[rohrt]

I pulled my A-arms off my car last week to put new Bushings and Tall BJs on the upper. I bought the RideTech Delrin Bushings as well as a bunch of other parts for the job.

I knew last week I had a BJ that wouldn't stay in place so was going to weld in place and just stay the course. Upon closer look the Arm is bent in two other places. Also both my uppers are damaged. One pretty badly and the other is tweaked so the bushing is not in all the way.

Now that I know I have three bad arms I'm trying to figure out what direction to go. I still have drum brakes too so aftermarket arms would be limited.

I had made up my mind last night to just stay with stock arms. Now I'm second guessing it again. Two people on Facebook offered to sell theirs I try to get some details and they ghost me. I'm motivated to do something. I don't need to stay stock.

I'm open to thoughts here.


https://www.facebook.com/groups/6467...07951/?__cft__[0]=AZXbXKwM0QBFjUr1krccAfXMQ7_oukUBaxwr6Qv9qL6DXZ3au 4Z5is6tUSEpKsn7a1UgJKPEqM4hiF1ptCCHTU-gYdKk_YzTRs2CroNYMfss5YLH7bFLQYDyBa3Wh5G56Wu4RYQHX _hIZCc8v7FD_2dU&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R

[Tom Vaught]

The 68-72 arms will interchange with the early arms.
They have a larger shock hole so you can run a modern aftermarket shock.
They are still out there, in some cases with little wear or NOS.

And you can still run the factory style brakes and spindles.

Tom V.

[Lemans64]

Upgrade the control arms to Tubular, it will drive way nicer and makes it more enjoyable to drive around.
I have global west on mine, but there is others out there. Not sure about the cheapy ones. Might also be time to upgrade to disc brakes??
I had my caster at .5* positive prior to new arms and now sit at +4.5 caster and drives nice, no wander at all.

[Chris65LeMans]

Originally Posted by Lemans64

Upgrade the control arms to Tubular, it will drive way nicer and makes it more enjoyable to drive around.
I have global west on mine, but there is others out there. Not sure about the cheapy ones. Might also be time to upgrade to disc brakes??
I had my caster at .5* positive prior to new arms and now sit at +4.5 caster and drives nice, no wander at all.

+1.

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by Lemans64

Upgrade the control arms to Tubular, it will drive way nicer and makes it more enjoyable to drive around.
I have global west on mine, but there is others out there. Not sure about the cheapy ones. Might also be time to upgrade to disc brakes??
I had my caster at .5* positive prior to new arms and now sit at +4.5 caster and drives nice, no wander at all.

+2

Did the Global West/Koni Coilover/Wilwood disc brake conversion back in 2013 after pulling the #'s matching motor and replacing it with a 462.

Very happy with the results.

[vertigto]

Check out BMR's with tall ball joints...good value.

[ZeGermanHam]

I agree with others re: tubular control arms. If you are up for spending more money and are planning to keep the car for the long-haul, switching to tubular control arms and disc brakes will make your car much more enjoyable to drive. It's all bolt-in stuff, so easy to DIY.

[rohrt]

Kind of surprised by the responses. I figured I would get flamed by the purist even asking about aftermarket arms. I have two things working against me. I still have the 14" rims and I still run the drum brakes. To me the smaller disc brake kits that fit the 14" rim are not ideal but work.

I See a lot of people running the Global West arms. They also seem to be pricer then others. And there are a lot of other good arms out there.. I did see BMR are a lot cheaper and also have built in caster. I read elsewhere they don't advertise as much and that is why they are able to sell them cheaper.

Seems like there is bunch of things to investigate. I need to start a spreadsheet to compare.
I think I know what I want:
Delrin bushing(Del-a-Lum)
Proper articulation with tall BJ for corrected camber curve.
Added Caster but with both top and bottom arms to keep the tire centered. I think DSE and SPC are the only ones that do that.
Would like it compatible with my drums but not a deal breaker just more $$$.
Not a drop pocket for the spring I don't want to lower it.

I think I might try and call the guru Marcus at SC&C tomorrow. I just don't know if the juice is worth the squeeze. My head has been spinning trying to make an informed decision. Just want to get my car back on its feet.

[b-man]

I would look for a good set of used factory control arms if you’re keeping the factory drum brakes.

I’m sure there’s plenty of good ones still around. I have a couple of spare sets stored in case I might need them later.

Not everyone needs or wants aftermarket tubular control arms but of course that’s for you to decide.

I have two ‘64 A-bodies, one has 14” wheels and stock control arms, the other has 18” wheels and aftermarket tubular arms. Both cars were built with different purposes in mind.

You can always dig up a factory 11” disc brake setup, they pop up in the classifieds here from time to time if you want better braking and plan to stay with 14” wheels. The 14” drum brake wheels won’t work with disc brakes (calipers won’t clear) so just be aware of that. I’m running a single piston caliper and spindle 11” disc setup from a ‘69 GP and it was a great improvement over the drum brakes.

