Are there any drop in replacements for a lower front control arms for 3rd gen Camaros? I have the V6 model if that matters. I know S10 control arms are listed as "compatible" but there is a thread here that stated that the hole in a frame needs to be enlarged which I would like to avoid. Anybody installed control arms from another model that actually fit without any modifications? I am not looking for tubular arms. Just stock ones.

 

Your best bet for a stamped LCA is probably a G Body. I know a lot of the tubulars are listed as F-Body/G-Body. I ended up going the tubular route since I couldn't be sure though...

 

Help us understand: you're willing to go through the effort of replacing the arms, butt "want to avoid" using a drill and buying new bolts? Even though that means that you'd be getting larger, more secure bolts holding them to the car, and you're possibly gonna have to destroy the old bolts to get em out ANYWAY? Doesn't make sense to me.

S truck, and A G & F body ones, are all the same, and are the same as ours, with minor detail differences, like the inner dia of one of the bushings (the thing that you have to drill out the 2 holes on each side for) sometimes in some cars (AFAIK not all of our cars are the same in that area). One of the differences is steering stops; for drivers that aren't intelligent enough to NOT turn the wheels all the way to the lock, there's a stop to keep the idiot from damaging the vehicle or the tires, which differs from one vehicle to another. Not hard to cut it off and install your own "adjustable" one (bolt & 2 nuts) though.

 

I thought in one of the past discussions here, someone said one brand of aftermarket S10 arms were coming with sleeves for M12 bolts (third gen) in the S10 locations that used M14. The aftermarket lives finding ways to offer fewer part numbers to cover broader range.

Before you rule them out, consider that simple possibility.

It almost makes me want to blast and refurb a pair of S10 arms gathering sun right now.

 

I did browse thru all the threads but did not read all the posts. May need to revisit them again and see if I can locate the information.

 

I kinda thought it was the other way around, butt I could EEEEEEEZZZZZILY be wRong (and mistaken in this particular matter besides). I was thinking they had to drill out the bracket on the frame to match the new, larger, bushing bolt.

Lots of older A G & F bodies would have had SAE hardware in any case, probz ½" (12.7mm dia). Those vehicles would require some sort of adaptation as well. Hard to see how one part can fit all those applications without some sort of adaptation somewhere.

I guess it's like so many other aftermarket and "replacement" parts... "guaranteed to fit" is in the large print, the fine print says "as long as you make it fit". Like I remember the "test tubes" you could buy back in 74 & 75 time frame, when catalytic converters were brand new in 49-state cars, and the ones at the time had essentially the same effect as stuffing a potato in your tailpipe... the "test tube" was basically a piece of straight pipe with the right flanges... the box said

verify the need
To Replace Converter

Not hard to see how they were popular: the cigarette-warning-sized print kept them legal, even. The details are all always contained in the fine print while the large print is just there to get your attention.

 

Ditto to what others have said regarding S10/ g-body a-arms; I've been working on replacing the bushings in my stock '92 V6 arms, and I know you didn't mention replacing the bushings as an option, but I highly recommend avoiding that. I see you have a '92 V6 as well.... as far as I can tell from info I've found online, they should be the same as every other thirdgen f-body a-arm from 83.5+ or so, but the skinnier of the two bushings on my arms turned out to be a good 12 thousandths of an inch smaller than normal. Best I can tell, it's a '92 parts bin situation and I got unlucky, but I would be very curious to know what the outer diameters of your bushing sleeves are once you have them off! Theoretically SHOULD be 1.444in outer diameter on the skinny/ long bushing sleeves, with a 1.439in or so bore, but my bores measured at 1.427in. Unfortunately my bushings are too mangled to measure accurately after having been removed, but I would very much appreciate if you could take a set of calipers to your bushing sleeves before chucking em in the bin

 

I do not have the control arms out of the car. That's basically what I am trying to avoid - a long time the car will spend on the jack stands. I do hot have tools to remove and reinstall bushings and ball-joints plus I don't really want to do it considering that everybody is complaining about this job. :-) I am still hoping I can find something that will fit without any modifications.

 

Great call knowing that you don't have the tools for the job and not trying to "figure it out" anyway. I thought I was smart enough to find a way, and ended up bending them. That's why I ended up with Tubular Replacements!

If you're just looking for a cheap replacement, Speedway has a set of tubulars for these cars for under $400. I ended up going BMR, but only because Speedway still couldn't give me an ETA 2 weeks after the original ETA...

 

Yep, definitely a good call I have access to a 20 ton hydraulic press and all the right tools, but it doesn't really help when my arms aren't normal size in the first place I'm sure it'll be worth the trouble once my replacement sleeves come in and I can enjoy the fancy new delrin bushings, but going into week 3 of being on jackstands now is not really what I had in mind!

 

I'll need to tackle front A arms too. Replaced bushings before, don't wanna do that again, lol. I also saw these from Speedway, but ya know, those A arms are a place where I want to go with a proven brand, or at least OE, and I'll pay whatever it takes to go that route. Not bashing Speedway at all, but just not sure about 'em.

 

About 23 years ago, I removed my original A-arms, took them to a shop & had them press out the old ball joints & bushings, and press in the new ones.
Then I put the A-arms back on the car...

 

And I could probably do it but finding a place that will press the bushings out and new ones in is like looking for a place that turns rotors these days. Nobody does it. My mechanic won't even take the spring of a strut. He just wants to get a complete assembly to replace if the shock is bad. Plus with 3rd gen arms, if they don't support them, they will crush the arm.

 

Absolutely fair. My take (haven't done a single calculation, gut check only) is that tube steel is so much sturdier than the stamped metal design that even if it was pretty crappy it would still be comparable to stock. The real outstanding question is the weld quality, which I can't vouch for.

If you have any intention of doing anything sporting related, I'd spend the extra on UMI, BMR, QA1, etc. but as a cruiser? Probably fine IMO.

 

I didn't even stop to think about it, but are you 100% sure your bushings are bad? When I took mine off (235k or so miles), they still looked pretty dang good. If I didn't already have the new delrin bushings on hand, I probably woulda just left them and only worried about the ball joints... I have a bad habit of fixing things until they break though, couldn't leave well enough alone you oughta be able to get a camera in there and see how your rubber is faring without pulling em off though, the bolt only really covers the inner bushing sleeve

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/susp...trol-arms.html

Ended up doing the S10 arms and got the bolts and all that, just bought 2 ACDelco arms for a S10 blazer off rockauto, the metal stops were in the same spot so i didnt have to move it, my new arms didnt come with a rubber bump stop so i just bought 2 of those anyway

Depending on your cars crustyness the hole that needs to be enlarged might be slightly larger than a non-rusted car anyway, so might as well do it, The step bit was a free gift from Harbor freight for me! the bolts i had to purchase in that thread were kinda spendy on amazon but i just did it anyway cause they were coated and i wasn't gonna go fart around online or at a hardware store to be **** about something and save 3 bucks