Advice on boxing LCA's........

[WH1]

What materials (specifications) do I need to box my lower control arms? Any special tips or tricks? Thanks.

[Pronto]

If interested I have a set of LCAs for you to box. $40+shipping.

[WH1]

O.k., thanks for the info guys. Thanks for the offer on the LCA's but I've got a couple of spare sets in my shed right now.

[KenMosher]

You need a welder and some sheet metal.

Get some new bushings for the LCA while they are out, yours are almost certainly shot.

HRPARTSNSTUFF has bushings, and they sell a kit with the metal pre cut is you dont want to do that yourself

I boxed mine with some 1/4" plate steel ...

First, tack the sway bar spacers in place, then cut a cardboard pattern out for the plate.

Cut the plate to the pattern.

Then grind down the edges clean and weld the plate.

After I was done welding, I pressed the bushings out (I used a press, but some folks have been able to do it with a vice) and replaced them with polys.

It was pretty straight forward ... except for the fact that I SUCK at making pretty welds! :yaya:

[HairDrier]

You need a welder and some sheet metal.

Get some new bushings for the LCA while they are out, yours are almost certainly shot.

HRPARTSNSTUFF has bushings, and they sell a kit with the metal pre cut is you dont want to do that yourself

[jmidolo]

You need a welder and some sheet metal.

Get some new bushings for the LCA while they are out, yours are almost certainly shot.

HRPARTSNSTUFF has bushings, and they sell a kit with the metal pre cut is you dont want to do that yourself


I am going to use theirs..It looks very nice. The tool will come in handy too.

[HairDrier]

WTF, I was the first to respond to this thread now I am like the fourth one down. :albert:

I am lazy and i bought the HR pre cut pieces of steel. They werent 1/4" though, thats pretty thick, more like 1/8. The stock LCA is not made of 1/4" not even close

[Rick]

I bought the Metco LCA. Much cheaper to box your own though and it is great not having anymore wheel hop!!

[Roger]

I know it's cheaper to box your own - IF you have a welder.

I bought HRPartsNStuff complete with greasable busuings & very well made. Installed them in less than an hour.

[jmidolo]

I ordered mine (HRParts) yesterday along w/my Bilsteins. Time to do a little suspension work.

[Ross]

I went with BMR tubular LCAs. I got them on sale from www.ls1speed.com who already had the lowest price on them to start w/. They are very easy to install and of high quality. They have poly bushings and grease fittings.
I could definitely tell a difference when I took the car out for a drive.

Ross

[Ross]

Here's a pic.
http://images.cardomain.com/member_images/10/web/442000-442999/442836_9_full.jpg

[mike85gn]

I'm doing mine myself with new poly bushings from PST, although if I didn't have a machinist and welder handy, I'd probably go for the HRPARTSNSTUFF package.

[granitestategn]

Did mine last year. Bought a couple used LCA's off of ebay for $15. Came off a southern car, very little rust on them. Bought the boxing kit and poly bushings from HRPARTSNSTUFF. Nice kit. Makes it easy if your lazy like me. Cleaned up the used lowers with a grinder and wire wheel. Ran bolts thru the swaybar bolt spacer inside the LCA and welded that first. Then welded the sheet metal LCA boxing plate. After that I pressed out the old bushings. They only come out one side. They're flanged. Pressed in the new aluminum bushing shells. They only go in one way also. Painted the LCA's orange. Just kidding. I painted them black. (what else?) I used a hydraulic press to press the bushings out. I used an arbor press to press in the new shells. Be careful if the press you use is hydraulic. You can squash the control arm. The arbor press worked slicker than a minnow's dick. BTW, I welded the first control arm. It looked so ugly that I had one of the guys working for me do the second one. Then I took the grinder to the one I did to make it look presentable. :ooops: One of these days I'm gonna put them on the car. They sure look nice on the workbench though. :box:

[jmidolo]

Hey Gregg, glad to see you found us!! :)

I usually have my father in law do my welding. I've never tried, but was going to have at it w/my lowers. Gotta learn someday and figured I'd give this a whirl w/his help.

[granitestategn]

Yeah, I've been pokin around a little. Not much time to do it anymore. Budget time at work. I see by your post count you've been livin here. :beer: Are you guys hiring? I know nothing about computers but I've got enough mechanical BS to make it another 20 years til retirement. :albert: I don't have my own welder yet but I'm workin on it. I've got my eye on a Lincoln 135 Amp 230 volt single phase MIG welder that we got at work from a mill that shut down up in Maine. We don't use 230 V single phase at work so I need to talk my boss into selling it to me cheap. Welding isn't difficult, especially with MIG, but it sure helps to practice. I got an A in it in college. I cross enrolled into the local ag & tech college for one of my free electives. One of the more useful classes I took. Give it a try. It's fun.