[ZeGermanHam]

Originally Posted by rohrt

Kind of surprised by the responses. I figured I would get flamed by the purist even asking about aftermarket arms. I have two things working against me. I still have the 14" rims and I still run the drum brakes. To me the smaller disc brake kits that fit the 14" rim are not ideal but work.

I See a lot of people running the Global West arms. They also seem to be pricer then others. And there are a lot of other good arms out there.. I did see BMR are a lot cheaper and also have built in caster. I read elsewhere they don't advertise as much and that is why they are able to sell them cheaper.

Seems like there is bunch of things to investigate. I need to start a spreadsheet to compare.
I think I know what I want:
Delrin bushing(Del-a-Lum)
Proper articulation with tall BJ for corrected camber curve.
Added Caster but with both top and bottom arms to keep the tire centered. I think DSE and SPC are the only ones that do that.
Would like it compatible with my drums but not a deal breaker just more $$$.
Not a drop pocket for the spring I don't want to lower it.

I think I might try and call the guru Marcus at SC&C tomorrow. I just don't know if the juice is worth the squeeze. My head has been spinning trying to make an informed decision. Just want to get my car back on its feet.

If Global West is a bit pricey, look at kits from UMI Performance. They have all the geometry changes that you want like Global West, but UMI tends to be a little more affordable despite being easily just as high quality and made in the U.S.

As far as "purists" are concerned, for anything other than a 100% original survivor car, I don't see the point of sticking with original configuration parts. The reality is that these cars handled like garbage when new, so why not bolt on some parts that can fix the problems and can be reversed at any time?

[rohrt]

I called BMR. They are in my top running.

Works with Drum brakes, Spring pocket is the factory location, No issues with the tall BJ. They said there is some caster addition to the lower but he couldn't tell me how much. He did say most was in the uppers. The only downside in my book is they don't use Delrin bushing. Mostly a great price for $869 on their kit.

I was toying with looking at the RightStuff EZ brake kit too. However don't like the fact the rotors are proprietary and some of the kits are out of stock.

Is there such a thing as 14" drum rims and 14" disc rims?

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by rohrt

Is there such a thing as 14" drum rims and 14" disc rims?

When disc brakes became available for GM cars that came with 14" rims, the rims obviously were changed to accommodate the factory disc setup. So you'd need to find rims from a vehicle that had factory discs.

[389]

Just flip the stock uppers from side to side and install .5 tall ball joints in both upper and lower.. Set the caster to +8 drivers/+8.5 passengers side, .25 -camber, 1/16-1/16 toe in and your set...

[rohrt]

So is that to say even if I use the RightStuff kit my rims wouldn't work?

[rohrt]

I called Rightstuff. The nice lady on the phone didn't know about 14" drum rims verses 14" disc brake rims. So I'm still not 100% sure there kit would work for me.

I did ask about what parts were out of stock sounds like the MC and booster are on a slow boat from China. Due in at the end of the month.

[vertigto]

Originally Posted by rohrt

I called BMR. They are in my top running.

Works with Drum brakes, Spring pocket is the factory location, No issues with the tall BJ. They said there is some caster addition to the lower but he couldn't tell me how much. He did say most was in the uppers. The only downside in my book is they don't use Delrin bushing. Mostly a great price for $869 on their kit.

I was toying with looking at the RightStuff EZ brake kit too. However don't like the fact the rotors are proprietary and some of the kits are out of stock.

Is there such a thing as 14" drum rims and 14" disc rims?

Check out BMR's Pro Touring Upper A arms with tall ball joint and delrin bushings.

https://www.bmrsuspension.com/?page=...100&superpro=0

[rohrt]

Originally Posted by vertigto

Check out BMR's Pro Touring Upper A arms with tall ball joint and delrin bushings.

https://www.bmrsuspension.com/?page=...100&superpro=0

Oh sweet didn't see them.
I wonder why they don't offer the delrin with the lower arms?

[The Champ]

Originally Posted by rohrt

So is that to say even if I use the RightStuff kit my rims wouldn't work?

I was only referring to the factory disc brake setup. What the brake kits from RightStuff are compatible with I don't know.

I believe that RightStuff has an actual tech assist line that should be able to answer your question.

I haven't had 14" rims on the GTO since 1995, so going to discs was not an issue, even though I run plain black steel rims with poverty caps. Went from 14 to 15 to 17 and still run factory original poverty caps for that "stock" look.

[rohrt]

Well crap. BMR is in the middle of a redesign for my car. Ballpark 2 weeks out before they could even ship.

[rohrt]

Well I had a 2 hour call with Marcus at SC&C. He pretty much talked me out of the BMR arms. He has a way of doing that He actually steered me to keeping my stock lowers with the ridetech bushings, at least for now and going with the SPC adjustable uppers with Howe BJ. He really doesn't like the ProForged joint at all.

He had sound reasoning IMO on why not to purchase the BMR arms. Its hard to cover such a long conversation, but I feel pretty good about his recommendation. We covered shocks a little and brakes as well. He steered me to the factory brakes verses RightStuff for several reasons.

Time to order some parts