Author Topic: tubular UCA's...worth it?  (Read 6741 times)

Offline HP2

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Re: tubular UCA's...worth it?
« Reply #30 on: August 25, 2007 - 12:47:03 PM »
Not an answer, but some considerations;

CAPs are the cheapest. Firm Feel and Alterkations are very throughly engineered. Richard Ross @ Firm Feel and Bill Reilly @ Alterkation both have engineering backgrounds and loads of practical on the road and track experience to back up their products. Magnumforce I'm not too impressed with them over all, but their upper arms aren't too bad looking. I know nothing about PST or Just Suspenion's arms.

If cost really is an issue, you could always take a stock arm and an advertisment for some tubular arms to a fab shop in your area that specializes in race car fabrication. Show them the pic, give them the stock piece, and ask them to duplicate the stock arm in tubing with an extra 2 degrees of caster. Any shop with a spit can do it easily, and odds are they can do it for less than $300 a pair.
« Last Edit: August 25, 2007 - 12:57:18 PM by HP2 »




Offline amcmike

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Re: tubular UCA's...worth it?
« Reply #31 on: August 25, 2007 - 12:50:06 PM »
They are the most pricey, but from what I've seen so far, I like the magnumforce double adjustable.  You can adjust the camber and caster without unbolting them from the car and they come with Delrin bushings.  If someone see something better please let me know.
Mike
1970 Challenger
383, 727

Offline black71

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Re: tubular UCA's...worth it?
« Reply #32 on: August 27, 2007 - 08:36:22 PM »
guys i can't make up my mind... HELP!

Offline black71

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Re: tubular UCA's...worth it?
« Reply #33 on: August 30, 2007 - 12:11:40 AM »
anyone? i'm ready to order just don't know what ones

Offline PasiR

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Re: tubular UCA's...worth it?
« Reply #34 on: August 30, 2007 - 06:40:04 AM »
I have FFIs for my -71 SSP.  :thumbsup:

Offline Dave-R

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Re: tubular UCA's...worth it?
« Reply #35 on: August 30, 2007 - 06:49:54 AM »
Hey. Sometimes you just have to make your own decisions. It is your money after all. ;)

With my stock challenger UCAs I just set the bushes to max caster first and then adjust for 1.0 neg camber (I corner hard) and about 3mm toe-in.

With faster ratio manual steering and very wide (245s on 15x8 wheels) front tyres too much caster creates a lot of steering effort. So It is not in my best interest to dial in more than the stock UCAs allow.
I have actually no way of knowing exactly what the caster is I end up with as I can only measure camber (I know you can work it out from that but why bother?) but my best guess is it is about 2.5 degrees. That is not as much as I would like but more than enough to make the steering feel good without too much steering effort.

The result on the road is good. Very very much better than the stock alignment spec. No uneven tyre wear. Good cornering.

Offline HP2

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Re: tubular UCA's...worth it?
« Reply #36 on: August 30, 2007 - 07:05:11 AM »
anyone? i'm ready to order just don't know what ones

Are the arms all you need? Do you plan any future suspension changes? How are you going to use the car?

Offline black71

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Re: tubular UCA's...worth it?
« Reply #37 on: August 30, 2007 - 08:45:49 PM »
the arms are all i need..... i'm gonna beat the crao outta the car on the street (country roads) and take it to the strip occasionally

Offline amcmike

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Re: tubular UCA's...worth it?
« Reply #38 on: August 31, 2007 - 02:40:51 AM »
Call you few of the manufacturers and talk to them (don't buy until you've talked to all three!)  Usually they have lots of good points.

For me I like the Magnum Force ones for the adjustability and the fact you don't have to unbolt them to adjust while your setting the alignment (sounds like a pain to me).  Plus they are pretty close to the others in cost so if decide you would like more adjustment your not going to want to spend the money twice.

But HP2 has some concerns over their other products, so it would be nice to hear from those that have used them already.  We are still in bodywork and chassis stiffening mode so I have some time before the arms become a priority.

BTW, they are officially licensed Mopar parts.
« Last Edit: August 31, 2007 - 02:45:48 AM by amcmike »
Mike
1970 Challenger
383, 727

Offline HP2

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Re: tubular UCA's...worth it?
« Reply #39 on: August 31, 2007 - 08:50:16 AM »
On any control arm with a bushing, you don't need to remove them to make adjustments. The eccentric cam on the mounting point accomplishes this. Most arms that use rod ends that thread into the arm require you to remove the arm to thread them end in/out to set you alignment.

The thing I don't like about magnumforce's coil over sets is that they use the shock tower as a load point to support the entire nose of the car. These towers were never designe dto support that kind of load and over time, they will buckle the nose of your car to some extent, causing panel alignment and fitment problems. They have addressed this issue with one of their other versions, but the bracing supplied in that kit is the bes tlooking stuff. The Bill Reilly altekation kit is a much better thought out product, imo.   

For black71's application, any of them will do. Talking to them each will give you some insight to their philosophy, if that is important to you. If you just want some arms, then any of them will do. Call who ever is closest, who ever is cheapest. Sorry, there just isn't a huge amount of difference in this part to really set all the vendors apart from each other. It is kind of like choosing an air cleaner. They all work the same, they just accomplish it with a slightly different design. It basically comes down to only a few variations, straight arms, curved arms, and rubber, poly, delrin, or rod ends. For a basic street application, straight arms with poly bushings are more than enough. Personally, I like to deal with Richard Ross at Firm Feel because he is a racer, his products are all developed through an engineering approach that are tested though racing, and he's supported the mopar community for decades. He also offers loads of other products that are applicable to performance handling while retaining the stock configuration and layout. Since most of my racing has been in highly restrictive stock style classes, his products allow me to adhere to the rules and look original while gaining performance.