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Now what

wahya

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I bought lower
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control arms and had bushings and new pivot shafts pressed in, before having the old stuff removed. I also got upper control arms from pst. I told the alignment guy that the ride height was not set yet.
He called me out to the shop area and explained that with both cam bolts out as far as they would go, there was still a -2* plus on the camber and told me that something wasn’t right and thought maybe the new uppers were too short.
Well I took the car home (71 sat) set the ride to about 1 1/2 inch and I’m now at this, about 1/4 inch inward at top of rim.
These lower control arms (installed) are supposed to be for 70-72 b body, but maybe a little bit long its hard to tell. The holes for the shock absorber bolts don’t look the same for sure. Was wondering if the 1/4 inch would translate to about 1 degree negative camber, or go back to the old lowers that are in fine condition except for bad bushings.
 
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I think that you have control arms for an A body on the car!
Oddly, the A-Body control arms are 1/2" longer. Circle track guys would use them on B-Body cars to get crazy amounts of negative camber for better cornering.

The A-Body LCAS have that flat spot along the middle on the bottom edge. The B body LCAs have a gentle curve all the way along the bottom, sort of like the curve of a large banana.
 
Check this out...The arms I see in your picture look flat across the center of the bottom like an A-body arm:
A LCA 1.jpg

Now take a look at the measurement.

A LCA 2.jpg

That is approximately 12 1/2" center of mounting pin to ball joint.
Below are B body arms. Notice the curved bottom of both.

B LCA 1.jpg
B LCA 2.jpg

Now look at the measurement :

B LCA 3.jpg

This is approximately 12" even compared to the 12 1/2" on the A-Body LCA.
 
You will want a little negative camber for a nice handling car.
The alignment specs you might want can be found by looking up the numbers for a 2005 Mustang GT.
Tell the alignment guy to aim for those specs. He won't be able to achieve the same level of caster but you DO want some positive caster, as much as possible.
My '70 Charger is aligned at 3/4 degree negative camber, 4 1/2 degrees of POSitive caster and 1/8" toe IN. I got that much caster by using offset bushings in my stock UCAs.

DC 70 njafcaa.jpg
A 3A-2018 G.JPG
 
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Yikes! Getting expensive. I bought these back in June (may look familiar), so it sounds like I should get the original arms refurbished and put back in the car so that I have some adjustability. Maybe I can sell the A body arms to recoup some of the loss. Thanks for chiming in on this. It is hard to compare the arms when one pair is on the car.
Are the pivot shafts the same for A and B?
 
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No. The pivot shafts are different to dissuade this sort of thing from happening. The lower bushing is the same though so if one is dealing with a pile of parts, it is easy to make the mistake.
 
No. The pivot shafts are different to dissuade this sort of thing from happening. The lower bushing is the same though so if one is dealing with a pile of parts, it is easy to make the mistake.
Sounds like a lose, lose situation for me, since the pivots installed are b body pivots and getting the press man coordinated with the time of the change is most likely not going to happen. Sounds like a new set of pivots as well as the bushings are in my future. Anybody need some semi used pivots that can't stay in the a body arms?
 
Did you buy the LCAs from THIS guy ?
https://www.forbbodiesonly.com/moparforum/threads/b-body-lower-control-arms.173955/

If so, I suggest that you contact him to see if he will refund your money. Maybe he either shipped the wrong parts without knowing? Measuring them will be the only sure way to determine which chassis they are supposed to fit.
All is not lost though. IF they are for an A-body car, they are still desireable and will be worth money. The LCAs with the sway bar tabs are always more in demand than the ones without.
 
Yep, those are the ones. I was thinking that all the hard work was done on them and they have new pst pivots and bushings, but now, from what your telling me, the shafts are wrong for a's.
 
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No. The pivot shafts are different to dissuade this sort of thing from happening. The lower bushing is the same though so if one is dealing with a pile of parts, it is easy to make the mistake.
The shaft on top was taken from my 71. The one at bottom is from the purchased control arm (a body). Now,what year would the purchased arm be? Every one on eBag that has sway bar tabs, has them out near the wheel. I'm lost.
 
I'll have to look at my LCAs out back.
 
Possibly 73-76 a's (found old ad)
 
The lower control arms have a stamping in them on the front by the rivets somewhere to identify them. VL for A-body and RW for B-body
 
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IMG_5830.JPG
Yep, sure enough VL on bought ones and RW on originals. The left one has LF and the right RF stamped below the RW.
Getting practiced on removing outer shells with dremel cutting wheels, diagonal wire cutters and vise grips.
 
Easiest way, is to get the right size coarse tap (don't remember the size), that will clear the bushing hole.
Turn the tap in, at least halfway into the bushing shell, and press against the end of the tap. Slips right out!
 
I think that you have control arms for an A body on the car!
Oddly, the A-Body control arms are 1/2" longer. Circle track guys would use them on B-Body cars to get crazy amounts of negative camber for better cornering.
Can't believe its been a month already. I'm getting ready to put the original lca's back on. I had considered using offset bushings on the uppers, or possibly getting adjustable uca's. Just wondering if that would have been a viable option(close to an inch wider track).
 
The offset bushings are great and they don't cost that much.
 
It would have been the cheaper way for sure. I refurbished the original arms and like I said getting ready to put them in. Thinking about selling the a body arms with the new (b body) pivots and bushings as is, before removing the pivots and selling just the arms.
 
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