{"id":77721,"date":"2021-01-29T11:17:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-29T19:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=77721"},"modified":"2021-01-29T11:17:00","modified_gmt":"2021-01-29T19:17:00","slug":"encouraging-aftermarket-parts-to-get-along-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/encouraging-aftermarket-parts-to-get-along-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Encouraging Aftermarket Parts to Get Along &#8211; Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"jetpack-slideshow-noscript robots-nocontent\">This slideshow requires JavaScript.<\/p><div id=\"gallery-77721-1-slideshow\" class=\"jetpack-slideshow-window jetpack-slideshow jetpack-slideshow-black\" data-trans=\"fade\" data-autostart=\"1\" data-gallery=\"[{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/Mix-1-min-scaled-e1611946527778.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;77723&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Encouraging Aftermarket Parts to Get Along \\u0026#8211; Part 1&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Suspension how to&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Sometimes a mix of aftermarket parts just doesn\\u2019t work, or at least work in conjunction with one another \\u2013 even if your intentions were initially the most admirable on the planet. It can happen to anyone, including yours truly.\\u00a0 The situation I found myself in was this:\\u00a0 My car is a street-strip application (1970 Nova).\\u00a0 I wanted to use an aftermarket a-arm setup in order to gain a bunch of caster in the car (amongst other things). Previously I\\u0026#8217;ve used thin wall chrome moly a-arms.\\u00a0 They work great, but they always made me nervous in an application that sees street use, complete with curbs, potholes, rumble strips and all sorts of other road irregularities. As a result, I went with Detroit Speed components on this Nova. They\\u2019re built for street use and they\\u2019re beefy.\\u00a0 They also provide an easy means to adjust caster (and there\\u2019s a lot of it available with these a-arms).\\u00a0 Caster is important.\\u00a0 Early cars such as my Nova were typically built with little caster so that Aunt Matilda could maneuver it around and park it easily without power steering.\\u00a0 For the uninitiated, a lot of positive caster in a fast car means it tends to have a lot of straight line stability. But the trade-off is they\\u2019re a more difficult to parallel park and maneuver around at low speed (not a concern for me).\\u00a0 Bottom line here is, the Detroit Speed a-arms are very nice, high quality pieces.\\n\\nSo far so good. The next piece in my personal puzzle was the front shock absorber setup.\\u00a0 I really wanted to use a set of double adjustable shocks (and something with a drag race valving slant). I selected a set of AFCO Racing Eliminator series shocks with BNC (\\u201cBig Nose Compression\\u201d) valving.\\u00a0 They can be used with or without coil over springs.\\u00a0 They too are very nice, high quality pieces.\\u00a0 You can see a previous Racing Junk series on the Eliminator shocks here:\\n\\nhttps:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/simply-shocking-part-1\\\/\\n\\nhttps:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/simply-shocking-part-2\\\/\\n\\nhttps:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/simply-shocking-part-3\\\/\\n\\nhttps:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/simply-shocking-part-4\\\/\\n\\nIn part 4 of the series, I outlined the conical coil over conversion AFCO racing offers. I opted for that setup, simply because it meant there was no need to cut up a set of lower a-arms to fit the big body shock.\\u00a0 How it went together was like this:\\u00a0 Position the conical spring on the coil over seat mounted on the shock and then stuff it up in the car. Next, fasten the top of the shock and allow the shock\\\/spring combination to dangle in the spring pocket.\\u00a0 Then I was supposed to position the lower a-arm under the shock and fasten it from the bottom. In theory, it all sounded great, but in the end, it turned into a real Gong Show.\\n\\nI figured it would be easy enough to adjust the ride height by way of a conventional coil over spanner wrench. Not so.\\u00a0 If I removed the shock\\\/spring combination (and as a consequence, the lower a-arm) to adjust the ride height, then there was no way to compress the spring (because the shock was in place, inside the spring). And with no easy means of compressing the spring, there was no way to change the ride height.\\n\\nCompounding my dilemma was the fact the conical coil over springs are rather short.\\u00a0 In order to make them work, the spring rate must increase.\\u00a0 While that could be A-OK on a pro touring application (and most likely is), it\\u2019s definitely not the right setup for a drag car or a street-strip application. What you need for a car like that is a tall spring with a slightly smaller wire diameter. This allows the spring to store energy. It also provides for quite a bit more front end travel.\\u00a0 You need front end travel on a small tire car so that you can compensate for lack of tire footprint.\\u00a0 Big power, big tire cars don\\u2019t need as much travel.\\u00a0 As a result (in select application) they can make use of coil over springs on the front. \\u00a0The truth is, I was very well-versed in all of this going in, but I thought, somehow, I could make it all work.\\n\\nWhy not swap out the coil overs for conventional springs?\\u00a0 Sounds easy enough, but here\\u2019s the rub:\\u00a0 The body size of the Eliminator shock is too large for the opening in a Detroit Speed lower a-arm. It\\u2019s also too large for the opening in a stock lower a-arm.\\u00a0 And you can\\u2019t physically open it up enough without cutting into the lower shock mounting points.\\u00a0 That means its impossible to install a regular coil spring and slide the big body shock in the from the bottom. Because of situations just like this, AFCO Racing includes a set of weld rings for their front shocks (part 4 of the \\u201cShocking\\u201d series details it).\\u00a0 To recap:\\u00a0 \\u201cThe hole size in the lower a-arm must be modified to allow for the adjuster to fit.\\u00a0 Some aftermarket a-arms have large holes that will either work or will require minimum grinding to allow for shock clearance. OEM GM (and some aftermarket) a-arms might require the use of a weld-in AFCO shock ring (see the accompanying photos).\\u00a0 The rings are included with the front shocks, and they\\u2019re also available separately.\\u00a0 Basically, the lower a-arm is opened up and then the new shock ring is installed. It\\u2019s a large opening that provides full clearance for the compression adjuster.\\u201d\\n\\nThe Detroit Speed a-arms I chose to use do not have a bottom hole large sufficiently large to install the shock.\\u00a0\\u00a0 And there\\u2019s clearly no room to massage the hole sufficiently to make it fit.\\u00a0 That means a weld ring is necessary to install the AFCO shocks from the bottom.