clearance fit lower ball joint?

[justforfun]

67 firebird

I went to install my afco low friction ball joints on my 67 firebird and I found one easily fits by hand. Using the search function shows that people seem to tac weld the ball joints to the lower control arm. One side is pressed in, but not to confident that the fit is tight.

The options i thought of before i started reading were:
-welding material to the ID of the control arm
-using shim stock to make the press fit tighter
-replace both with moog problem solvers.

What is the deal with ball joint straps, anyone have pics?

What is the risk of damaging these afco ball joints if i tac them in?

[David Pozzi]

Any would work but the shim stock version, that won't.
another option is replace the arm.
Building it up with weld and machining it to the proper ID is good, but probably costly.
A strap would work but only if the balljoint is fairly snug in the hole. otherwise it will wiggle and break the strap.

There IS another way to do it. Have a short piece of tube of the proper ID machined and weld it into the A arm.
David

[79T/Aman]

the best option is to cut out the factory stamped hole and weld in a lower ball joint sleeve they are available from AFCO

[justforfun]

ended up putting a few small tac's on the ID & grinding them down to to get a nice interference fit, pressing them in, then using about 5 tac's between the ball joint and lca.

Intersting note, por15 catchs fire pretty quick, but is very easy to put out.