i have cpp tubular arms and qa1 coilovers in the front with leafs and qa1 shocks in the back. larger than stock sway bars front and back all from cpp. i spent a ton of time on the net and couldnt find a better value. have had this setup on the car for two years now and love it. car was like a new car after i did that. best dollars i spent on the car

 

All you need are the stock arms.
Rebuild with polygraphite bushings.
Install tall upper ball joints.
Install good springs and shocks (Eibach and Bilstein work good for the price, only drops the front an inch)
Put a good alignment in it.
Fatter sway bar helps too.
Subframe connectors and poly or solid subframe bushings make a noticeable difference.

 

all true but the stock arms aren't as pretty! :noway:

 

Have you read David Pozzi's site on first gen suspension? If I started over today (on the front) I would use quality tubular uppers to improve the geometry, adjustable coil-overs, tall upper ball joints and frame connectors. I am still planning on the tall ball joints and connectors someday. Front disc brakes are a must as well IMO.

 

Sheesh. I forgot to mention that I already have the subframe connectors and solid subframe bushings. Factory disc brake car.

 

Take a look at this thread: http://www.camaros.net/forums/showthread.php?t=273962 It's got good information and may give you some ideas.

 

The SPC adjustable uppers are designed for taller ball joints. Stock uppers and a tall ball joint put the ball joint at a goofy angle at ride height. You can do it but it's not ideal. The SPC uppers with greaseable Delrin bushing won't break the bank. Delrin bushings for the stock lowers are a reasonably priced (~$150) alternative to tubulars, which don't really do much for you except to sit there and look pretty, kinda like my girlfriend.

 

I have a 67 Camaro RS that I have owned since 1997. I have Global West upper and lower tubular control arms with QA1 coilovers. The uppers have the tall ball joints installed. Also del-a-lum bushings are installed in both control arms. I have installed a Unisteer rack and pinion about 4 years ago. For the rear I have Hotchkis Sport leaf springs. For traction Caltracs have been installed. For rear shocks I have QA1 Stocker Star adjustable shocks. Also have aluminum body bushings and frame connectors. It rides excellent and with the QA1 shocks you don't feel any harsh bumps even crossing railroad tracks.

 

After looking at all the websites, I am leaning to the SPC arms, with koni classics, and the proper springs. Need to call SC & C to get their opinion on how tall of ball joint to go with for what I want to do. Either that or I will go with Global West with their springs and a tall ball joint with the Koni's. That should do it, along with a steering box from AGR or Lee. Hopefully I won't have to put my back and bones thru any more heavy wrenching under the car when this is done.

 

Yeah, if you've got the cash that works good. I'm running the SPC Stage 2+ package with the high durometer rubber upper bushings and also have the SPC lowers with ride height tuning kit and Bilstein shocks. They didn't have Delrin upper bushings when I got mine, and Al had said he had some issues with the other option which was rebuildable bearings. Also I don't know if the tall tie rod ends are still the same but the ones I got were way shorter than stock so I had to get special sleeves to connect the inners and outers together. I've got the part numbers for all that stuff somewhere if you wind up needing it. I also had to put another poly boot on top to act like a spacer since the one that came with them didn't contact the steering arm to get pushed down over the joint. The tall upper ball joints came with a little sleeve to function that way.

 

I'd like to just use my stock lowers but way back when I first got the car, I had the ball joints replaced. On one of them they couldn't get the best press fit so the shop indented the bore from the outside and used the glue or whatever they use to cement block liners in and installed the ball joint. Said they got a good press then. Car really hasn't been driven hardly in the years since that was done and I can't remember which side was the one they had to do and I don't know if I want to trust that. I will probably get the GW lowers to go with the SPC uppers as I am not crazy about the SPC lower arms dropping the car an inch. Would rather do that with springs.

 

I'd like to just use my stock lowers but way back when I first got the car, I had the ball joints replaced. On one of them they couldn't get the best press fit so the shop indented the bore from the outside and used the glue or whatever they use to cement block liners in and installed the ball joint. Said they got a good press then. Car really hasn't been driven hardly in the years since that was done and I can't remember which side was the one they had to do and I don't know if I want to trust that.

