Should I build them

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autorustdave

autorustdave

An old fool in the rain
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We have seen a lot of rust issues with the A-body upper control arm mount area.
I had a 69 in here and built a replacement for it
Any interest in me offering it for sale as a regular product?

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Rusty Dave
 
wow...looks like a nice product..i am sure you will have people interested! i like that you will maybe offer these to people...
 
i really need this for my car. i just need the passenger side. i think mine was in a wreck and it got bent up a lil and wont go back to shape lol. its a 75 scamp and if you could make just one let me know lol. i was gonna build it but who knows when that would happen lol
 
Honestly, I'd probably buy a few of them, depending on price, because here in wonderful Ohio, almost every a-body has that issue. I've scrapped a few just because I didn't want to deal with finding decent replacements. I hate scrapping cars for something that can be repaired!
 
Thanks for the positive responses. :rock:

They are not easy to build. I will have to make a fixture, and there are a lot of close tolerances that need to be maintained. They are a critical component of the front suspension roll center, and geometry. I have to maintain that in a stock position. In the future I might play around with the mounting points for more performance orientated applications, but for now we would stick with stock locations.

A good question is what do you think its worth? I have a number in mind, based on R&D costs, manufacturing needs, and a small profit built in.

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sure looks like the quality is there,be best to shoot out a price you be happy with for a pair and a price for singles.people dont like pricin your stuff
 
waggin said:
sure looks like the quality is there,be best to shoot out a price you be happy with for a pair and a price for singles.people dont like pricin your stuff
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Well, I am not looking for anyone to price stuff for me, just thought I would see what members thought they were worth.
But everyone does have to realize the extent of the work required, as well as the fact these are American made, and American taxes being paid.8)

I think if I build them I would have to get at least $179 for each side.
I might be able to price a pair around $299. (once your building 1, its easy to do 2.)


Of course I would offer ForA-bodiesonly.com members a 10% discount.
 
...what we need is an a-body drum to disk conversion set new for under $ 500.00 dollars..I have no idea why the a body conversion seems to be the most expensive..

Ian.
 
autorustdave said:
Well, I am not looking for anyone to price stuff for me, just thought I would see what members thought they were worth.
But everyone does have to realize the extent of the work required, as well as the fact these are American made, and American taxes being paid.8)

I think if I build them I would have to get at least $179 for each side.
I might be able to price a pair around $299. (once your building 1, its easy to do 2.)


Of course I would offer ForA-bodiesonly.com members a 10% discount.
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Dave, I don't think that price is out of line looking at the quality. Take in to fact that when I got my vert back in 84 it needed this or it was going in the scrap pile. It cost me $75 at the time for a frame section and $100 to have someone cut it out and piece it in. Then, even though the frame was solid at the time mother nature took its toll and it to developed holes around the A frame mounting points. I have since replaced the front frame rails (not the funnest job) but even then they set me back $200 for a decent clean set. For the westcoast guys that do not have to deal with this it may seem high but for the rest of us it would keep a lot more cars from being scrapped. There are only a finite amount that can be found to sacrifice their lives to rebuild one.
 
You should make them. There are people out there that could use them. Sorry for being a peckerhead. After looking at your part some more I can see it is a quality peice that you put a lot of time in to. As parts cars get used up we in this hobby are going to need parts like this from companys like yours to fix our cars. It is also nice that you would give a 10% discount to use here.
 
I sell the same piece, or complete rails, out of solid cars from the west coast for right in the area of 125 or less...

Looks like a good product.
 
Burntorange70 said:
You should make them. There are people out there that could use them. Sorry for being a peckerhead. After looking at your part some more I can see it is a quality peice that you put a lot of time in to. As parts cars get used up we in this hobby are going to need parts like this from companys like yours to fix our cars. It is also nice that you would give a 10% discount to use here.
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Yea, sorry bout that. I get a little testy sometimes, you aint being a peckahead. :toothy10:

I try to keep my price reasonable. I dont want to gouge anyone, but I have to make enough $$ to keep the doors open, ya know.
 
I will be checking our car come spring. Safety is never an issue that I play around with..
 
I thought about this project at one time and was considering a universal a-arm mount such as Afco they have many different types of upper a-arms and are much cheaper than the tubular stock replacements, and there are many different upper ball joint choices.
 
Dave,
That seems like a very good price. People who need them will pay that - much easier than trying to find a good used one for those of us in the rust belt. I'm hoping I don't need them when I tear into they wife's b'cuda!
 
CHEATHAM said:
I thought about this project at one time and was considering a universal a-arm mount such as Afco they have many different types of upper a-arms and are much cheaper than the tubular stock replacements, and there are many different upper ball joint choices.
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I have built a lot of circle track cars. We spent a ton of time researching front end geometry. Majority of them were built on Camaro subframes, however we did several Mopars. They are very difficult to adjust when in a stock location. The rules never stated that we could not move the upper a-arm mounting points. We tried with the stock mounts, but had poor choices in final suspension geometry when in bump. :thebirdm:
Afco makes a mount that welds in place. We had a hard time matching the tubular control arms up for the geometry we were looking for, so we ended up making our own. Not difficult to do, but you have to do your homework.:read2:

I dont think most street driven cars would easily benifit from it, but some might be able to.
We designed this kit as a replacement for the rusty one. As I said, I might consider in the future moving the mounting points a bit. A 1/4" difference makes amazing differences in roll and moment centers. Not sure how much difference it will make on typical street driven cruisers, but if someone is doing any performance/competition stuff, well the possibilities are endless.:-D
 
Dave,
It looks like a real quality piece.
The rest of you guys:
I need to say something here.
Dave has a business that not only fills an incredible need, but keeps our passion alive. One of the things that most people in our hobby dont consider is the cost of the time for R&D. Its the profit from the existing products that lets people like Dave develop the future products that solve our problems.
The fact that he is willing to give our small group a 10% discount is a real bonus.
For example, I need frame connectors. I have more than enough time and skill to put together a template and cut the materials needed to make the connectors. However is it worth that time to do so rather than just ordering them from Dave? Time will tell.
I know the quality that comes out of his shop, for me to develop the same ability to build the front mounting points would take way too much time in research to justify that path.
What a part is worth is determined by what people are willing to pay.
I dont need the front end part but considering the complexity of the part it seems like a very fair price.
Just my .02
Andrew
 
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