Suspension upgrades on a budget thread

[patmckinneyracing]

Well as the economy continues to remain stagnant and isn't getting better, most of us are feeling the pinch so this is why I kinda started this thread.

One of my main questions is concerning the rear trail arms or control arms. Is it possible that the pinion angle could be out of the proper alignment as a result of our stamp steel rear control arms? I would think with four different points of contact on the rear end, it would be hard for the pinion angle to be out of alignment.

So what would be the benefit to say welding up the control arms? I've seen plenty of the aftermarket control arms that are adjustable and non-adjustable. Is it worth buying these aftermarket ones or is it simply cheaper just to weld up and box my stock control arms?

Another thing I wanted to ask that after I lowered the front end of my car, the lower front control arms are angled slightly upwards. Is this a potential problem? If I lowered the rear end with lowering springs, would this throw the front end out of alignment?

One last thing, what are the pros and cons of solid mount body bushings compared to say poly bushings? I know I had a started another thread on body mount bushings, but it kinda seems more logical to have solid mounts to eliminate body role.
Thanks for the help guys.

 

[patmckinneyracing]

 

[Bonnewagon]

I'm not sure if the stock control arms ever worked well even when new,they are so flimsy. I tow a boat so I noticed immediatly the sloppiness especially in reverse. I actually had a bad case of wheel hop in reverse which annoyed me to no end. My arms were beyond hope so I went for some cheap $200 Speedway boxed control arms and they came with poly bushings. No holes for the sway bar, that was $75 more , I added my own for free. I also use coil-over shocks so now my rear end is super tight. (yes, after typing that I realised how funny that sounds!) As far as the front/rear height what you are affecting is the caster and a good shop can compensate for that. Mine is higher in the back and my guy got it within 1 degree of perfect. I like poly bushings over solid because you do need some flexibility and vibration absorbtion and solid is too unforgiving. For a race car I would want solids, not a street car.

 

[79loserbluebu]

I agree with Bonnewagon. At first you may love the solids driving on the street, but I bet it'll get old pretty quick. You want some sort of give between the body and frame. For the rear lower control arms, my friend boxed his on his 71' Cutlass, and he says he has no more problems like he used to before they weren't boxed.

 

[patmckinneyracing]

I can drill holes for the sway bars too, thats not a concern. Right now I'm doing floor repair and already spent 850$ on a fully rebuilt 700r4 with all race parts and what not. I still want to go through the engine and make sure that doesn't need any major repairs before I spend money on the suspension. The only thing I might buy is body bushings cause thats the only bushings I haven't replaced. So were the Speedway control arms 200$ for all four of them?

I might just box in the stock control arms. With solid steel body mounts, wouldn't it be the same as a unibody?

 

[79loserbluebu]

I'm pretty sure even unibody's have some sort of body mount. Are you thinking FWD vehicles, or cars with subframes i.e. 67-69' Camaro?

How is the front of your car lowered? I beleive drop spings affect quite a bit, whereas drop spindles don't affect anything except the height of the hub from the ground.

 

[84cutspreme]

Yup boxing stock ones is good idea, I only had to open up the holes already in my stock ones to accommodate the bolts for my hotchkis sway bar. I also cut a few pieces of steel tubing and fit them inside & welded them in place to support sway bar before I decided to weld them into boxes. To explain a little better...where the sway bar bolts go through are now a tube rather than just two open holes on either side.

 

[patmckinneyracing]

I know inside the control arms there is a bracket that goes in there on the stock sway bars. I was thinking about welding tubes in the control arm as well then using 1/4 inch steel to weld in. That should stiffen up the control arm better than just using regular sheet metal.

When I refer to unibodies I'm thinking of mopars and the 4th gen camaros. I took 5660 s10 moog springs and cut a coil out to lower it roughly 2 inch cause they had actually raised the front end about 1/2 an inch.

 

[patmckinneyracing]

Another thing I forgot to ask is what would happen if I swapped in s10 spindles? Would that raise/lower my car in anyway?