[ctrghtous]

Have my Camaro at a friend's shop. He tore the front end apart and one of the lower control arms was bent too badly to put a bushing back in.

I looked around and found some tubular lower control arms at Summit for $25x a pair. They have some positive caster and a 2" drop.

I thought as long as I have the control arms off I should probably put new springs in. Talked to the guys over at SC&C and they said a 600# hotchis spring would be a good choice, but those springs only come in 2" drop, and I think 4" drop might be a little much. I saw at Summit that I can order a spring rate x height x width, but I have no idea how big I need.

I would like to do the AFX kit for the uppers that SC&C has at some point down the road, but right now I need to buy more equipment with that money rather than put it into the Camaro.

a couple of questions:
1. is there a better cost effective lower control arm? I'm not super concerned about tubulars more cost, and a stock replacement was around $200.

2. what size are the springs for stock height for the front of my car.


btw, my car is a factory air car, with small block and aluminum heads for front end weight.

Also, 16" wheels, not sure of the tire size.

[DOUG G]

What are your plans for the car as far as use ?? Weekend cruiser, street strip, protouring ?
IF it's one of the first 2...some good used ones can be found fairly cheap...And not all tubulars are of a decent quality.

[ctrghtous]

The car has only been a weekend cruiser. I don't think that will ever change, but I would like it to handle more like my modern cars.

[ctrghtous]

my original thought was to find some reproduction replacements but for $250 for the pair it seemed cool just to have tubulars, and then I could lower the car too, then the spring issue came up.

[DOUG G]

What IF you bought the tubed ones and a stock spring ?
I have Moog stock replacement Z-28 springs on the front of my 68...they sat too high and I had to cut them for the ride height I'm at now. I cut 2.25"

[BobKovacs]

I don't think I've ever seen a 2" drop built into a lower control arm- the drop is usually done either with a drop spindle (bad idea) or a shorter spring. I'm not even sure how you'd do that with the LCA, unless the spring mounting area was recessed 2"....

[ctrghtous]

I found some tubular stock replacement LCA on ebay for $170 and picked them up. I am ordering some hotchkis 2" drop springs, a new front swaybar, and the stage 2 plus kit from SC&C with the upper control arms, tall spindle and tie rod ends. Should help out the suspension quite a bit.