Chris' 1968 Charger Upgrades 6/13 Bunch of updates, done uploading

[Chris 69]

First was replacing the torsion bars.

Photos: Jack stand for safety and loosening the torsion bar screw.

[Chris 69]

Next was removal of the existing torsion bars. Had to make a tool out of bar stock, u-bolts, and an old bike inter-tube.

[Chris 69]

With the tool installed, a few blows with a 5-pound hammer was able to knock the existing torsion bars out.

[Chris 69]

Next was installation of the new torsion bars. Used the home-made removal tool to install the new bars. Installation was pretty straight forward, as long as bottle jack is used to raise the front lower control arm (not sure what this is called) to place the torsion bar socket in the right position.

[Chris 69]

Passenger-side torsion bar installed.

[Chris 69]

Next was the front anti-sway bar. Here's the existing one installed. Pretty much undo the end links and the brackets attached to the K-frame, and it drops right out. Need to remove the bracket that attaches the lower radiator support to the K-frame too.

[Chris 69]

Here's the old and new anti-sway bars.

[Chris 69]

First was to locate where the K-frame brackets needed to be welded to the K-frame. To do this, I had to pre-install the new anti-sway bar and mark locations.

[Chris 69]

Next was to weld the K-frame brackets into place.

[Chris 69]

Then paint the brackets and install the anti-sway bar. Unfortunately the Hotchkis logo is upside-down, I called them for a new sticker, but never received it.

[Chris 69]

Next up was installation of the new Mopar performance HD leaf springs. Here's the existing ones.

[Chris 69]

Of course, safety first.

I put jack stands under the rear axle, and under the frame in front of the axle, so I could raise and lower the axle to remove the old leaf springs and install the new ones. Throughout the entire process, the driveshaft was never removed.

[Chris 69]

Removed shocks.

[Chris 69]

Removed leaf springs. Using a bottle jack under the springs helped alot during removal.

[Chris 69]

Here's  all of the old hardware and brackets painted to look new again!

[Chris 69]

Here's the new leaf springs.

[Chris 69]

Installing leaf springs. After attaching both ends of the spring, a bottle jack was used to get it close to the axle.

[Chris 69]

Here's the existing spring. There was a leaf on the bottom that wasn't bolted to the spring. Is this a factory item? Originally car was an H-code 383.

[Chris 69]

While the rear wheels were up in the air, I noticed a bubble in the tire and chunks missing, so had to buy new rear tires. BF Goodrich TA's. These tires were at least as old as 2006. So it was time anyway.

[Chris 69]

Next was installing the rear sway bar. This only took a couple hours. Safety first!

[Chris 69]

Had to drill a hole in frame on each side to install the brackets. Here's the location on the driver's side.

[Chris 69]

Here's the brackets installed.

[Chris 69]

Anti-sway bar ready to be installed.

[Chris 69]

Anti-sway bar in place.

[Chris 69]

Handling difference is night-and-day. So much less body roll.

That's it for now. Not sure what the next project will be as I'm saving for a house down-payment now.