Project '69 Front Suspension DONE!!!!

[bill440rt]

Finally finished the front suspension on the '69 today. Well, almost. I need to put the front tires on to get it back on the ground & finish torquing some last minute nust & bolts. That's what the little pieces of blue masking tape are for, so I don't forget. Once it's on the ground, I'll torque those & then install the zerk fittings & grease it up.

The '69 got the Force 10 SSBC conversion up front, slotted rotors, aluminum strut rods & 11/16" tie rod sleeves, & a PSC poly suspension kit. I also ran the brake lines.

The Hotchkis sway bar fit like a glove. It really is a beefy piece, I can't wait to see how it's gonna handle.

[bill440rt]

One more...

I still need to install the front shocks as well. I going with the KYB's.

[Charger-Bodie]

looking great!!!

[moparjohn]

Hey Bill, haven't touched my sway bars yet. How hard was it to mount? was the drilling in a totally differnt place? John

[Shakey]

 

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Those strut rods & tie rod sleeves look like a mirror! 

[HITMAN 149]

nice job!!!!!!
almost the same setup as i'm doing. SSBC force 10 (mine are powdercaoted orange), perf susp. poly.graph kit w/ 11/16 tie rod's and front & rear sway bars too. but not a hotchkis... they don't make em for our application anymore!! you and nyc mike are about the only one's!!! LOL
they had one on ebay @ 2months ago...but went a lil high$$
yea.... i can't wait to get mine back on the road!!!

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

they had one on ebay @ 2months ago...but went a lil high$$

I think moparjohn got that set 

[BrianShaughnessy]

Those strut rods & tie rod sleeves look like a mirror! 

Helll yeah!!!        

[bill440rt]

Those strut rods & tie rod sleeves look like a mirror! 

Helll yeah!!!        

Hey All,
Thanks! Those strut rods & tie rod sleeves come brushed-looking, like they were just machined. A few hours on the buffing wheel is all it took to polish them. I cleared them as well so I wouldn't be forever polishing them by hand.

Moparjohn, congrats again on winning those Hotchkis bars! I think you'll be extremely pleased with them. You'll probably have them "road-tested" way before I will, I REALLY want to know how they perform.
They were a piece of cake to install, both front & rear. They fit like a glove. You'll need to drill 2 more holes on each side of the K-frame for the special brackets (4 holes total). It should be outlined in the instructions. Yours came with instructions, RIGHT??      Basically, the first hole is about a 1/2" inward from the outermost edge of the K-frame, then you use the bracket as a template to mark the 2nd hole. I found the end link bolts were the hardest, they were just barely long enough to start the nut at the bottom. A use of a floor jack to compress it with a rag for protection cured that problem, then it went right on. I thought that was a good thing, that the end links weren't too long. If you need a hand, let me know.

Hitman, your brakes are lookin' good, too!!     I opted for the standard caliper finish, I actually liked that the best. The wheels I'm going with will probably hide most of the caliper anyway, so "bling" was not a factor. The polished ones looked real nice, though. I thought these brakes were super-easy to install, a blind man could do it. Everything fit up real nice.
My buddy has a little wheel alignment kit. I'll use that just to get it somewhere in the ballpark before the actual wheel alignment.

[HITMAN 149]

thanks man....
yea i figured if i was going with such a nice setup... i'd want it to be seen thru the wheels.(thinkin on TT II's??) plus i just sprayed the motor comp. orange. 

[Silver R/T]

nice work, would want to test drive it for you

[resq302]

Bill,

Looking really really good.  I can't wait to see it finished and in person.  Im sure that the pictures do not do the car any justice, in person is always better especially your plum crazy car.  Pictures look great but in person it blows you away.

Keep up the excellent work.

[bill440rt]

Hey Brian, thanks!!!
I can't wait to see it finished, either. I think that's gonna be a long way off, but in the meantime I'm having fun putting it all together.

