Spawn22, did you purchase those arms from West Central Auto? I have a set coming next week.

Art I have not order the tubular A arms yet, but I don't think I will be ordering them from Global West. Spartan Rods makes a similar tubular A arms for tall spindle that I think I will purchase next month.

Those are the ones I ordered. I was told Spartan did not sell direct. West Central has them for $299.

The control arms came today and I must say they look good. I have used Hotchkis twice in the past and I always thought their stuff was overpriced.

I just purchased a set from West Central auto on Ebay for 299.00, shipping is 18.00. I went to West Centrals web site and they had a link to Ebay sales and they had a set listed with 2 days left and a buy it now option. I used the buy it now. Also they have the turned down ball joints on the website for only 49.00/pair instead of 98.00 at some other web site. and I like the way they are built. THANKS FOR THE INFO


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&category=33583&item=2447251507

http://www.westcentralauto.com/chevelle.htm

Just got My upper control arms from West Central Auto they are excellent. The welds look great, the powder coating is great, and I like the way the ball joint mounting plate is strengthened. No worry about ball joint plate deflection. They came with urethane upper snubbers and I ordered the ball joints for the lower control arms yesterday. I'm very satisfied.

I am glad to hear other TC members using Spartan, I am going to order them right after Christmas. How long did it take to have them shipped?

I also agree on the Hotchkis being over priced, I saw a "jobber" 15 discount, but that still was like $490.00 for the same exact Tubular A arms from Spartan.

Please keep me informed on the install, I will be picking you guys brain about those procedures. I will also be going with the 12 inch disc brake and tall spindles.

I ordered them the 11th and they were here the 17th. I have off between Christmas and New Years so I hope to get the front end rebuilt that week. I'm putting on 78 Camaro spindels and disc brakes. I got My rotors on Ebay from Kim's Garage they are sent direct from a company called IROTORS. They are cross drilled and slotted with studs installed and they are galvanized so they won't rust. Paid 115.00 with the shipping. I got My calipers from Autozone about 12.00 each rebuilt.

ricks_67

What is the part number for the Calipers at autozone, what master Cylinder will you be using 1"inch or 1-1/8"? I am going to try to find those rotors as well on Ebay, are the the 1LE rotors from 1988-1992 Camaro/Firebird? what about backing plates, proportioning valves?

the rotors I got were for a 70-78 camaro. they have the hub right on them. the numbers on my receipt for the calipers are 208736 c222 and 208728 c223. $11.99 with cores if you don't have cores it's $10.00 more each. I'm looking into useing an aluminum master cyl probably from a chrysler corp.car or truck. I already have a wilwood adjustable proportioning valve plumbed into the rear brake lines. I reused my splash shields just cleaned them up and found a truck silver paint and clear coat paint. but I think You can buy replacements. I ground down all the casting seams & most of all the number stampings on the spindles and the calipers and somewhat polished them and painted the spindles with cast blast paint and the calipers I used VHT hitemp caliper paint gloss black. I have Russell stainless steel braided lines with the adapter fitting for the caliper. You can get the lines with the banjo fitting already installed, but I had these line on my drum setup. so I opted for the adapter. I'll post pixs when I get it done. Auto Zone also has replacement caliper guide bolts for 3.39 or 3.99 per side.

I love it when a plan comes together! graemlins/thumbsup.gif

I was hoping that by making my own arms, I could show people that it wasn't all that difficult. I also hoped someone would take the cue and start making some affordable arms for Chevelle owners.

After I made these and posted the info and the pics, the owner of Spartan contacted me and we chatted for a while. I gave him my dimensions and told him of the issues that I ran into. I'm glad he made it work, and I'm glad people finally have an affordable alternative to the two big names in the business.

BTW, in case anyone is wondering, my home-made arms now have over 15,000 miles on them with no problems.

That's cheap enough. Fat Man soaked me for $900.00 For a full set of SS arms 5 years ago.

But they were what I wanted at the time.

Troy-Curt

Thank You CJ. I've been thinking about doing this swap for awhile but the cost of the control arms kept putting it off. I started getting everything ready(cleaning and painting) but still wasn't sure which ones to get. I looked at the Pole Position arms and was going to get there's until I saw the post on these last week. After seeing them, 349.00 is still a bargin over the others. And the quality is Great.
I went to Your web page and looked at your set(nice job), I saw a problem I'm going to have though. I already have 2" lowering springs in the car from the drum brake set up. I'm thinking of putting in one of those rubber rings first and seeing how much that will raise the car.

Do we know how these arms effect geometry?

Andrew

Originally posted by andrewb70:
Do we know how these arms effect geometry?

Andrew They don't. We still measure the world the same way we always have. ;)

Seriously, I haven't done the math on mine. I just struck a compromise between the Hotchkis and the Global West upper arms. I have no idea what dimensions Spartan ended up using for theirs. It would be interesting to get the measurements.

