Tubular control arms vs rebushing

I have to ask how much negative camber do you need? Other than the Moog K7103 offset bushings and the Firm Feel sway bar I added, my suspension is all stock (with rubber bushings) and I'm getting -.9 degrees of camber and nearly 5 degrees (4.90) of positive caster. The car turns like it's on rails.

I guess I'm just not understanding why some are saying the stock components won't do what he wants. Are the aftermarket goodies an improvement?,.... Absolutely,.... but for how the OP says he will be driving the car, the stock components can be made to work pretty darn good.

My advice is if everything is getting old, find a good rebuild kit of stock components from someone like Firm Feel or PST and replace it all. If some of the components like the ball joints, pitman and Idler seem to be ok, just replace the worn hard parts and put new bushings in. It will feel like a different car.

As for tools,.... I bought a pitman arm puller and pickle fork to fit my air chisel and was able to do everything but the LCA bushings. I took them to the local mechanic who knocked the old ones out and pressed in the new in less than an hour, I could have gotten them out, but it was just easier to have him do it all since I don't have my own press.

I'm honestly surprised you were able to get that much caster with the offset bushings. I know all of that varies with ride height, but I've never heard of anyone with the offset bushings being able to get +5* of caster. Usually about +3.5* is all you can get if offset bushings are the only upgrade. The stock bushings and components rarely get you to +2* caster even when maxed out.

So, I'm not saying I don't believe you, but you should definitely consider that your results aren't "the norm" when offset bushings are installed. That's why the advice is following the way it is. Well, that and you need larger torsion bars and sway bars to handle well even with relatively narrow tires. The 225/60/15's I had on my car before I upgraded easily outmatched the 1" torsion bars I was running at the time, and they weren't great tires.

Also, C-body tie rod ends can be adapted to fit in A-bodies and are much stouter.

The 11/16" C-body tie rods are really only needed if you still use the split tube adjuster. If you go to a solid tubular adjuster like PST and a few others sell you can stay 9/16". The weak link in the tie rods is the OE split tube adjuster, those things are flexy.