This color is REALLY hard to photograph. The car is all sanded & buffed now, too. But, it's hard to capture in a photo to show what it really looks like. It's too damn bright!!     I'll try to post a few later or tomorrow in the Paint/Body section. I took the day off, so hopefully I'll get a few more things done.

[2harleyriders]

Bill, mine is in the same stage right now.  I have been waiting for the weather to break.  How long did it take you to install?  Here is mine.

[chargercraig]

Hey bill I get aweful damn jellous when I see what a bitchin job your doin on that sublime charger

[bill440rt]

Thanks chargercraig!!!! 

Harley, it really isn't that hard to put together. It took me about 2 days, but that was only a few hours a day. I don't get to work on it often, so I try to make the most of my time. I've done a few Charger suspensions already, so it's pretty easy by now.

A factory service manual comes in extremely handy. After bolting in the K-frame & steering box, I started with the upper control arms & then worked down to the steering knuckles, lower control arms & strut rods (put them in together, it's easier that way), & then the lower ball joints. With the adjusting bolts loosely in place, I then put in the torsion bars pushing them in from rear to front. Be careful, there are RIGHT & LEFT sides!! The bars are marked at the front which ones are right & left. I finished it off with the steering linkage. Everything got torqued with the car still up in the air with the exception of the upper cam bolts, lower control arm pivot shaft nuts, & the front nuts for the strut rods. That was done with the car on the ground. This was explained in the FSM.

[Afflyer]

Bill, mine is in the same stage right now.  I have been waiting for the weather to break.  How long did it take you to install?  Here is mine.

If you don't mind me asking- what did all of these parts run together?

I'm in need of replacing my 38 year old front end on my Charger.

Thanks,
Bradley

[Rolling_Thunder]

I gotta say...     Hotchkis bars OWN!!!   we installed a set on Chris Jacob's GTX and that thing handles great.

[2harleyriders]

I spent under $700 from PST for the front and rear sway bar and the level 4 suspension package.  I had the control arms blasted for $25 bucks and painted them my self.  I did forget to order the pitman arm though.  It's a $100.

[bill440rt]

Bill, mine is in the same stage right now.  I have been waiting for the weather to break.  How long did it take you to install?  Here is mine.

If you don't mind me asking- what did all of these parts run together?

I'm in need of replacing my 38 year old front end on my Charger.

Thanks,
Bradley

Bradley,
I've never sat down to add them up, but here goes:

1) PSC urethane front end kit w/upgraded 11/16" tie rod ends, also included idler arm: $286.00
2) Hotchkis front sway bar: $250 ($500 pair)
3) SSBC Force 10 manual front brake kit: $986.00 w/group buy, $1881.76 for front AND rear
4) SS lines for ENTIRE CAR from Fine Lines (included 6-pack fuel line, trans lines, etc): $200 at show special. They also customized the rear lines for disc brakes for FREE!
5) Other stuffs from Mancini Racing: torsion bar seals $21.00; Aluminum strut rods $140.00, Aluminum 11/16" tie rod sleeves $50.00, adjustable threaded pinion snubber $80.00, MP frame connectors $125, KYB shocks $140 set, rear shackles w/urethane bushings $45, MP rear leaf springs $200

I'm sure there are some other little things I'm missing, but that covers most of it. Of course, that's just PARTS. Sandblasting, labor for bushing press, paint/supplies, etc were all extra. But, other than pressing the bushings, I did it all MYSELF. That saves a ton in the long run. Plus, I was at least able to sell off a few of the old parts on eBay to recoupe some of the money back. I chose not to replace the pitman arm, mine felt still very tight, & was in nice condition.

My current dilemna is with the front parking brake cable. I bought a complete, correct set from Inline Tube ($165). SSBC claims you can use the stock cables. NOT!!!!    Due to the rear calipers, the front cable ends up being 1-1/4" too short before it hits the equalizer bracket! So, Inline Tube is making me a custom cable that's 2-1/2" longer than stock, which is 88-1/2". My new cable will be 91" total. That should do the trick. They wouldn't take the old one back, since it was installed on the car to fit.    Oh well.

