DIY camber gauge

[ripp]

Since I'm having some camber bolts coming soon I tried to come up with somethin' to measure the camber, after realizing that a digital camber gauge was out of my reach - cheaper ones that I've found couldn't get them ordered to my country so my attempt went like this:
drawn the item in acad, printed on, and made a plastic template after it
used a 3 mm thick plastic material which I already had, the kind they use for publicity panels, interior decorations, etc. used a cutter to get the job done. easy stuff

piece that came out:

then used double adhesive tape to stick the printed stuff on

after that I strengthened the vertical line with another 1,5 cm wide piece of the same material to stop it from bending

you can see here ^ the markings which show degrees and 0.1 degrees, easy to read- 0.1 deg. ~ 1mm, 1 degree~1 cm
then hanged a 12 mm spanner from the tiny hole on top using a thin string and job done

The two blue smaller things will sit on the disc when the wheel is off, while the white larger extremities sit on the rim edges (16" rim)
It took some patience but I'm pleased with the result. then went out and took some measurements. as I suspected the front camber is +0,2/0,0 while the rear is ~1,5/~1,9 neg.
the front I'll get it sorted with the bolts, rear I'm expecting some suggestions
If someone interested in doin' this I'll send the detailed drawing to ease the job

cheers!
p.s: 1-1,2 front neg camber - is this too much for street use?

 

[ilovewilly]

Fair play. I contenplated buying camber gauges when looking at getting alignment. Wish I had!

I have 1 degree and its fine. Minimum tyre wear.

 

[Ex-User (19928)]

-1 is not going to be a problem at all. On my MX5 I had -2 for a while and that caused a noticable difference in tyre wear, still wasn't that bad though. Woudn't go past that though.

 

[.Kev.]

I just googled camber guage,

http://www.stockwelltools.co.uk/product.php/site/froogle/sn/TCN77066

Got one of these, much easier.

 

[ripp]

yeah it's easy if you live in UK, Ireland or Scotland ... Romania.. not so good, they don't deliver there. found myself another website but they didn't shipped here also. 22 incl vat is not bad, but transport will be an extra 30-40 so basically about 50-60, cost me 3 pounds to do this

 

[p@blo]

Nice little project ripp, good effort mate.

 

[ripp]

once the bolts will arrive I'll set the camber myself, then after a while I'm gonna do the tracking and compare their results with mine-camber wise
there is obviously room for improvement, first thing I want is to make a system that holds the gauge to the rim, then the reading will be a lot easier

 

[ripp]

I had my bolts fitted today (at last!) and not being careful on the gauge I accidentally went to 1,85 negative on one side and since I struggled to get the top std bolt off (not having quite the right tools-mainly adjustable spanners) I decided to let the camber at this value for now.
The steering is visibly lighter and the car does seem more tail happy than before. problem is, I'll have to do the tracking as the toe is visibly in
of course after a while I'll get the camber to about 1,2 negative and sort out a DIY toe in/out gauge
Thanks Kamracing for the best price on these bolts!
cheers!

 

[slindborg]

I just googled camber guage,

http://www.stockwelltools.co.uk/product.php/site/froogle/sn/TCN77066

Got one of these, much easier.

I've played with oen of those... its'ok' for checking your camber but I wouldnt want to do a good setup with it.

Ripp, any chance of a PDF or something of your gauge so we cna all have a go at making one please

 

[ripp]

I can give you the ACAD file where you'll be able to see all the dimensions. if you're not familiar with acad let me know and we'll go from there