Kacyc3

What is everyone running and wheres the best price?

Street Rat

Global West from Summit Racing.

mac79vette

Van Steel on mine.

babbah

Van Steel

Solid LT1

SPC performance or the Shark Bite ones are what I have used.

diehrd

TRZ on mine

CraigH

Ordered Global West from Summit on the weekend

Metalhead140

Global West on mine. Nice gear.

TCracingCA

The latest are the SPC Race units (Delrin), but you have to know what you are doing to put them on a car! Someone with some smarts is needed. First they sell the same configured unit (no dedicated left or right side is sold), and you have to take one apart to flip it. Then mount it for the most clearance in relationship to your shaft mounting. I changed mine to 4 hole ball joints, so I could run the Howard's precision ball joints. I was out at Willow Springs watching an SPC arm break on a 180mph car that was installed by someone at Guldstrand Engineering a while back, that just bolted them on with no thought of long side or short side, or wider side down, not up! If installed properly, these should not ever break!

I also have stock arm units that are all welded and gusseted, one pair for solid bushings (tops concentrically drilled), and the other set has the Global West Delrin/Aluminum bushing which are really nice for street/track. I do have Global West Lower arms, but the top stock was good enough, due to my spreader bars and the reinforcements done!

00fxd

I have SPC's stuff on my car too. I think it's they're real thing. Lotsa bling out there.

Jeremy58Jeremy

I have the SPC arms also on my 69. I couldn't believe how much they sharpened up the handling. Make sure the guys installing them and aligning the car afterwards know what they are doing.

Kacyc3

I was looking at the SPC arms and googled them as I was weary of them. I saw a post where they broke on someone and Im not sure I want to try to figure them out as I will be putting them on myself and driving to an alignment shop. I was originally looking at globalwest but thought they used to less expensive for some reason and the vansteel arms are more expensive than GW.

69ttop502

I have been researching this as well. The thread where the SPC broke, if it is the same one I read, was because they were installed improperly. Global West seems to be thought of as very strong with no negatives except cost. Also saw a post where a vendor recommended using upper and lowers from the same manufacturer. Love the Global West extended travel lowers to use with coilovers.

TCracingCA

Therefore being race car parts, you need more knowledge! Even the geometry of the arm dimensions has to be mimicked essentially is what you are buying for these designated Corvette arms! They are component based, so these actually can be universally changed to fit other cars! So on the setup, you want to not change the dimensions on as constructed and adjusted! To flip the components you use the other as a mirror opposite pattern and get them on the car! The droop clearance is the precautionary thing to check on! Ya to smooth out the mounting I took a dremel to my setup and also ran spacer washers to move them out (remember no shims are going to be needed, because it is all race car adjustment work)! So you get them on the car dimensionally as they are sold and then go crazy on suspension alignments (castor/camber)!

That break is the incident!!!!- where the installer completely was only qualified to install true bolt on parts! A stupid person caused a bad rap!!!!!! One arm was installed backwards and upside down compromising the droop clearance and it wasn't a part failure. But an interference (hitting) of the damn frame that snapped the component, because of a stupid installer! Just for that reason, no shop has worked on any of my cars in many many years! I was a friend of Guldstrand especially near the very end of his life, but that was not so for many years because his shop guys did some crappy work on my 4340 rear spindles drilling for 1/2 long studs and couldn't get any of those drilled holes straight, and had no clue on slip fitting my rear bearings (lathe down the shaft bearing area) to a proper dimension! Bad work! I should have taken it to Dick, instead of walking out mad and letting years pass before repairing the relationship!
Unfortunately as he got older, he employed some ignorant clowns to do customer work in his shop! Just because the shop has a famous name on the building, doesn't give a guarantee of no mistakes or incompetence!

The ultimate handling requires full coilover! Not semi-coilover!!!!!!! But I would say most enthusiast here would be OK with better married springs to shocks and/or larger sway bars! Then a smaller percentage will go for the benefits of geometry changes, bump and double adjust shocks and the uppers arms sold give some castor improvement, but these are still old school shim type adjustment! And only a couple will convert to a full coilover! The Global West products seem to be the best thought out bushing design!!!!!!! Their arms and components are stout and deflection in competition or heavy performance driving are not compromised, like with some of the other aftermarket guy's components! Global West units won't break! They build superior level units that would be an upgrade to our cars! For the Corvette they don't have a top setup for the front can spring towers. So you end up with semi coilover like with the others! I am modifying the top of the front spring can to go full coilover or back to stock components by usage of a removable plate and a coilover spherical mount above that! If you look at the Global Wear kit for the muscle car top can modification, you can get an idea of how to modify the spring can bucket tops! I haven't made the cuts yet! As I am working on other areas of the car at the moment!

00fxd

TC, do you slip fit your rear bearings?

TCracingCA

I just think that bearings inherently want to spin and so does the axle and I like to pull them down often! I also have a lot of heim/spherical everywhere starting at my Holley linkages to my Long Shifter on my Richmond and down into my suspension! So ya! My mind causes me to free float my wrist pins even in my connecting rods and such! I think God spoke to me in a Muscle car dream I had! So looking at those Delrin /aluminum suspension bushings pushed all of my happy buttons!

PS back on the SPC arms because these are race car adjustable type units, it is easy to get them far out of adjustment in relationship to the Corvette arm dimensions when going for the alignment!! You have to be capable of three dimensional type thinking! On certain days I can't do that, and get headaches! I usually only try to do an alignment on good days only! But it would be wise to dimensionally measure the lengths and hex rod adjustments etc (the triangular dimensions) just in case you have to start over!!!

CraigH

Out of interest who also changed the lowers ?

i notice global west have a normal and extended travel version for keeping max shock travel in lowered cars.

69ttop502

TC, could you elaborate on why the Global West arms will not support a full Coilover setup, if I am understanding you correctly. I am toying with the idea of going with their extended travel lower and their upper, and using the Ridetech Coilover to match my rear. Thanks!

TCracingCA

They do offer both types ( lower bolt in shock and the shafted bolt coilover attachments)! These are for those that have slammed their cars into the weeds, like me! When you cut the springs you should run a shorter shock, but most cram a conventional shock into the application! These arms get some of that distance back! But I am planning to go up on my uppers and through these SPC arms to get distance back! Therefore I could also run the lowers with the modified upper mount and be capable of all kinds of length of spring and shock control! Bug in my rears I am only 4 inches of shock control. 3 in the compression and 1 inch in the extension rebound past static! With my multiple link I have to factor the limited suspension upward travel capability and the reality of road depressions and extension hopefully under shock control! The suspension will go into binding or movement limitations up and down, so not ideal to loose travel and that is why you build in heavy duty and expect harsh ride! Therefore do I want more suspension travel under shock control in my front suspension? Marginally so in relationship to the race car set up rear!

TCracingCA

Therefore like the QA shocks have that type of top! Therefore those don't have a spherical top or bearing and are called a semi coilover ( the top is locked in and the spring top rests in the can)! The terminology is kind if messed up! But I didn't name all of this stuff! The idea is to create a spherical/heim upper mount so you get the full movement and rotation of a coilover with proper upper and lower spherical/heims along with a spring married within the shocks control instead of the spring movement to you frame! But essentially the frame is the upper limit point to the spring, but you are trying to give it all free ability to move and rotate! Now their are top bracket/pin conversations pieces that use the pin hole mounting at the top, but have a heim/spherical bracket for a coilover heim/spherical connection, but you loose so much distance and that can severely limit your suspension travel (fine for a smooth track or race limited suspension movement application) and not good for the streets! A stock shock has about 5 inches of control, and then the car starts bouncing or tires start to leave the ground!