Green69rt's suspension, steering column. fuel tank

[green69rt]

I've been thinking about what I'll be doing after the car leaves for paint.  I think one area is to get the suspension installed so it will be a true roller.

My car came with a front sway bar (383 engine. )   So was wondering if I need the rear?  FF has a 1 1/8" front bar and a 3/4" rear bar.  I don't know what my original is.    So is the FF setup a good choice?    I seem to remember my old RT really leaning in the corners so I might like the feel of front and rear.  Any thoughts out there?  The rest of the suspension is going to be close to stock, maybe a FF stage 2 stearing gear box.  Almost everything will be new, bushings, UCA, LCA etc, so I'm expecting the stearing to be fairly tight.

[Dino]

First off, excellent work! The car is looking great!   

As far as the sway bars go, it depends on how you'll be driving it and then still there's different schools of thought. All 2nd gens had front sway bars but they were not very thick. I have a 1-1/8" bar up front and I love it! It makes the front super stable even when going hard into turns. With a new, stock suspension you will be very pleased.

I also have a 7/8" rear bar but I have yet to install it and I'm not sure if I want to. I have had zero issues with the rear end, and mine sits kinda high, so installing a rear bar may make the rear want to break out and that's probably not a good thing.   

I don't think there's anything wrong with the FF setup and for that matter I don't see how any sway bar could be bad. They're pretty simple and straight forward, hard to mess up that design!

I say get a front bar and see how you like it, a rear bar is easily added later on.

[cdr]

Dino would be correct, i have 1 3/8 front hollow hotchkis,, rear latter if needed.

[green69rt]

Now that the car is back from paint I'm starting to get serious about putting some parts back on it.  I think I will list the suspension and brake parts that I want to use in this post, so here goes in no particular order.  Any thoughts?

Front end.

FF 1.0 inch TBs
Dr. Diff stage two front disc brake kit (11.75" discs)
New front sway bar, in fact replace the whole front end.
New UCA with the offset bushings.
Rebuilt LCAs with reinforced.
FF stage 2 steering gear box.
I already have a reconditioned and reinforced K frame.
Need to decide on the MC and booster.
Decide on the steering pump.


Rear end.
Existing 8 3/4 Suregrip rear end, 3.91 gears
Existing Dr Difff 10 1/2 rear drum setup
Rear RT springs rebuilt.

Front and back Bilstien shocks (maybe unless someone has a better idea.)

[green69rt]

Started putting the UCAs in today.  Had the stock bushings replaced with some offset bushings, then the trouble started.  So I installed the bushings so as to push the front of the control arm toward the fender and the back toward the engine, right?   Then put the arms in the fender brackets and adjust the cam bolts to push the front out and the back in,  again, should be no problem.   Well , somebody didn't tell the UCA factory to check the clearance between the UCA and the shock tower metal.

The first picture shows the trouble spot.  This "ear" that sticks out, sticks out too far.  This is on the rear bushing.

As much as I tried I could not get the rear bushing adjustment to go all the way in.  I took the UCA back off and looked and I could see where the ear was digging into the metal of the shock tower metal (pic #3).

Solution was to grind off about 1/4" off the ear( pic #2).  I'll try it again next week and see how it fits.  No time this weekend.

I don't think this is a problem of ordinary bushings, just the offset kind.  Also it doesn't affect the front bushings, just the rear.

[HPP]

Its hard to tell because the washers are on shown top of the bushings in your pictures and you don't show the relationship of the whole arm to know which is front and back, but you sure you have them oriented correctly?  If you followed the instruction in the box, then they won't be right for max caster.

You do want the front toward of the arm towards the fender and the rear towards the engine, but that means the holes in the bushings must be oriented the opposite of  that and the cams on the bolts must be oriented the opposite of the bushings.

[green69rt]

Its hard to tell because the washers are on shown top of the bushings in your pictures and you don't show the relationship of the whole arm to know which is front and back, but you sure you have them oriented correctly?  If you followed the instruction in the box, then they won't be right for max caster.

You do want the front toward of the arm towards the fender and the rear towards the engine, but that means the holes in the bushings must be oriented the opposite of  that and the cams on the bolts must be oriented the opposite of the bushings.

There's a thread on here that has a very nice little diagram of the orientation of the arrows on the bushings.  I gave that to the mechanic that installed the new bushings.

So, yeap, got them right.  Must have checked it 10 times.  So installed like you said,,, the front of the control arm gets offset away from the shock tower (hole goes toward the engine side of the control arm) which increases its clearance to the tower so no problem there even if I turn the adjustment cam all the way to move the control arm toward the engine, and I tested that just to make sure I could turn the bolts.  Then left the cams turned so the the front of the control arm was pushed out towards the fender the max distance.

The rear bushing was installed so the rear of the control are is offset towards the engine (hole offset towards the fender.)   And then when I went to turn the cam bolts the ear of the control arm was pushed up against the metal of the shock tower, and I had only turned the cam about half way towards the back.  Same on both sides.

Found it.

[green69rt]

These UCA cam bushings are really turning into a big PITA!

So , like I said before, I found that the offset cam bushings were pushing the rear of the UCA so far toward the engine that the UCA was hitting the shock tower.  I took the UCA back out and ground some metal off, painted it and put it back in.  Adjusted the forward cam to push the front of the UCA all the way out and the rear to push the UCA all the way towards the engine.   Good enough.  Then I worked both UCAs up and down to make sure they moved freely and got the worst grinding noise.  Now what?  Tried grease, no help.  So off they came again.