I believe that Moog makes a "problem solver" ball joint that has a slightly bigger OD for a tighter press fit. Failing that, it would be no sin to put 2 or 3 good tack welds on it. The DSE Delrin LCA bushings are made with steel sleeves so that they can also be tacked should the bushing bore be slightly enlarged or out of round. http://www.detroitspeed.com/1967-1969-F-Body-products/030201-lca-bushings.html

 

X2 on the cpp kit I have had it on my car for one summer and it drives 100x better then it did before

 

CPP doesn't interest me because I can find no evidence they do their own research and track testing. Seems they copy the ones that come from companies that do their own testing and research. For me, that doesn't cut it.

 

Certainly nothing wrong with new lowers.

I've never had my SPC uppers loosen. The pivots are attached with lock nuts, the adj sleeves have huge nuts (like those of us running them) and it takes a big wrench to tighten them. Red loctite would be cheap insurance. I also went with the aluminum hex adjusting sleeve which allows you to put a wrench on it and tighten it against the nut. Worthwhile upgrade in my opinion. Compared to the beating the LCA takes, the upper is more or less along for the ride.

I forgot to mention earlier - at least on my car - I had to trim a small amount away from each inner fender at the front of the upper a-arms for clearance. I can post a picture if you'd like.

 

I forgot to mention earlier - at least on my car - I had to trim a small amount away from each inner fender at the front of the upper a-arms for clearance. I can post a picture if you'd like.

I need to. At the time I elected to grab them with channel locks and bend them. Trimming and some panel edging would be a lot cleaner but I don't drive around with the hood up or show the car.

 

 

Thanks for the pic. I wonder why some cars need to be trimmed while others don't?

 

2x on the SC&C and SPC. Mark is always a wealth of information and installation advice. I was lucky and had no issue with inner fender clearance. Love the result.

 

I have the SPC uppers and stock lowers with the delrin grease-able bushings installed. I've had no issues with the uppers. Did my own alignment and was within a .5 degree when taken to the alignment shop.
Hotchkis rear 1.5" drop leafs with their shocks. Hotchkis 2" drop coils up front with Varishocks and the Hotchkis front sway bar.
Handles great and I'm waiting to take to a track day to see what she can really do!

 

Is that a ground wire clamped to the upper Al? Testing something during the photo shoot?

 

Yep - ground for the battery tender is all.

 

To all running the SPC uppers with the tall ball joint. How tall of a ball joint are you running, .5 or 1 inch. What diameter wheel and backspacing do you have. Just got off the phone with S C & C, and I am going to have to go to the shop and measure the clearance I have now with the standard ball joint and upper and the wheel. I have 15 x 8 rallys with 4.5 backspacing and Marc said I may have some troubles getting everything to clear. Man, it is literally always something.

 

I can't remember which ball joint I got. I know it was pro-forged though. But I couldn't help anyway as I'm running 17x8 up front.
Here's a couple of pics to give you an idea. The second one I believe is deceiving. It doesn't appear that the wheel would even come close to the arm.


This is looking down

 

Well, if the bottom pic is showing the end of the a arm in relationship to the inside of the rim, depending on your backspace I might be alright. I have to imagine you are running about 5 inch B.S. and it looks like you have about an inch clearance. I will measure anyways. Thanks for the pics.

 

What brand of control arms are in the picture in thread #29? I don't like the tubular arms that are screwed together. I bought these global west arms 10 yrs ago and haven't had any problems.

 

Those are the SPC arms.

 

Those are Global West control arms. They have the GW sticker on them and you can compare that pic to the ones on the GW website.

Here''s the deal with my car. I am playing phone tag with Marc at S C & C. I have taken pics of my suspension as the car sits at the paint shop. It appears there is room for .5 inch taller ball joints. I think the .5 inch longer tie rods will work also. Problem is, there are hardly any shims on the crossmember so what looks like plenty of room might not be enough. I like the Rally Wheel look on 69's and am not ready to ditch my 15 inch wheels. If I can't get the tall ball joints to work, I will go with the Detroit Speed upper and lower arms as they swear their geometry and contrustion will keep the tire contact patch level with the road and the top of the tire won't lean out. Thought briefly about the G mod, not crazy about the wheel sitting back of center in the wheel opening.

 

Marc at S C & C gave the nod to use the taller upper ball joint. All related parts have been ordered. Thanks for all the input.