CONTROL ARM BRACES: Don't leave home without'em

I've read some controversy about these braces that tie the upper front and lower front of the control arms together.
If you have slicks and enough torque and/or a stick shift tranny, you're at great risk of bending or ripping the upper cross member. My friend destroyed his 389 Tempest (1967) with a near stock engine and 4-speed stick on the first run after installing the engine. He cried, then junked the body.

You may have pulled your pinion angle out of whack allready if you have been racing without them.
Put them on. You won't loose any ET, you'll just save a crossmember!!


After installation,tighten the big bolts back together with the normal weight on the tires or you may rip your control arm bushings apart later.

 

control arm braces

Gary thanks for the info. on this subject of braces.I also think they are worth installing,some will disagree - ???? kirkm o No:

 

Gary, you're right gotta have them.
I remember watching a crazy guy in a primered 68 Chevelle big block with nitrous trying to get into the 9s at Mason Dixon Dragway in MD. He said he was getting alot of chassis twist. I looked under there and no braces. I told him all big block cars and 4 spds had them for good reason.
He said there was no need with a roll bar.
A couple passes later he got his 9.98 pass (smokin on top end), then the next pass he stuffed it into the wall.
I crawled under the trailer (dumb thing to do!) and saw one front end of the lower control arm mushed into the floorpan. The fact that the car was tied together with the rollbar probably saved it from being worse.

Bruce

 

I managed to rip my upper support with the baby 300 motor in my '66 Skylark. At the time I only had a TH350, 2200 stall and a HEAVY foot :Brow:

I made it a point to fix my weak spot and immediately go with a set of YearOne stamped steel braces... p

 

Cheap insurance. Even the fancy Edelbrocks are only a $100.

 

Any one have a pic of these braces installed - I am curious as to what they look like!

 

thanks for the info!

hay thanks for the info. i just ordered mine from summit racing
thay are hotchkis. part number hss-1402 on page 203. if you want to see what they look like go to summitracing.com and put in the part number.
:beer

 

If possible, can someone post some pics? Thanks!

Paul

 

bracing

dont know whats out there but heres how we do stock suspended cars



this is how we are doing my 72 bob

 

Can you share some more pictures of your set up? It sure looks nice.

What times are looking for out of your car?

 

Something is missing

The above pictures show how the LOWER control arms are reinforced to absorb the PUSH, but the photos don' show the upper crossmember and control arm attach points where the PULL problem is.

The lower arms PUSH on the frame.
The upper arms PULL on the crossmember.

By attaching braces between the front bolts of the lower and upper control arms, the upper arms cannot pull the crossmember rearward because all the PULL is transfered through the braces to the frame where the lower arms attatch.

 

well no you are wrong the two next to the lower mounts run to upper bar mounts ,look at picts again,you can see the area there going to. ,plus what you cant see in the area where the upper crossmember and chassis meet is all welded,and inside the mounting area of the arms are more cross pieces.,and when done the area in the front arm will be boxed,
also in the high powered cars the bottom mt is the one that gets the most damage,as the arms are trying to drive the car foward they are pushing on the lower mt,we see more lower arms driven to the floor pans than upper arm/crossmember damage. :3gears: bob

 

as we build i will post,heres a few of trunk,car has room now for 30x13.5 tire

,


starting on cage this week
building it to be able to 25.5 it easier later right now not to fast mid to high 9,s bob

 

Interesting read....

 

1. The upper control arm pulls on the crossmember. You just read about a 300 engine in a 66 Skylark and the damage it did.

2. The lower control arms push on the frame mount . You just read about a Big Block on nitrous breaking that mount.

3. With most cars # 1(upper) is in the junkyard long before getting to # 2(lower)

 

I have no idea what is being discussed here. I never heard of upper or lower control arm braces, I've heard of controls arms.....

How come the factory never installed them if they are so crucial to have? Sounds like another thing to worry about that might not be worth worrying about for 99 percent of us who race once a year and drive the car for pleasure here and there.

 

It is a brace between the front bolts of upper and lower rear control arms.

YES, the factory used them but only on big block cars or small blocks with 4 speeds. They were needed when new and even more so now that the frames etc are 40 years old.

 

Just had these installed when the new 4spd and BBB went in my car. Used UMI tubular braces. Very nice product. The factory ones are stamped steel. My brother has them factory on his 69' GTO 4spd.

 

Hi,
They install at the lower control arm bolt and go to the upper control arm bolt on the inside of the frame.

You can see them in this video

http://www.streetfire.net/video/buick-455-exhaust_2047090.htm

Bruce

 

I hear these interfere with exhaust?
if they indeed do, someone post up the one least likely to do so

btw if you all want to be technical...they're not rear control arms...but Trailing arms...control arms go in the front :laugh: