High Strung 44 Control Arms

Anyone ever works with these control arms? Opinions?

I've considered them numerous times, but never pulled the trigger (still running steel a-arms). I've talked to a number of racers and all have given them high marks.

its between those and the modded rx7 arms from xschop. im not a rich man so if I can keep them at $800 or less for a set id like that. Mostly looking for a removable ball joint setup. the car is going to be 95% track so.

I have told a few people I plan on a new 1-piece design with bolt-on ball joints. The problem is keeping them at 1k set shipped. The 7075 billet gets expensive at those dims.

I made my own late offset steel A arms, used the early VW type arms with extra stitch welding of the two halves, made triple thickness 1/4" steel extension plates and used the stock bolt on ball joints.
Got a pair of rear mount clips and a pair of sway bar brackets from a early offset car in a wrecking yard.
Lower ball joints can now be changed in minutes.
Whole job for the pair less than $250

Those early steel arms still flex considerably unless the perimeters are boxed in. I like your mod though. Fliermike said he was going to attempt the same thing on an early alloy arm. It can be done if done correctly. I've had good results over the years weding cast Al with 2000 series alloy.

simon123 wrote:I made my own late offset steel A arms, used the early VW type arms with extra stitch welding of the two halves, made triple thickness 1/4" steel extension plates and used the stock bolt on ball joints.
Got a pair of rear mount clips and a pair of sway bar brackets from a early offset car in a wrecking yard.
Lower ball joints can now be changed in minutes.
Whole job for the pair less than $250

Nicely done.
I did something very similar with my MK1 VW's when auto-crossing years ago. Stitch welding these arms along makes a tremendous difference, boxing even more; I also replaced the spot welds too.
I think for 99% of us this would be more than sufficient and, as you pointed out, very cost effective.

Rob, in my experience (aerospace) we try to stay away from welding cast aluminum and we don't even talk about brazing it. I am sure you are aware of all the issues and I am sure you have a lot of experience with GTAW, but for those that don't.....
If someone was to want to weld a cast A-arm they should consider having a person certified in this discipline do the work; they will understand how to clean the parts (very important), how to preheat, what filler to use and the best machine set-up. You should consider having non-destructive testing done to ensure there isn't excessive porosity or micro cracks on and around the weld; one could also have a sacrificial part made to go through destructive testing.

Having a welded cast aluminum a-arm let go at the wrong time wouldn't be fun....cast Al usually fails ultimately and spends very little time yielding, unlike steel.

Agree 100%, that is why I would never mod a set without the adapters having a back-up bolt-on mechanism along with the welding. I have welded the Cast X-member many times and from experience, the Porsche alloys are always inferior to the Japanese castings as well. The German stuff is always porous even by eyesight. The RX7 arms are the best castings I have seen to date.

That said it looks like the Early steel arms do not have a caster mechanism like the early alloy arms. Maybe it's in the block mechanism? The RX7 arms are set at dead zero caster and require an extra 7mm X-member drop/spacer. With a new 1-piece design, I would copy the porsche arms in 7075 and machine stronger balljoint moints (I found some that have stronger mounting dimensions in 17 and 19mm).

Plate or bar 7075 T6 or T7 would be a great choice. Also, 2024 T4 would be a good choice, it is less sensitive to notches and therefore has a better fatigue cracking propagation rate than 7075....though 7075 is less susceptible to stress corrosion cracking, which could prove important on a street car that is exposed to salt spray etc.
Apologizes for hijacking the thread....

I built the billet hubs out of 6061 due to previous corrosion problems with an oilfield part that was 7075 and had a common wheel baering incorporated into it. So from your experience, 2024 T4 wouldn't have an issue with a steel balljoint bolted to it?

Im liking the look of the steel control arms. Maybe more welding along the seams and maybe even boxing them in for added strength might not be a bad idea. Im not concerned about weight as much as I am strength. Ever thought about making a tubular set from steel? Should be strong and cost effective.

I don't plan on it. Whatever you do pay atention to the balljoint offset as most every arm Ive seen does not locate the balljoint in a factory postion causing severe negative caster.

Rob... the castor is adjusted on the early steel arms by levering the rear of the arm, the clip has slots to allow this adjustment. Torque the hold down bolts after adjustment.

I have been looking at my removed alloy arms, I'm sure they could be converted to the early ball joints by the use of bolt on steel plates.

I believe my offset adjustment was 25mm (Steel arm to late offset).

IIRC the RX7 adapters were 29mm difference. I made a one-off set with -5mm to ensure my TT2 wheels didn't rub up front.

So Simon can you go into a little more detail about your arms. What years you used? what balljoint? etc?

Simon123's name is Mike
I used early offset 944 steel A arms and ball joints. You also need rear clips and rubbers, front rubbers and sway bar clips and rubbers.
I fabricated three plates from 1/4" steel plate, one goes inside the arm the other two on the top and the bottom. The inner plate butts up against the ball joint flange. The ball joint is trapped between the top and bottom plates, I used spacer washers to fill the gaps.
I also had the plates welded to the A Arms and also stitch welded the outer flanges between the two halves of the arms. 3 Bolts go through all three plates and 3 bolts go through two plates and ball joint.
The pictures I posted earlier (above) show the finished arms. I believe the extension required is one inch between ball joint centers.

Thanks mike, ill look into it.

Is there any difference between the balljoint for early and late models?

Ball joint shafts are identical.

thanks

xschop wrote:I built the billet hubs out of 6061 due to previous corrosion problems with an oilfield part that was 7075 and had a common wheel baering incorporated into it. So from your experience, 2024 T4 wouldn't have an issue with a steel balljoint bolted to it?

Sent you a PM on this Rob.