has anyone tried making some adjustments on the gt3? ride height, camber, anti-roll bar etc.? how easy is it to do? is it something you could have set up for the street and adjust at the track for drivers ed? thanks

 

Changing the sway bars' settings is fairly easy to do at the track. Altering ride height will affect camber, but is mostly too mechanically cumbersome to do in the paddock. However, altering camber settings will affect toe, so that would best be done in conjunction with a more complete alignment. There are those, though, who have "calibrated" the elongated the holes in the shock towers and just shift the camber as desired while at the track.

 

I have set the car up for track. Using the optional shims for the front A arms I set 2.5 deg negative camber, zero toe. Rear is also neg 2.5 with 3/32 total toe in. Sway bars are one hole from full stiff front and rear whcih works well on the track I use. YMMV, Rear wing is set to 6 degress for additional downforce. Handles well. Ride height is factory stock which is pretty low to start with.

 

Bob,

Where did you find 6 degree shims for the rear wing? The only ones I found are either 4 or 8 degrees.

Karl

 

I believe that there are only two sizes from the factory. The Porsche literature I'm familiar with refers to 3mm and 6mm. I noticed that Carnewal's site refers to 4mm and 8mm, but I don't think these are aftermarket parts. He usually sells only factory parts.

 

According to the dealer "Product Information 911 GT3" book the shims to adjust the rear wing angle are either 4 or 8 degree which agree with Gert's site. And btw, it looks like PCNA now has the shims flowing thru the system as my dealer left me a message on Friday that mine are in.

 

Guys, I used the 6mm shims which I assumed was six degrees. Perhaps 6mm equals 8 degrees? In any event I went for max downforce which pays dividends where I drive - high speed sweepers and one 100+ MPH uphill off camber nasty-scary courage tester. I bought mine from Gert as always.

 

Bob, what thickness track control arm shim did you use to get 2.5 deg on the front? I have a set of shims on order but I don't know which one to use to get something in the 2 to 3 deg range.

 

Mike, what's a good place to order A-arm shims? Thanks.

 

It's a dealer item:

996.341.543.30 Left
996.341.543.90 Right

 

Marco, I ordered them from Gert. Viken, according to Loren the shims are available in several thicknesses. Loren didn't mention left/right.

996 341 543 90 Shim 1 mm
996 341 543 91 Shim 2 mm
996 341 543 92 Shim 3 mm
996 341 543 93 Shim 7 mm

My cup car guy says I want something in the 5mm range, but I think maybe he was thinking camber ranges for slicks.

 

That's correct. I was looking under the GT2 parts which, for some reason, lists only the 1 mm size. Strange.

 

MIke,

I don't know the thickness. I ordered the parts and gave them to the race shop who installed them. I'll call and find out. Note that you can still tweak the camber by moving the shocks in and out since the holes at the top are oval. Without the shims I could get only 1.4 deg negative. I am told that this varies a bit from car to car though. Sorry not to be able to answer the question as well as I'd like. With the shims I recall that the shocks were moved to a slightly more upright position than before. this suggests that the shims were perhaps 2.5 mm or, 1.5 mm and the shop used both shims. Note very enlightening though ...

 

Guys, I called the race shop who set up my car and was told that the shims come in a variety of thickness (as above). However I learned something very interesting. Apparently it is unwise to install shims to increase negative camber unless you also get the adjustable A arms which allow you to adjust for Camber. According to Motorports, the GT3 is very sensitive to caster and they strongly suggest using the camber adjustable A arms (which are NOT standard equipment on the GT3 or GT2). Having said that, my car is set up with neg 2.5 all around and it goes very nicely. Perhaps the caster adjustment is needed for more radical negative camber set ups as would be used for racing slicks. My P0 Corsas are happy with -2.5 and do not wear out the outside shoulders. With the factory set up (around neg 1.0 the outsides wore too quickly. I will keep digging to see what the whole story is. The adjustable A arms (from Motorsports) are not cheap! Viken, perhaps you have contacts to unearth the whole story?

 

Interesting! If one can use adjustable A-arms, why bother use the shims to adjust camber? Or, are they saying that rather than use shims, use the PMA A-arms? Personally, I don't like the use of shims, especially the thicker ones which will take the two pieces further apart.