So now I found another problem.  On the driver side, there were now three gouge marks in the shock tower metal.  Pic #1 shows my finger pointing at the gouge from the UCA metal.  NO more marks and no paint so that's fixed.  But there are now two others.  Pic #2 shows my finger pointing at a gouge made by the flange on the bushing.  Pic #3 shows a gouge made by the ferrel (sp?) that came with the new bushing.   Pic #4 shows the size of the new ferrel vs. one of the original bushing ferrels.  MOOG made the new ones huge!   Anyway, ground everything down, put everything back together and finally everything moves freely, full range with no noise.  What a pain!

Has anyone else run into this problem??  I haven't heard if it has shown up before.

[cdr]

the adjuster bolt should be on the top side of the arc when adjusting.

[green69rt]

I understand what you mean.  Here's the same bolt on mine as it's installed today.  I think it's almost exactly the same position as yours.  Driver side/rear.

[green69rt]

Maybe I should start a separate thread about "Before and After" because I was going thru some old photos and found something.

Before and after of the drivers side.  Just a remarkable change.

[Dino]

I got a few of those pics and it's a lot of fun to look at them.   

[CDN72SE]

Nice before and after. 

[xsr/tse]

your car looks great!
But looking at the last picture, I think you have the caliper bracket bolted on the wrong side of the spindle and the lower ball joint bolts are also maybe backwards??

[green69rt]

your car looks great!
But looking at the last picture, I think you have the caliper bracket bolted on the wrong side of the spindle and the lower ball joint bolts are also maybe backwards??

Dang, you caught it.  I was test fitting and had put it there, then switched it to the other side later.  It's a wonder that I didn't get a lot of comments on that.  New arrangement below with disc installed, couldn't get the disc on with the bracket on the wrong side so it wasn't hard to figure out.

[green69rt]

Front brakes installed and now on to the hard lines.

Here's how I did the front discs install.
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,129460.msg1610872.html#msg1610872

[green69rt]

Brakes done, although I'm still chasing one little oozing leak. Filled and bled.

Pic #1 MC and booster with lines and dist block installed.
Pic #2 Cleaned up and installed the brake pedal,

[green69rt]

I really beat my head against the wall trying to fix this problem.  Still working it.  The brake distribution block has a fitting on top where a copper washer seals against the main body of the block (see picture #1.)  The problem seems to be two things.  First the tiny copper washer/seal has no strength and distorts easily.  I tightened, checked for leak and it got better so tightened a little more, got better.  So tightened a little more and it got worse,  seal distorted.  Pic #2 shows the original copper seal with the one I replaced it with, much more meat on the new one.  Second problem is the seating surface of the body.  Pic #3 is a crude drawing of the top of the distribution block body.  The left drawing shows how it should be, the right is how mine is.  Almost no sealing surface on one side because the hole is a tiny bit off center.   I noticed this when I took it apart to change the seal.  So either I get it to seal or it will have to go back for replacement.

[green69rt]

I finally gave up trying to make the old block quit leaking.  Made a call to Dr Diff and he sent me a new block with no hassle, that's the kind of service I like!   Installed it and so far it's dry as a bone.   Need to bleed the system again and it's on to the next job.  FYI, here's a picture of the old/leaky block.  The arrow points to the place that leaked.  You can see that there is almost no seating area for the seal to engage.  The manufacturer just drilled the hole off center.

[green69rt]

Here's the next job.  Sent the steering box off to Frim Feel for a stage 2 rebuild. 

[green69rt]

Well, it's always something.  So, I got the 1 3/8" Hotchkis front sway bay.  Getting ready to put it in.  Summit Racing sent me the installation instructions for a Chevy F body so that slowed me down about 3 minutes.  So get on the Hotchkis web site and find the installation instructions for B body /Charger.   Great, but it says to weld the mounting brackets to the K frame.  I thought I was thru welding.



Is it OK to just bolt the brackets to the K frame, the original was installed that way?

[cdr]

I welded mine 

[HPP]

Yes, you could bolt them in. Addco, Helwig, and as you point out, the stock units, all bolt in.

[lukedukem]

Well, it's always something.  So, I got the 1 3/8" Hotchkis front sway bay.  Getting ready to put it in.  Summit Racing sent me the installation instructions for a Chevy F body so that slowed me down about 3 minutes.  So get on the Hotchkis web site and find the installation instructions for B body /Charger.   Great, but it says to weld the mounting brackets to the K frame.  I thought I was thru welding.



Is it OK to just bolt the brackets to the K frame, the original was installed that way?

I bought the same sway bar for my car and i bolted it in, i didn't have access to welder. i do now but it is working fine. you should be good
Just remember to put it in like a frown and not a smiley face. the Sticker will be upside down, but if you mount it like a smiley face, it has a better chance of dragging the ground if you bottom out.
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,123802.75.html     Start at Reply #79

Luke

[green69rt]

Well, it's always something.  So, I got the 1 3/8" Hotchkis front sway bay.  Getting ready to put it in.  Summit Racing sent me the installation instructions for a Chevy F body so that slowed me down about 3 minutes.  So get on the Hotchkis web site and find the installation instructions for B body /Charger.   Great, but it says to weld the mounting brackets to the K frame.  I thought I was thru welding.



Is it OK to just bolt the brackets to the K frame, the original was installed that way?

I bought the same sway bar for my car and i bolted it in, i didn't have access to welder. i do now but it is working fine. you should be good
Just remember to put it in like a frown and not a smiley face. the Sticker will be upside down, but if you mount it like a smiley face, it has a better chance of dragging the ground if you bottom out.
http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,123802.75.html     Start at Reply #79

Luke

I followed the threads you gave and see what to do.  I'll install it in the "frown" position.  I also found that some were having problems with the grease fittings being broken off.  So I decided to re position them.  As for the label, I just peeled it off and stuck it back on so it would read correctly.