[JLMounce]

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

Oh, on the drop, the control arms don't provide any drop that I'm aware of.


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The SPC lower arms have a dropped spring base. Without the use of their shim kit, the lower arm will drop a stock car roughly 1". If you are going to some sort of coil-over where the mount would exist on the flat of the spring base, this would drop the car about 2" as the spiral spring perch is removed completely.

The standard shim kit comes with 2, 1/4" spacers that will adjust ride height up to the factory ride height. You can add additional spacers to the lower or upper pocket if you need, or run a combination to dial in ride height to .5" increments.

This is one area of the SPC arms, that can be a bit challenging. You have a lot of options to dial the ride height, but when dealing with conventional springs, it does add time in labor and guessing to get it right. Especially when taking a car from an antiquated and likely sagging suspension system, to new and modernized.

I don't really like to spend other people's money, but if the budget could handle it, I'd spec a true coil-over from SpeedTech as well, using their Chicane mount.

https://speedtechperformance.com/pro...arrior-shocks/

The Chicane brackets tie directly to the upper control arm mount and adds strength there while providing a double sheer mount for a control arm that is actually stronger than the factory upper spring perch. This is unlike the RideTech and other coilover conversions that use the factory shock mount to hold the weight of the car. That piece is fairly robust on GM cars but it wasn't really designed to hold the weight of the car itself as a stamped steel piece.

[HWYSTR455]

Oh, I get it now. Well, all the tubular lowers have that, even the knock-offs, and accept the 'shims' for adjustment. Pirate Jack has a set that some of the most affordable I have found:

https://piratejack.net/1964-1972-che...-shim-spacers/

Keep in mind that the amount of height increase is double the thickness of the shim/spacer.


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[chiphead]

Thanks for the explanation. So I'm pricing it out.

When I add up what a SPC/AFX/18" wheel conversion will cost, it adds up to about $5500.

I can do UMI/AFX/18 wheels for roughly $4700. So the price difference is roughly 700-1100. I can put that toward the springs/swaybars.

Will I notice the difference between UMI and SPC? My application is spirited street driving and backwoods carving but no auto x. What combo provides the best ROI for a street car?

[HWYSTR455]

Like I said, the knock-off tubular lower arms are fine, I run them in the 442, held them right next to a set of GWs and measured roughly without seeing any diff. Again, just change the ball joint.

The uppers is where certain arms come into play, there are differences, especially for an AFX spindle. You can save money on the lowers, but recommend getting an upper specific to the AFX spindle.

The UMI uppers I think come with tall ball joints, but can't remember.

The Speedtech uppers are $40 more than the UMI. Save the money on the lower, get the knock-offs, and spend an extra $40 for the Speedtech uppers. You might even get a deal from Speedtech if you're buying the spindles.


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[HWYSTR455]

The Global West ones are right inbetween those two in price:

https://www.globalwest.net/cta-42a.html


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[PontiacMatt72]

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

Like I said, the knock-off tubular lower arms are fine, I run them in the 442, held them right next to a set of GWs and measured roughly without seeing any diff. Again, just change the ball joint.
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Ordered a set of the “knock-off” tubular lower control arms, along with some proforged ball joints (uppers and lowers). Already have a set of used GW tubular upper control arms.

I assume the sway bar links that come on the “knock-off” lower arms are sufficient? They (sway bar end links) have some adjustability to them… any tips or tricks to getting that adjustment set correctly?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[HWYSTR455]

When the car is on the ground, the ends of the sway bar should be parallel to the ground. That is what's considered a neutral setting and is the baseline.

If the car feels like it has a better turn-in going to the left or right, you shorten the opposite end link. But most people just leave it in the neutral setting.

You can use corner weights to help determine which side you might need to tighten/loosen, but it's to some degree a personal preference. Driver weight/load does play a part.



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[JLMounce]

Originally Posted by PontiacMatt72

Ordered a set of the “knock-off” tubular lower control arms, along with some proforged ball joints (uppers and lowers). Already have a set of used GW tubular upper control arms.

I assume the sway bar links that come on the “knock-off” lower arms are sufficient? They (sway bar end links) have some adjustability to them… any tips or tricks to getting that adjustment set correctly?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The adjustable links that come on the arms don't pose any mechanical issues, but the heim joints used in them are typically quite loose and are noisy while you drive the car.

You may wish to use some spray lithium grease on the heims to help with this. Or get these from Global West which will be a better item.

[JLMounce]

Originally Posted by chiphead

Thanks for the explanation. So I'm pricing it out.

When I add up what a SPC/AFX/18" wheel conversion will cost, it adds up to about $5500.

I can do UMI/AFX/18 wheels for roughly $4700. So the price difference is roughly 700-1100. I can put that toward the springs/swaybars.

Will I notice the difference between UMI and SPC? My application is spirited street driving and backwoods carving but no auto x. What combo provides the best ROI for a street car?

How would you grade yourself as a performance driver? If you're a fairly average driver, on the street with a typical street tire, you're probably not going to notice a difference. If however you've spent a bit of time in real high perfomance driving events, racing schools etc. and you're running something like an Falken Azenis, R888 etc, you're probably going to come up against the car's limit.

These cars plow by nature, especially when you give them grip in the rear. That's going to be what you end up fighting as you get comfortable with the car. It's just the nature of how these things are built with tons of weight forward of the front wheels.

You counter this by adding a lot of negative camber gain, a lot of positive caster, and as much of the stickiest rubber you can fit in the front. This is where the SPC items will have an edge, with the ability to run quite a bit more positive caster.

So I think answering this question really is posing another question. How serious are you about how the car needs to perform? If this is a weekend toy that you can take through the hills and have some fun, I'd save the 1000-1500 and put it elsewhere. If you're trying to keep up with the modern stuff at Deals Gap, you're going to want to spend the extra.