There has been some discussion on the forum about the impact of lowering Panteras and having enough back camber adjustment. Some owners recommend extended adjustable upper A arms, etc. I thought I’d add my experience and my camber results. Before I installed the Pantera East Koni yellow coilover setup I had Orange Konis with the spacers removed (Euro ride height). With the orange Konis, I had the back camber set at; Left -0.6 degrees, Right -0.5 degrees, toe-in total, 0.12".
The yellow Koni install info is here http://www.panteraplace.com/page212.htm After the yellow Konis were installed I lowered the back about 3/4” and the front about 11/16”. This stance positions the lower back A arms close to parallel with the ground and still provides about 1/4“ plus nose down rake measured along the bottom edge of the rocker panel. Because the line along the top of door (below the window) actually angles up from back to front, Panteras need a nose down rake or they look like the back is lower than the front. The nose down rake also helps aerodynamically at speed.
I had the alignment done at Grand Turismo East in Atlanta. Jeff Mills is an expert on Pantera suspension and has been doing Panteras and other exotic cars for decades. Jeff removed some A arm shims and was able to get the left camber to -1.1 degree and the right to -1.2 degrees with a .14” toe-in. I had decided beforehand, that if we had camber problems we would raise the car a bit, but Jeff felt it was not necessary to lift the back of the car to reduce the camber. He said that the increased camber was fine and would help the handling. The front camber stayed the same as it was before lowering but the toe was off quite a bit.
The impact of lowering may be different depending on the car and the condition of the wheel houses. My car has the factory recall mods on the wheel houses (they look like they were factory installed) that reinforce the A arm mount tubes and has no indication of wheel house rust problems nor are the frame rails crushed from over tightening of the lower A arm mounts. It has an adjustable wheel house brace that is adjusted so it puts a slight pressure on the wheel house.
Mike
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