[resq302]

Bill,

That sounds about right for In Line tube.  I bought one of their repro metering/ hold off valves for factory disc brake cars, the one that goes in the front to rear brake line.  Well after 5 months of use, the rear brakes would extend, but not release.  Turns out the valving inside the hold off valve would not let the fluid back up to the master and was acting like a one way valve.  After fighting with them for about 4 months, I finally got them to send me a replacement after they claimed to test mind and was putting out 150 psi (which I knew it was letting fluid through, just that it wasn't returning it to the master cyl.)  Their customer service totally stinks I have found.  When I installed the correct master cyl for my car, they supposedly sent me the correct left side brake lines for the master and they were totally wrong.  Because I held them up to the master, but didnt install them, they would not take them back either.

[autodynamics]

the hotckis sway bar is very nice.....there are only a few out there

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Its amazing how everyone says the Hotchkis is great and they discontinue it? 

[resq302]

Its amazing how everyone says the Hotchkis is great and they discontinue it? 

Probably cause our cars are so old.  Seems like they are discontinuing everything for our older cars with the exception of the speciatly companies that sell only the repro items.

[bill440rt]

Its amazing how everyone says the Hotchkis is great and they discontinue it? 

Probably cause our cars are so old.  Seems like they are discontinuing everything for our older cars with the exception of the speciatly companies that sell only the repro items.

The answer is actually pretty simple. I spoke with Hotchkis on this when I ordered them. It was all a poor marketing issue, & lack of research. Seems that they were initially advertised to fit 68-70 B-bodies. Well, they won't fit '70 B-bodies due to the difference in K-frames. Then, they were advertised to fit '68-'69 B-bodies. Again, this is not entirely true as they WON'T clear the HEMI skidplate. Seems that guys with the '70 B-bodies or those with the skidplates were returning the bars. Rather than deal with future irate customers, Hotchkis simply disco'd them.
They WILL fit fine if you have a '68-'69 b-body with a STANDARD K-frame without the skidplate. If they were advertised like that, they would have no problems. I told them about the differences in K-frames, they said they have to do some more "product research." Don't look for them to pop up in the near future. That's a shame, because they are very well designed.

As far as Inline Tube is concerned, I will NEVER buy anything from them again. I've always purchased my stuff from Fine Lines, but Inline was the only one that had the cables. Fine Lines has always been a superior company to deal with. Same for Mancini Racing. Mancini sent me the wrong, smaller aluminum tie rod sleeves. I didn't think anything of it, & went ahead & polished & clear coated them. Lo & behold, I discovered they were the wrong ones upon assembly. Mancini took them back for exchange, no questions asked, almost a YEAR later. Both Fine Lines & Mancini are stand up companies in my book.

[Rolling_Thunder]

I dont see how a hemi skid plate will interfere with the bar....


Autodynamics...     no offense intended but isnt your bar upside down ?   I know it doesnt matter but dont you worry about snagging that thing on a parking stump ?

[Afflyer]

I dont see how a hemi skid plate will interfere with the bar....


Autodynamics...     no offense intended but isnt your bar upside down ?   I know it doesnt matter but dont you worry about snagging that thing on a parking stump ?

I just snagged one of my sway bar brackets last week on a curbed parking lot!

[autodynamics]

nope the bar in in correctly...i have never snagged anything. i suppose i could flip it around...

[Chatt69chgr]

I'am glad I have been reading this thread since I was about to buy some lines from Inline Tube.  I think I will stop and see if the folks at Fine Lines can supply what I need and see about getting this stuff from them.  I saw in the rpm restoration parts website that they offer all Fine Lines for 25% off retail.  I think they just have the stuff drop shipped.