\\u00a0 Fair enough, but there\\u2019s another wee fly in the ointment:\\u00a0 The way the Detroit Speed lower a-arms are built, the spring pocket is formed to accept a spring pigtail. Detroit Speed also lowered the spring pocket 3\\\/8-inch when compared to a stock Nova\\\/Camaro a-arm.\\u00a0 Basically, this all boils down to a spring pocket shape that is very irregular and far from flat.\\u00a0 Because of this, I was really hesitant to cut them up.\\n\\nThat was the dilemma. Now what?\\u00a0 Other than going back to a stock lower a-arm and modifying it, the only other option was to attempt to fit the AFCO weld ring to the Detroit Speed lower.\\u00a0 So\\u0026#8230;.I ripped the car apart again (the story of modified car life\\u0026#8230;\\u0026#8221;no job is worth doing unless you do it twice!\\u201d). Out came the lower a-arms, shocks and conical springs.\\u00a0 Using a die grinder, I carefully cut and ground out the centre of the lower a-arms and fit a set of the AFCO shock weld rings. It took two afternoons of cutting, grinding and painstaking fitting to get the AFCO weld rings into a spot where they\\u2019d would actually work. Once the pieces were fit, I had a local outfit, Fisher Fabrication TIG weld the rings in place. Kory Fisher partially welded the plates on the inside of the pocket and completely welded the plates on the outside of the pocket. Once done, this allowed me to fit the large body AFCO shock through the bottom of the lower a-arm. Fair enough. But what about springs?\\n\\nWe\\u2019ll save that for next issue, but suffice to say, there are some really good solutions available today.\\u00a0 Watch for it!&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/Mix-2-min.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;77724&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Encouraging Aftermarket Parts to Get Along \\u0026#8211; Part 1&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Suspension how to&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;This is the original setup I had in the car. It consisted of Detroit Speed upper and lower a-arms along with AFCO Eliminator double adjustable shock absorbers fitted with conical coil over springs.&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/Mix-3-min-scaled.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;77725&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Encouraging Aftermarket Parts to Get Along \\u0026#8211; Part 1&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Suspension how to&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;This is the conical coil over spring I used. As you can see, it has a free height of just over 10-inches. This is quite a bit shorter than stock.&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/Mix-4-min-scaled.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;77726&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Encouraging Aftermarket Parts to Get Along \\u0026#8211; Part 1&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Suspension how to&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;The spring (at the top where it fits into the chassis pocket) has a stock dimension of approximately 5-inches.  The bottom (not shown) shrinks down to fit a coil over shock collar.&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/MIx-5-min-scaled.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;77727&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Encouraging Aftermarket Parts to Get Along \\u0026#8211; Part 1&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Suspension how to&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Meanwhile, the wire diameter is just over 0.600-inch.  This all results in a spring with rather high rate (450-pounds in this case). Next issue, we\\u2019ll look at the new springs I\\u2019m using.&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/Mix-6-min-scaled.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;77728&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Encouraging Aftermarket Parts to Get Along \\u0026#8211; Part 1&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;This is the spring pocket in the Detroit Speed lower. The opening for the shock was clearanced in this photo, but there still wasn\\u2019t sufficient room for the big body AFCO shock to pass through it.&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/Mix-7-min-scaled.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;77729&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Encouraging Aftermarket Parts to Get Along \\u0026#8211; Part 1&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Suspension how to&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;We\\u2019ve shown you a weld ring before, but here\\u2019s another look. AFCO includes them with some large body Eliminator shock absorbers. The opening is much larger than that used for a small diameter shock and the bolt spacing is wider too.&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/Mix-8-min-scaled.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;77730&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Encouraging Aftermarket Parts to Get Along \\u0026#8211; Part 1&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Suspension how to&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Once the lower a-arm was carefully trimmed, l had the rings TIG welded. Fisher Fab handled the job for me.&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.racingjunk.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/01\\\/Mix-9-min-scaled.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;77722&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Encouraging Aftermarket Parts to Get Along \\u0026#8211; Part 1&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Suspension how to&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Kory Fisher partially welded the inside of the a-arm too.  Given the shape of the Detroit Speed a-arm pocket this is as good as it can get.&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;}]\" itemscope itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageGallery\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Sometimes a mix of aftermarket parts just doesn\u2019t work, or at least work in conjunction with one another \u2013 even if your intentions were initially the most admirable on the planet. <\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":77723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5011,3697,17,11,3470,4879],"tags":[1280,281,41,822,4764,321],"class_list":["post-77721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chassis-suspension","category-galleries","category-guest-column","category-how-tos","category-news","category-slideshow","tag-aftermarket-parts","tag-how-to","tag-news","tag-suspension","tag-tech","tag-wayne-scraba"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Mix-1-min-scaled-e1611946527778.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-kdz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77721"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77731,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77721\/revisions\/77731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}