A-Body Boxing Front LCA - How to

[stealth71]

I did this while I had the brakes off the car. Hopefully boxing and strapping the LCA will prevent the end of the arm ripping off. I have my swaybar flipped to gain tie rod clearance so I cut the bottom plate a little different than others. If you are running your sway bar in the factory location a hole can be drilled large enough to fit the bushing through.

Recent failure from chevelles.com
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/06/P1030772-1.jpg

First I bent and welded a piece of 1x1/8" strap around the end of the control arm. Before anything gets disassembled check for clearance between the LCA end and rotor. With the C5 brake swap I have a lot more clearance here now.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/06/IMG_1112JPG-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/06/IMG_1115JPG-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/06/IMG_1116JPG-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/06/IMG_1118JPG-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/06/IMG_1119JPG-1.jpg

I then cut a template from cardboard. You can see the space I left near the sway bar hole. This allows my endlinks to move forward when the control arms move down.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/06/IMG_1121JPG-1.jpg

Then transfered the template to 1/8" plate and cut it with a jigsaw. The second one I used a hole saw to drill the radius around the sway bar bushing and it came out a little cleaner.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/06/IMG_1122JPG-1.jpg

A little finish grinding so the bottom plate fits tightly and then weld it in.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/06/IMG_1128JPG-1.jpg

Now just add paint.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/06/IMG_1138JPG-1.jpg