UB Machine Tubular A-Arms

What about unruly speed bumps or dips?

If using stock "style" rotors, calipers, spindles, etc, is there any gain from going from stockers to aftermarket a-arms? Besides the 5lbs per side?
 
Originally posted by jsta6
What about unruly speed bumps or dips?

If using stock "style" rotors, calipers, spindles, etc, is there any gain from going from stockers to aftermarket a-arms? Besides the 5lbs per side?
Click to expand...

Some kind of travel limiter like the cable between the lower arm and the frame could prevent that.

As for advantages, the Hotchkiss arms advertise a "negative roll" system. basically, they made the arm a little shorter than it needed to be. The resulting camber curve gives you more negative camber when the suspension is compressed.

I'd have to take measurements on the UB machine arms to see if they work the same way. If they do (and they don't have to be much shorter than stock to get the desired result, only a few millimeters will help a bunch) then there will be large improvements in front-end grip in turns.

Your other advantage, especially with the UBs over Hotchkiss, is steel bushings. Poly or rubber gets cooked by the downpipe on the passenger side. GlobalWest's arms can be ordered with a brass bushing for the same reason.
 
cool thanks, although the Robert Adams kit is cheap $670...
I was wondering if I can get the cost down to around $450.
 
hmm 450 maby without new springs and shocks hmm the my misc expenses thats minus the controll arms and the spindles where allmost 300 but i allso got shocks and some other ods and ends but! i got the stuff wholesale through my parts dept at work. spindles cost me 75.00 junk yard
 
So do the UB machine upper a-arms hit the frame or not with the stock spindles on full rebound?
 
havent hit the frame yet i was told the only way your gana get them to hit is if you have a wheels in the air launch that was my info from ub .
 
Well, you definitely peaked my interest so I called UB Machine.

The 14-0809-5R is the right number. You will need two of them like stated in the above post. Just flip one over and you have the other control arm for the other side of you car. $ 48.00 each.

They also stated that the part numbers are now a little confusing. Before the drag racers used the same part number..just flipping one over.

Now, the circle track guys are using 14-0809-5R and 14-0809-6L. He stated they they are the same as the 14-0809-5R just different numbers for some reason.

Ball Joints are #40-3203 at $11.95 each (Upper)

Here is the kicker and what worries me. They don't have bushings. They are metal to metal with a grease zert.

Is this normal?

I am posting a copy of their fax to me with a pic of it on the below website.

http://community.webshots.com/user/justabuickv6
 
Hey Mac..........what's your take on the ball joint alignment. I got an email that the alignment was not dead on. I have a photo but I can't post it here. I could email it to you but you don't have an address. The A arm looks too short and the ball joint stud is on an angle. Looking from the front of the car it looks like 1:30 on a clock. Whaduya think? That's with an 14-0809 arm.
 
When speaking to UB Machine yesterday, they advised that they do have a Polyurethane version, instead of the metal bushing, that are requested from time to time.
 
Macs had his installed since the date of the origination of this old thread. If he would chime in here, we'll get more info.
 
Yeah, I'm in contact with UB Machine trying to get this figured out. I've tried both the 14-0809-5R UCA and 14-0829-6L UCA...only on the passenger side (right side) though of my 87 GN with otherwise stock suspension. Once I get the passenger side figured out I'll do the driver's side. As Red indicated, I'm a bit concerned with the angle of the ball joint stud as it's attached to the upper spindle mount. With the stock UCA, this angle is 90 degrees (i.e. perpindicular) to the mounting plate in the UCA with the suspension loaded with the weight of the car and the wheels pointing straight ahead. With either the 0809 or 0829 UB Machine UCA, this angle is...oh I don't know...say 15 degrees off perpindicular. I don't know if this is acceptable. That's what I'm in contact with UB Machine about.

Some other info: The 0829 UCA is slightly longer (about 0.5") from shaft to center of ball joint socket than the 0809 UCA. The theory behind it is for circle track racing. The 0809 UCA goes on the right side of the car so you are better able to get negative camber. The 0829 UCA goes on the left side so you are better able to get positive camber. Only benefit would be if you like to drive in left hand circles.:p For normal street/strip driving which probably 99.9% of us do, your best bet would be to use the same arm on both sides (just flipped over). Either one should work, just that the 0829 arm will require more shims to get you to 0 or just a tad bit negative camber which us street guys would prefer. I guess you could still use the 0829 arm on one side and the 0809 arm on the other with just shimming the 0829 arm more to give you equal camber and caster per side.

I wish I could post some pictures of my setup that I've been sending to UB Machine for discussion. Maybe soon according to Travis.;)

Anyway, as for a "bump stop" to keep the UCA from hitting the frame on full suspension drop, I just used a piece of 1' ID radiator hose and tape wrapped it onto the arm where it hits. Visible in the picture I took but can't post here.:rolleyes: I also made a heat shield out of 1.5" aluminum angle stock. It attaches to the UCA shaft bolts and helps to prevent the heat from the headers and downpipe from boiling the grease of the UCA shaft bushing. This too is evident in the pictures I can't post.

I'll let the board know how I make out with UB Machine and my final decision. In the meantime, I'm gonna have to figure out a way to post pictures here with a link to one of those community picture sites or something.

Mike
 
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