SPC front lower control arms with Howe balljoints for 68-72 Chevelle

[Blown353]

Originally Posted by camcojb

blah blah blah... just get it done.

Lol!

As soon as I'm done with this 67 El Camino I'm back on my car... Honest!

I actually did start to work on it about a month ago only to mess up the upper ball joint tapers in my ATS spindles and stop any forward progress... Now I have to machine out the old messed up upper inserts, machine new upper inserts, and shrink fit the new inserts into the spindles with liquid nitrogen.

Speedtech doesn't make the ATS spindles with the ball joint taper inserts anymore and don't have any leftover inserts, so I can't send them in for repair and have to fix them myself. But that's what I get for letting the car sit for 10 years and forgetting what ball joint taper I ordered the spindles in... Went to install my new upper control arms and tried installing a 1.5 in 12 taper stud into a 2.0 in 12 taper spindle... Oops. Should have paid more attention before tightening the nuts. Damage was bad enough a taper reamer wouldn't clean up the spindle, now I've got a mess to fix.

[Che70velle]

I’m running the CTA-42EXT setup on the front of my Chevelle and love them. Also running the upper extended travel coil over mounts from Global West. Great stuff.

[Blown353]

Originally Posted by Che70velle

I’m running the CTA-42EXT setup on the front of my Chevelle and love them. Also running the upper extended travel coil over mounts from Global West. Great stuff.

We used the CTA-42EXT arms on my friend's 70 Chevelle and I really like them. We did press out the regular ball joints GW provided and installed Howe tall modular ball joints in them after honing the GW arms for a proper press fit of the ball joint housing (they were a little out of round from welding and *way* too tight on the press fit which caused slight sticking/binding of the Howe ball joints.)

The problem on my application is I ran a b body spindle swap on my car years ago when it was the only real upgrade option, and then upgraded to ATS spindles once they came out-- so I bought the ATS spindles with a B/F body ball joint taper so I could install them without changing my existing arms or ball joints. So now I need new lower arms with the B/F body 2 in 12 taper ball joint studs to fit the spindles. If I buy the QA1 arms that already have modular ball joints all I have to do is buy the correct B/F body studs and install them which takes 5 minutes, but if I buy the GW CTA-42EXT arms I have to press out the provided ball joints, measure the press fit and hone the arms to size if needed, and then press in new ones (either Howe or QA1 since I can get them with an A body housing, stock style B/F body ball joints have a larger housing OD than A body ball joints and need the housings turned down to fit.)

Need to order the new lower arms, fix the spindles, and tack in the upper coilovers mounts so I can mock up the front end, figure out what length coil overs I need, then get those ordered. Then it's time to pull the body off the frame and install the hellwig frame FX kit and fully seam weld the frame and get the Alston torque arm installed. Already have the Fays2 watts link installed, and last year I welded the Miller floater hubs and torque arm mount on the new currie housing.

I've got so many new parts stashed in boxes that I've purchased over the last 11 years while the car has been sitting broken it's not funny...