I was wondering what it would take to fab up some boxed lower control arms for my 69 chevelle, what kind of steel should I use and is thier any heat treatment involved..Main question would be,Is it even possible??

Sure they make a kit for it all the big companies offer it like opg etc. or check ebay for a deal and it could be even cheaper.
Good Luck Dane

To fab up complete arms shouldn't be difficult... Just set up a jig and weld some steel... I don't know what type of steel is best...

Whats the purpose (drag-race launch or handling)? What are you trying to accomplish (save money?)? What are you after?


I took my stock arms and welded a 1/4" steel plate along the entire bottom...

Never had problems, but I don't know if it really improved anything...

Now I use Global West lower arms...

sorry i havent gotten back, ive been working on installing a locker in my friends jeep. I just want her to handle the road alot better and maybe see a little road course action down the road.

Thanks for all the replies, but if anyone knows what kind of steel i should use i would really appreciate it, cause i dont want to be taking a hard corner and one of those things snap :eek: :eek:

Look here:

http://www.chevelles.com/techref/ftecref16.html

Good Luck.

I would use 1.25x2.5x.120 wall mild steel square tubing , that is what some of the aftermarket ones are made from, or you could use round 1.5 inch .120 wall I have seen aftermarket ones made from this also. I am going to build a set from each and see which is better. I think using the square tubing would be easier. I would build a fixture based on the stock arms center to center bushing dimensions and go from there.

Check these out

http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=191757&prmenbr=361

Any ideas on what to use for bushings? Where do you get the poly bushings like the ones used in aftermarket arms? As soon as I find a suitable bushings I'm making my own.

Peter

If you can locate a set of SSM Lift bars to look at, you'll have an excellent idea of what to make. I think it would be much easier to use square tubing for arms than round. Mounting a sway bar would be much easier, too.

If you want to make rectangular ones use 1 1/2" X 3" X .125 structural tubing if you want round ones use 1 5/8 X .156 DOM tubing . Niether of these need heat treating and can be welded with a mig welder if it is all you have access to.

You will also need some round tubing (DOM) for you to press your bushings into. For rectangulars I would use 2 1/4 " X .188" which has an ID of 1.875 pluss you will need a piece of 3/4" X .156" which has an ID of .437 (7/16) for your sway bar mounts and (which also stiffens the center of the tube ) and you can also use the 3/4" X .188" for the center sleeve of you bushing if you make your own.

For rounds 1 5/8 X .156" has an ID of 1.32" so the only other thing is you will need a piece of 3/4 X .156" for the center sleeve of you bushing.

The one snag you may run into is that most companys do not like to sell bushing for custom aplications so unless you have access to a lathe you may have trouble. If you do have a lathe than most bushing for rear control arms I would guess would be in the 80- 90A duromter range so you could buy a round solid tube of a 95A polyurthane and turn it down on a lathe and you would be all set.

You can also call some companies (bmr or hotchkis) and see what size there replacment poly bushings are and buy your DOM tubing to that size or buy as close as possible and bore out the ID of the tube to fit .

I would not use cromoly tubing unless you have a tig welder and are very experienced with welding cromoly. And even than I would not recomend heat treating cromoly. There are a lot of myths when it comes to stress relieving cromoly but I will not get into unless someone what that info.

Let me know if this is not enough info or if you need any other dimensions for the lower control arm.

LAter Stephe