Global West Upper Control Arms - Fitment Issue

JR73 · Sep 23, 2024

Hey guys. For anyone installing Global West UCAs on our cars, I ran into a fitment issue that prevented the arm from fully articulating downward. I actually anticipated this issue based on another forum member's experience, but when he reached out to technical support, he allegedly was told to re-drill the mounting holes a bit higher than the ones he had just drilled using the Global West-supplied template.
I wanted to get the full benefit of a lowered mounting position for the UCA, so I reached out to Doug from Global West myself to see what could be done. Doug said some of our cars will have extra metal gussets in the tower, and that the solution is to grind it for clearance (and not drill the holes higher than the Global West template dictates). My 73 Mustang convertible did have these gussets, and I used a grinder to shave off a bit of metal from inside the tower (for both sides of the UCA), and also ground off a bit of the thick black paint on the UCA that was scraping off when I would test fit the UCA. Here are some pictures--hope it helps someone with this issue in the future.

tony-muscle · Sep 24, 2024

That is the famous Shelby drop that our cars shouldn't need. This is for the earlier models. I will hate to remove any material from this area of the tower. The UCA is the loaded arm and you want that area of the tower as stiff as possible. Since you already started in this direction I would try to remove material from the arm, as possible.

JR73 · Sep 24, 2024

tony-muscle said:
That is the famous Shelby drop that our cars shouldn't need. This is for the earlier models. I will hate to remove any material from this area of the tower. The UCA is the loaded arm and you want that area of the tower as stiff as possible. Since you already started in this direction I would try to remove material from the arm, as possible.

Agreed. It pained me to have to grind any of the preexisting original metal in the shock tower (drilling the new holes was also no fun), but grinding more off the UCA arms came with its own concerns, since it was at a weld-point on the arms. But for anyone considering this installation, it did not require grinding off a substantial amount of shock tower metal. I'd estimate 1/16 of an inch (1.5 mm), or less, and even some of that was thick undercoating. The rest of the clearance was achieved by grinding off the paint and a hair of the metal off the UCAs, so overall, it was a balance between grinding the 2 spots.

Thank you for the input!

rcadd1ct · Sep 25, 2024

JR73 said:
Hey guys. For anyone installing Global West UCAs on our cars, I ran into a fitment issue that prevented the arm from fully articulating downward. I actually anticipated this issue based on another forum member's experience, but when he reached out to technical support, he allegedly was told to re-drill the mounting holes a bit higher than the ones he had just drilled using the Global West-supplied template.
I wanted to get the full benefit of a lowered mounting position for the UCA, so I reached out to Doug from Global West myself to see what could be done. Doug said some of our cars will have extra metal gussets in the tower, and that the solution is to grind it for clearance (and not drill the holes higher than the Global West template dictates). My 73 Mustang convertible did have these gussets, and I used a grinder to shave off a bit of metal from inside the tower (for both sides of the UCA), and also ground off a bit of the thick black paint on the UCA that was scraping off when I would test fit the UCA. Here are some pictures--hope it helps someone with this issue in the future.

You are missing the plates that go behind the shaft

Check out this page from Summit Racing https://www.summitracing.com/parts/gls-mnr-733

JR73 · Sep 26, 2024

rcadd1ct said:
You are missing the plates that go behind the shaft

Check out this page from Summit Racing https://www.summitracing.com/parts/gls-mnr-733

Good eye, but I actually got them. Just not seen in the pictures. Thank you!

rcadd1ct · Sep 26, 2024

JR73 said:
Good eye, but I actually got them. Just not seen in the pictures. Thank you!

Cool.

On another note. It may be worth adding another 1/8” shim if it helps it clear as there is probably enough slop in the lower adjustment to make it up