I've cracked several a-arms on my sprite when using tube shocks.
I don't believe that factory a-arms are really suitable for
these conversions. The supplier I purchased a conversion from
some years ago stopped selling them because too many customers
came back with cracked a-arms. I even had a custom made a-arm
crack on me. I never had an a-arm go while driving, but I decided
I was bucking the odds when the third one cracked. Everyone
I know with this conversion has eventually had their a-arms
crack.
My suggestion, if your racing, constantly inspecting anyway,
and believe this enhances your performance, well, you can
judge the risks for yourself. I think the conversion works better
on race cars since the pothole problem is less severe.
But, if your just driving the car around town, properly
rebuilt or new lever shocks actually work pretty well and
do not cause the a-arms to crack. I would take the tube
shocks off (I did :-) ) and go with the originally designed
setup. Put on a sway bar if you want to tighten up the handling.
In short, for a daily driver 'round town car, I think the front end tube
shock conversion is a very poor idea.
Mark M. Banaszak Holl
Brown University
401-863-2738
mark_banaszak-holl@brown.edu
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