{DRIVETRAIN}boxed lower control arms

**DuceAnAHalf** · 01-03-2005, 07:12 PM

i got around to boxing in one of my lower control arms today total material cost is about $1 in welding wire

these are temporary till i convert to coil-overs with tubular arms with rod-ends or a torque arm, either way i will be using a watts-link

**Grand Marquis GT** · 01-03-2005, 07:36 PM

wow, nice...

looks like im gonna break out the welder

:welder:

**DuceAnAHalf** · 01-03-2005, 07:43 PM

the pieces need to be 1.75" by 14.5" you could extend them to 16.5" but you will need to bend them to fit the curves of the arms.

**DuceAnAHalf** · 01-05-2005, 06:02 PM

some people on the "other" site are trying to say that these will hurt the handeling and cause bind

**Grand Marquis GT** · 01-05-2005, 06:05 PM

YEah I read this and jotted down ur IM on AOL..

Idiots.

**Cogs** · 01-05-2005, 11:19 PM

People are dumbasses. I dunno much about suspension crap, but is this really gonna help? Hows this work? Is it good for the twisties, or drag racing? Also, what exactly are you converting later?

**Grand Marquis GT** · 01-05-2005, 11:26 PM

Me thinks it will halp in the twisies...

Duce, u should hop on AOL sometime... my sn is tomgrndmonkey

**DuceAnAHalf** · 01-05-2005, 11:36 PM

it will maintain the suspension geometry, which makes the handeling more predictable.
i am going to convert to coil-overs, tubular control arms with rod ends, possibly a torque arm, and a watts-link

**Paul_** · 01-05-2005, 11:38 PM

sounds cool, we want more pix

btw, i'm getting ideas for shifty. if i'm ever in florida, i'll have ya fab me up a set

**Cogs** · 01-05-2005, 11:38 PM

Sweet, maybe I'll give this a try when I learn to weld. lol.

**Grand Marquis GT** · 01-05-2005, 11:48 PM

I should weld up some....

**Paul_** · 01-05-2005, 11:51 PM

that could be a side business,lol

**Grand Marquis GT** · 01-06-2005, 12:49 AM

Just another thing we could sell at the GMN performance Panther Shop, lol

**DuceAnAHalf** · 01-06-2005, 08:30 AM

our local u-pull-it yard is full of box-bodies i could pull some sets and weld them up, id just need some sway bar sleeves, as for bushings those could be done afterwards

**SleepyMerc** · 01-08-2005, 09:18 AM

Originally Posted by Cogs

People are dumbasses. I dunno much about suspension crap, but is this really gonna help? Hows this work? Is it good for the twisties, or drag racing? Also, what exactly are you converting later?

It'll help all around. Any deflection, whether in the frame or suspension components, consumes reaction time, so it can't hurt acceleartion off the line. And like Duceandahalf said it helps maintain consistency in the corners. The Mustang guys get hung up on bind because Mustangs will bind with hard urethane or solid aluminum bushings, mostly because the control arms really made too short cuz of space issues. Besides that, the lower also has to bear the stress of the spring on a Mustang. That's why the 05 stang has a 3-link w/panhard bar.

This is a great mod. General Motors did it as a 'factory mod' on their mid size cars starting in 70 on cars that had factory sway bars (A-bodies had a 4-link similar to mustangs). The sway bar just connected to the lower control arms and didn't connect to the frame at all.

**Grand Marquis GT** · 01-08-2005, 01:05 PM

:stupid:

Well said, sleepy!

**DarkBlueMerc** · 03-25-2010, 05:11 PM

What size plate did you use to box them? I'd like to do this to my car soon.

**DuceAnAHalf** · 03-26-2010, 03:04 PM

Originally Posted by DarkBlueMerc

What size plate did you use to box them? I'd like to do this to my car soon.

i think it was 1/8"

**87CrownVic** · 04-25-2010, 05:55 PM

Is there any measurable advantage/disadvantage to boxing the upper control arms? I recently boxed the lowers and was thinking, why not box the uppers as well? I searched around the forum but didn't find any talk of this one way or the other...

**Bowman85merc** · 04-25-2010, 10:07 PM

Originally Posted by 87CrownVic

Is there any measurable advantage/disadvantage to boxing the upper control arms? I recently boxed the lowers and was thinking, why not box the uppers as well? I searched around the forum but didn't find any talk of this one way or the other...

I heard that if you box the uppers that it would cause binding, but im not 100% sure.

------

But I forgot to post my LCA's, I finished them about 2 months ago.

First, I got the LCA's off of a PI because they are made of 12 gauge steel, instead of 14 gauge civi ones, so they are already stronger than my factory ones. Then I fully boxed them with 3/16" diamond plate steel.

I haven't gotten around to installing them yet, but I can't wait to see the difference.

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