Upper A-Arm Mounts

[Panoz60]

When I began searching for my Panoz, I looked at three cars here in Florida and opted for the one I purchased at Wirewheel.com. However, I looked at one in Deltona that had positive "stops" for the upper a-arms. Let me try to explain. In addition to the bolts that mount vertically, clamping the a-arm in place, it had small plates welded to the ends of the upper a-arm mounts on the chassis, with bolts threaded in horizontally and used to adjust the a-arm. It appeared as if you would loosen the vertical bolts, adjust with the horizontal ones, then re-tighten the vertical ones. I was wondering if this was some custom thing that owner did or if it was a Panoz option (if so- how can I get some?) I believe that having these additional bolts would make alignment adjustments easier, as in my experience once you loosen the vertical bolts, the a-arm tends to "flop around" between camber and caster, making the whole process a PIA. The other option is serated mounting plates, but that would be major surgery.

As always, comments and advice are appreciated.

[Cobra4B]

Originally Posted by Panoz60

When I began searching for my Panoz, I looked at three cars here in Florida and opted for the one I purchased at Wirewheel.com. However, I looked at one in Deltona that had positive "stops" for the upper a-arms. Let me try to explain. In addition to the bolts that mount vertically, clamping the a-arm in place, it had small plates welded to the ends of the upper a-arm mounts on the chassis, with bolts threaded in horizontally and used to adjust the a-arm. It appeared as if you would loosen the vertical bolts, adjust with the horizontal ones, then re-tighten the vertical ones. I was wondering if this was some custom thing that owner did or if it was a Panoz option (if so- how can I get some?) I believe that having these additional bolts would make alignment adjustments easier, as in my experience once you loosen the vertical bolts, the a-arm tends to "flop around" between camber and caster, making the whole process a PIA. The other option is serated mounting plates, but that would be major surgery.

As always, comments and advice are appreciated.

Any picture? Are you saying your car doesn't have the horizontal upper control arm stops/supports? See below...

[Panoz60]

OK, now your just trying to show off your killer refurbished chassis! (laughing)

No, mine looks exactly like yours (just not as purdy!!). In your pic, you see how the upper a-arm mounts are basically 1X2 steel with slots in the top? This GTRA I looked at had small plates welded on the open, outer ends of those with a bolt threaded in towards the block/nut that the a-arm bolts to. The bolt acted as a positive stop to make alignment adjustments more "stable". I was wondering if that was a custom thing he did or an upgrade on later chassis.

[Cobra4B]

Ahhh... I get it now. I've never seen that on any of the cars posted on this forum over the years. Also, it's not referenced in the 2006 Panoz GTS assembly manual I have either. Must be custom.

The trick is to not loosen the vertical A-arm bolts that much and use a small dead-blow hammer to make adjustments.

[Cobra4B]

Did this plate cover the UCA mount tube? I.e. cover the opening of the square tube? If so, how would you ever get the mount block out if you messed it up at all?

Or, are you saying the plate was welded to the outer top of the square tube with a bolt threaded into it that would contact the outer side of the A-arm... mimicking the existing inner bolts?

[Panoz60]

Over the opening. Getting the block/nut out would be an issue. The mallet trick works, but to me it's a PIA, To me: its difficult to adjust camber without screwing up the caster, or vice-versa. There are better methods for a-arm mounting that Panoz opted not to use, for whatever reason. My last circle track chassis (Howe, limited late-model) used shims, tapered or straight, depending on what you needed. The shims were marked for identification. It made adjustments idiot simple (and I need that!!) Take you alignment reading, and grab the shim you need to make the change you want. Done! Anyway.....Thanks for the reply. I wanna do something in that area, but don't know what, yet.

[Cobra4B]

My Corvette uses fixed camber blocks for the lower control arms (to get rid of the eccentrics). For the uppers I replaced the factory bolts with studs and adjust camber/caster with shims as needed.