Upper A arms for brake swap

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Dead End Kid

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First try at a post, so be gentle. Have seen all of the info. on using different spindles for an A body. I've got a '67 Barracuda that has the origional drums that I am presently trying to get up and running for the short term. My Question is that the conversion seems to be straight forward enough right up until the fact it appears that 73-76 A-body upper control arms are required. Obciously these aren't "Pick-a-Part" attainable like the rest of the stuff. What is everyone using?
Thanks, in advance,
Mac
 
It appears that I can use B-, F-, J-, M-, R- spindles which are common as dirt. The specific article I'm looking at in Mopar Muscle 2/05 sez I gotta use 73-76 A body upper control arms...not so common. Besides, I'm the sort of guy that would rather leave the rare stuff to the ones that are restoring. So I guess my question is 1. Are theses A Arms hard to come by. 2. If they are, is there an affordable aftermarket tubular a-arm. 3. is there something off some donor sitting in the Pick-A-Part yard thar works.
Thx.
Mac
 
D.E.K.

The OE upper A arms are not to hard to come by. It is a waiting game to find them. The tubular A arms are not cheap. After that, I do not know of a swapable part.
Spindals; You can use Cordoba or the like 75 and later spindals which moves the caliper to the rear instead of up front on the disk. You'll just have to get F,M,J brake hose's to reach the caliper.
P.S.
You failed to show where your from under your name. This would have help us know where you are and possibly direct you to a place. If you tell me now, I'll forget later. (he he he)
 
If you are dead set on getting tubular arms, they are available from Magnumforce for $299 bushed non adjustable, or $379 adjustable. Plus shipping and handling of course. For contact info see page 51 of Jan. 06 Mopar Muscle.
 
The tubular arms aren't such a bad deal pricewise. They are on par with about everybody else's for other types of vehicles. The folks at Magnumforce are a great bunch and really helpfull also. The one thing on the A-body tube arms is a slight modification of the mounting point for clearance. This is an area that could use a little beafing up for performance anyhow. No big deal if you have a welder or a buddy that does and he could use a beer.

I have heard that there were geometry problems with using the later spindles on the earlier cars. Does anyone have any experience with this? I've seen where Steve Dulich of Mopar Muscle is using them on his Dart, but have not seen the install or any feedback on how this is working for him. Would love to hear what the fun is on this one. It has been a major arguement between rival magazines for some time.
 
The factory upper arms are out there, but have been a little harder to find in recent years. Bill Reilly has tubular uppers that are very nice, adjustable and less than the MF ones, and probably better quality. Visit www.bigblockdart.com. I have a set that will be going on my son's 67 Barracuda in the next week or so.
 
Well, I went junkyarding over the weekend and came up with zip, zero, nada, nichts, nein, nothing......
Found two Dusters and a Dart for my trouble, but, no control arms. The one duster had spindles and arms on it, but they were from an earlier car. (The small ball joint gave it away, I darn near pulled 'em and ran before I checked.) It looks like I am out there in competition with everybody else and the guys who hit the yards for stuff to resell at the swap meets. Oh how I long for the good old days when you could find treasures.....

Revhendo
 
If you have that goofy /6 k-member in that Barracuda- ditch it along the way. The idler arm is a 1-year only piece(available through such 'bargain' outlets as "Rare Parts"- an antique suspension parts manufacturer), only bolts in through the bottom. If you need a bunch of swap parts, hunt for a '73-up A-body(big-bolt pattern) for cheap. Buy it, strip it, and swap it over. You'll be dollars and headaches saved. Not to mention the fun you could have by getting shafted by a swap meet dude selling you common M-body suspension stuff as the now fairly rare A-body parts; the knuckles are abit taller on M-bodies and it'll fit it the A-bodies, but the geometry is abit off. Lotsa laughs if/when it breaks...
 
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