Do any of you guys still have the Spartan arms off of the car? You can use this drawing (http://landry-family.com/tubular/drawing.jpg) for a guideline as to what measurements are important.

That's alot cheaper than Hotchkis or GW but I'm still trying to figure how the circle track guys ie. AFCO or Howe are selling theirs for around 40.00 each with bushings. I am trying to figure out which arms would be close enough to work on an A body. If I get a good part number I'll you all know. $100.00/pair for arms and ball joints would be a good buy.

As far as the geometry goes I don't know nothing about that except for what I've read about tall spindles improving geometry, but these are the alignment specs. Spartan gave Me with the control arms. camber 0 degrees, caster 4 degrees+, toe in 1/16"

just to through this out there, here is what i did up front:
Donor B-body 12”, (78-84),(85-90 stronger & lighter)or(91-96 w/ABS)Rudy (703) 594-3900
-Rotors w/ 5 on 4-3/4” lug pattern (‘88-‘92 Camaro 1LE ebay $140+)I’m not using
-Spindles, backing plates, rotors, ‘90 Caprice 12” -----------------------------------------$ 100
-Bearings, ‘90 Caprice, Timken set 6, set 3 & seals 8871 --------------------------------$ 40
-Control arms, adjustable polepossition (888) 303-8555----------------------------------$ 280
9200M5 (8.25” –10”) w/metric steel cross shaft/ bolt in ball joint plate,
Requested: 5” & 6” sleeves w/ midsized plate 6.5” cross shaft centers/oe pivots
-Control arms, lower stock ’70 Chevelle w/ oval bushing, boxed & galvanized ------$ had
-Polygraphite bushings. (Oval), ’70 Chevelle ----------------------------------------------$ 100
-Outer tie rod ends, ‘84 Buick Regal 2 x $12= ---------------------------------------------$ 24
-Tie rod sleeves ‘71 Chevelle 2 x $5 = -------------------------------------------------------$ 10
-Inner tie rods ‘71 Chevelle (’70 has smaller threads) -------------------------------------$ had
-Calipers, ‘70 Chevelle, 2 x $31 ---------------------------------------------------------------$ 62
-Pin, caliper ’70 Chevelle, Bendix H5002 2 x $7 -------------------------------------------$ 14
-Bolts, banjo, ’70 Chevelle Napa 82701 2 x $4 ---------------------------------------------$ 8
-Pads, ’70 Chevelle, Auto zone, Performance Friction Z-rated ---------------------------$ 40
-Hardware kit, has clip that holds pads in, Bendix H5500 ’70 Chevelle ----------------$ 2
-Ball joint, Lower, ’90 Caprice, stock, ( I Turned down to 2.012 dia.) 2 x $13 = ------$ 26
-Lug nuts, ’90 Caprice, ½” for caprice rotors only, .79 ea x 5 = ------------------------$ 4
-Hoses ‘69 Camaro, w/ Chevelle drum brake frame brackets Bendix 88520 2 x $21= $ 42

Attention CJ & Dennis:

CJ, I bought the West Central a-arms and really like them. Since I already had the cross shafts powder-coated & the ball joints(camaro) & bushings for the stock a-arms, they let me purchase just the tube arms for discount price. I thought that was really super of them. I dought other manufacters would do that. I haven't installed them yet so I'll be happy to check your dimensions with theirs & get back to you ASAP.

Dennis, I stock car race so I purchased a set of "AFCO" style a-arms. These had NO bushings(only a metal shaft to a metal sleeve with a grease zert, which could cause road noise & rough ride) & the cross shaft bracket on the frame had to be trimmed. Since the frame had painted, I wasn't about to start cutting on it. The bonus with this style arm is you can get them in different lenths.

Hope this helps. graemlins/thumbsup.gif
Merry Christmas to all and remember our Service Men & Women! graemlins/hurray.gif

Elmo

Finally ordered those Tubular A Arms from Spartan Rod works, they should be hear anytime. I think I am going to go with the Camaro Rotors for but cross drilled and slotted, 12 inch, I will take pictures for those who want to see progression.
Talked with the Eric from Spartan Rod works and he seems like a cool guy to do business with. Hopefully these arms work out great, and the fact that they are cheaper than Hotckis and Global West makes me happy!

The tubular A arms from Spartan came in today, and also the 1LE IRotors came in also. Spartans A arms look very good and clean as stated before by other members. For the 1LE IRotors they are very nice slotted cross drilled 12 inch rotors, only spent $110 including shipping for the front two. Pictures will be posted soon!

Oops!

Sorry Spawn... I will really try to find those spindles this weekend... Been really busy and the garage is so messy, I don't have room to move stuff to search for those spindles... But they better be there...

Tony

Tony I just emailed you, no pressure but I am waiting on only one thing, your spindles graemlins/thumbsup.gif