Early Control Arms on a late car

Hi all. I have a 1990 S2 that has worn control arms. I would like to put my rebuilt early arms on the S2...will they fit?

87+ cars have a wider suspension width, so the control arms are longer. i seem to remember seeing something about putting steel arms on a late car, but im not sure whats all needs to be done to make it happen.

sharkey wrote:87+ cars have a wider suspension width, so the control arms are longer. i seem to remember seeing something about putting steel arms on a late car, but im not sure whats all needs to be done to make it happen.

I believe you would need to swap the complete front suspension off an early car (spindles, control arms, tie rod ends, and struts) to make it work.

What I question however, is currently the set up is a 1984 - I changes the hubs and shocks to 1987 but the control arms are the same 1984.

The question I have is if we take the control arms that are from the 84 and place them on my 1990 s2 will they fit.

Thanks

I am running a combination of late spindles, struts and hubs with early tubular A arms (SFR Tubular). With this configuration that is like yours if you use early A arms, you will end up with not enough room to get proper camber adjustment due to shorter early A arms. To fix this issue, I installed camber plates that provide the extra travel to dial in proper caster and camber.

I went this path so I could use a late model TT big brake kit with ABS spindles, I also wanted to keep my 1986 tubular SFR A arms.


Late model struts won't bolt up to early spindles unless you modify the strut spindle mount (there is a write up on this forum). As previously mentioned, you would have to change your complete front suspension to an early setup and this will also change your front offset, you will need spacers with late model wheels.

If you want stronger A arms, get a pair of late model aftermarket tubular A arms. You could also rebuild your current A arms if the aluminum around the ball joint is not damaged, Rennbay sells the kits.