work. I’ve got access to a friend’s shop, so we will be doing this once our schedules clear up. To compare, cost for a dedicated adjustable control arm from SPC (or any other company) ranges from about $650-800 for the pair of control arms. The SPC arms have a +/- 6 degrees of adjustability. So the solution I used is very cost effective, as I have very similar adjustment for less than half the price. ---
**Author:** ![Jskrapper](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/jskrapper/32/7570_2.png) [@Jskrapper](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Jskrapper)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2005, 11:11am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/how-to-add-more-adjustability-to-the-front-alignment-on-the-2g-dsm/2452/2 "2005-09-17T11:11:47Z")
Good write-up. :tup: for trying something new, and :tup: for it working, and :tup: for saving $$$ ---
**Author:** ![Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/53a042/32.png) [@Ninja](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Ninja)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2005, 5:10pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/how-to-add-more-adjustability-to-the-front-alignment-on-the-2g-dsm/2452/3 "2005-09-17T17:10:52Z")
From the looks of those A-arms, I bet it would be trivial to whip up some tubular DIY A-arms… as long as all the suspension points are the same… unless you really wanted to get wild and start completely messing with the suspension geometry. I wonder what a proper sized tube would be for DIY tubular a-arms. ---
**Author:** ![Rx3](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/rx3/32/7194_2.png) [@Rx3](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Rx3)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2005, 5:23pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/how-to-add-more-adjustability-to-the-front-alignment-on-the-2g-dsm/2452/4 "2005-09-17T17:23:37Z")
> [@Ninja](#): > > From the looks of those A-arms, I bet it would be trivial to whip up some tubular DIY A-arms… as long as all the suspension points are the same… > > unless you really wanted to get wild and start completely messing with the suspension geometry. > > I wonder what a proper sized tube would be for DIY tubular a-arms. Funny,me and TKKlemann were discussing that very subject at length just before I decided to go with this idea. We might still attempt it anyway, just to see what we come up with 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/53a042/32.png) [@Ninja](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Ninja)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/how-to-add-more-adjustability-to-the-front-alignment-on-the-2g-dsm/2452/5 "2005-09-17T17:50:31Z")
> [@Rx3](#): > > Funny,me and TKKlemann were discussing that very subject at length just before I decided to go with this idea. > > We might still attempt it anyway, just to see what we come up with 🙂 I can get stress numbers from an excel sheet my buddy has… just would have to do some rough physics and figure out what the forces are going through those a-arms… which would be trivial. Then we could use the excel file and find out which sizes would properly fit those stress values. Badda bing badda boom ---
**Author:** ![Rx3](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/rx3/32/7194_2.png) [@Rx3](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Rx3)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/how-to-add-more-adjustability-to-the-front-alignment-on-the-2g-dsm/2452/6 "2005-09-17T18:07:31Z")
Damn. Send me a copy of that excel file. Hook a brotha up 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![neurokinetik](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/neurokinetik/32/7270_2.png) [@neurokinetik](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/neurokinetik)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2005, 7:08pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/how-to-add-more-adjustability-to-the-front-alignment-on-the-2g-dsm/2452/7 "2005-09-17T19:08:37Z")
Next begins the long, agonizing process of dialling it in so that: - It gives you the confidence you need to be able to drive it at 10/10ths. - The car itself will deliver the fastest times that it is capable of. The first part is easy. Only took me one event this year. The second one took pretty much the whole rest of the season.