Tubular Control Arms

Front upper Tubular control arms for an A Body, is there much available other than the QA1 stuff?

What have people used?

I have Reilly MotorSports tubular uppers.

I have what looks to be QA1 on my Roached Runner from Previous owner and I have Reilly Motorsports on my Challenger. Both work well.

I use the SPC on my Challenger and have been very happy. +5 caster

What is your goal by going to the tubular arms?

If the goal is a better range of adjustment, we have always just removed 1/4" or so from the stock rear arm combined with the offset bushings. Have done it many times. Works great with no problems. And lots cheaper than the tubular arms.

I am intending on building a tubular K frame, like the old LRT K frame, so I have a front steer R&P. To also gain more castor. It's not for a street car.

I have used Firm Feel Tubular UCA's on a few cars with no complaints.

Assuming you want to use the larger 73-76 balljoint there are a litany of option from ebay to Firm Feel. For minimum resistance I would choose an arm with heim joints. If using an arm with poly bushings make sure it is greasable and that you use the correct silicone grease. I have used ebay tubular control arms and grovved the poly bushing in a lathe along with adding grease zerks. Careful with shock clearance on the ebay stuff.

To get maximum downward travel (UCA travel down as body rises) the frame rail upper lip will need to be trimmed where it interferes with the UCA. At that rate your binding is at the ball joints. Using high angle ball joints would be something to try although you would be on a mission of discovery there. If you can physically get more travel there will be an alignment issues to correct, especially in the bump steer measurement.

That said, a Mustang II style strut suspension calls for 2.5 degrees positive caster in a light weight tube car. What are your alignment goals?

DaveRS23:

Can you please explain what you mean by "removed 1/4" or so from the stock rear arm"? The Moog offset bushings are pretty well known for increasing the adjustment range, but wasn't aware of any other mods to the control arm.

Thanks

I like the RMS upper control arms and strut rods. Mine have been on my car for almost 15 years and have done 9 drag weeks with no issues. My only complaint would be the ball joint boots have nothing to seat to so they just kind of exist and don't really seal up. That would probably be more of an more issue if I drove the car in all kinds of weather but I think the last time it got driven in much rain was Hurricane Florence in 2018 lol.

The A-arm mod goes back a long time - Jack Arnew was the guy back then at that stuff, and my ex-Hamburger had them.
A-arms are triangles, of course, so picture one as an upside down A, or more accurately a V.
Adding length to the front leg (Arnew) or subtracting length from the back leg, moves the point where they join backwards.
That tilts the spindle rearward at the top, increasing camber. Mine ran about 7 degrees, though 5 is adequate.

Any competent machine shop can cut 1/4" or so out of the rear arm near to the bushing end and weld it back. Actually, it wouldn't take a machine shop. There is no particular amount. Anywhere around 1/4" can be removed without too much trouble and gets you where you want to be. I was first introduced to this by the phord guys in the 70s. And I have been doing it ever since. Even before I was aware of the Moog offset bushings.

I am in the planning phase at the moment. I intend on the car being legal for our local Super Stock classes here in Australia, so the front end has to be a bolt in deal. If I wasn't going down this road, I would just put long travel struts in the front.

Aim at this point will be to use the standard pivot points and work it our from there, The ideal would be to get 6 or more degrees of caster, and 5-6 inches of travel, but that may not be possible.

I have a QA1 k member, UCA's, adjustable strut rods and stock LCA's with Proforged greasable LCA pins. I have an easy 5.5-6" of travel and the front end it not slammed on the ground. 5-6 degrees of caster should be no problem. I dialed in 4.5 in about ten minutes so with some strut rod tuning you will be able to gain positive caster.

I used Proforged ball joint and ties rods with aluminum tie rod adjusters. The drag link, idler arm and pitman arm have been changed to the 73-76 -style for header clearance.

I have used QA1 stocker star shocks as well as Viking DA's with good results with a 4 speed on an unprepped surface.

You should have no issue obtaining your goals IMO.

Here we are at niominal ride height: