News:

It appears that the upgrade forces a login and many, many of you have forgotten your passwords and didn't set up any reminders. Contact me directly through helpmelogin@dodgecharger.com and I'll help sort it out.

Main Menu

73 Charger K Member Rebuild

Started by Pouria, March 25, 2013, 04:28:17 AM

Previous topic - Next topic
Print
Go Down Pages1
User actions

Pouria

March 25, 2013, 04:28:17 AM
Hello everybody;
After three years of being idle in my project, I am back again to continue my job on the 73 Charger. I have better give you a brief summary:
- I am from Iran and purchased my Charger 6 years ago.
- It is a 73 charger originally with 340 motor and 727 tranny that is replaced with a 4 speed manual by the previous owner.
- I have already got a 400 block to make a stroker motor.
- The body work was finished 4 years ago but after this long time I can see some rusts that should be repaired ASAP.
- The car is compeletly teared apart. Engine, Tranny, seats, bumpers and side glasses are off the car and I recently removed the K member as well.
The most important matter to consider is that Iran is in critical economical conditions right now and the rate of USD is 3 times higher than what it was 4 years ago and it means I have to spend three times more money to get this car on feet again so I have to be very careful about the costs. As the very 1st step I am going to rebuild the K member. My cousin is a professional welding inspector and he inspected the part with UV device and we say many micro tracks on its body. Does any body have any idea about the steps on rebuilding the K member to tell me? I am able to tear it down completely and have it re-welded better than factory but what I am worrying about are the exact dimensions of the part. Is there any drawing or something that can help me perform this job clean? Here we are at ultimate lack of resources and parts so it is almost impossible to get spare parts and we have to pay the most possible attention and care to rebuild what we have. Your help is very critical to me and also highly appreciated.

Yours - Pouria

areibel

#1
March 25, 2013, 12:23:49 PM
Hello Pouria!
Here is a link to a company that does 62-72 K frames, it describes what they do-
http://www.firmfeel.com/reinfkfram_b.htm

There are kits available with the steel pieces already cut to reinforce the control arm mounts, the steering box mount, etc.. but you can just as easily cut your own from some 1/8- 1/4 inch steel plate (whatever you can get!).  Reweld the factory welds, add a few gussets and you should be fine.

Pouria

#2
March 26, 2013, 07:39:14 AM
Hello Areibel;
Nothing could be more helpful than this. Thank you very much dear friend :thumbs:

areibel

#3
March 26, 2013, 10:23:54 AM
Cool! Glad I could help!
The pics are pretty good, you can see the round "washers" they use around the strut holes, the skid plate underneath, etc..  If you can do the welding it shouldn't be too hard of a job.

flyinlow

#4
April 02, 2013, 12:47:24 AM
73-74 Chargers have a different K frame than 66-72 Chargers. The 73 and newer is a heavier boxed frame more like the full sized Polaris used. On 73 Chargers smallblocks and bigblocks k frames are different.  The best choice would be to find a 73 k frame for a 400-440 engined car. Or you can buy Schumaker adaptor Mounts and use you smallblock k frame.  $180.00

http://www.engine-swaps.com/

http://www.engine-swaps.com/Pages/ProductsYear/73UP.html

I used these to put a 440 in my 73 Charger that had a 318 engine.

Pouria

#5
April 03, 2013, 05:45:19 PM
Quote from: flyinlow on April 02, 2013, 12:47:24 AM
73-74 Chargers have a different K frame than 66-72 Chargers. The 73 and newer is a heavier boxed frame more like the full sized Polaris used. On 73 Chargers smallblocks and bigblocks k frames are different.  The best choice would be to find a 73 k frame for a 400-440 engined car. Or you can buy Schumaker adaptor Mounts and use you smallblock k frame.  $180.00

http://www.engine-swaps.com/

http://www.engine-swaps.com/Pages/ProductsYear/73UP.html

I used these to put a 440 in my 73 Charger that had a 318 engine.
Wooooooow I didnt know this! Thank you very much. As mentioned in my 1st post, my car is originally 340 but I want to put a 400 based stroker motor in it so I need the adaptors! I took some pictures from the frame that can be found here: http://www.4shared.com/rar/E2y1UMO3/My-K.html
I compressed them all in a file named my-k.rar for easier download. All the possible views and angles are covered for your review. It seems that this car had a very hard accident on the driver side because the K is completely teared apart and broken at that side and then re-welded very unclean:(
Comments and hints are more than welcome. Please let me enjoy your valuable ideas :2thumbs:
Pouria

AZMoparboy

#6
April 04, 2013, 06:17:19 PM
Hi Pouria, Having trouble posting pictures, try later.

Pouria

#7
April 04, 2013, 06:55:45 PM
It seems the link I put for the pictures has some problems, please try this alternative:
http://rapidshare.com/files/307072649/My-K.rar

Pouria

#8
April 07, 2013, 10:30:56 AM

flyinlow

#9
April 07, 2013, 11:23:38 AM
Looks like some of my welds :smilielol:

The k frame needs a lot of work, if you have someone with the equipment and the steel it could be repaired and possibly even improved. Extra gussets, adding some to the steering box mounting pad and you could move the forks that hold the thru bolt for the motor mounts to the big block locations.

There was a BB k frame on EBAY with all of the suspension for $350. I see bare k frames at swap meets sometimes , $200 range. Not sure whats involved to ship to your location.

If you end up using the Schumaker mounts you have to modify the driverside fork slightly, shortening it.

Pouria

#10
April 08, 2013, 01:58:42 AM
Quote from: flyinlow on April 07, 2013, 11:23:38 AM

The k frame needs a lot of work, if you have someone with the equipment and the steel it could be repaired and possibly even improved. Extra gussets, adding some to the steering box mounting pad and you could move the forks that hold the thru bolt for the motor mounts to the big block locations.

There was a BB k frame on EBAY with all of the suspension for $350. I see bare k frames at swap meets sometimes , $200 range. Not sure whats involved to ship to your location.
Great idea to move the forks to the BB location, thanks. I have a 400 block in the work shop and can measure the positions. That Ebay deal is a good one but unfortunately the shipping wont be anything worthy. I had the frame shot blasted yesterday and it is very clean ready for the repair job. My cousin is pro in welding (industrial welding inspector actually) and he has magnafluxing device to find the cracks and I have TIG welding facilities available, ST-52 steel sheet will be used for the gussets and the parts that need re-inforcement. For the tips of the two sticks of the K, I am drawing it in CAD to cut new tips with water jet and weld them instead of the current ones that are badly rusted. More comments and ideas are highly appreciated as I am about to start the repair job.

Pouria

#11
April 11, 2013, 05:44:57 AM
In order to repair the tips of the sticks of the frame that are badly rusted, I made some parts cut from 3mm still sheet by water jet:



The tips of the sticks are originally two layers, so two sizes are cut. The edges of the bigger ones will be bent and the smaller ones will be placed inside the bending in a way that the oval holes match each other completely.

The two washers are also cut to reinforce the lower control arm holes.

areibel

#13
April 12, 2013, 06:56:14 AM
Quote from: Pouria on April 11, 2013, 05:44:57 AM
In order to repair the tips of the sticks of the frame that are badly rusted, I made some parts cut from 3mm still sheet by water jet:



The tips of the sticks are originally two layers, so two sizes are cut. The edges of the bigger ones will be bent and the smaller ones will be placed inside the bending in a way that the oval holes match each other completely.

The two washers are also cut to reinforce the lower control arm holes.

Wow!  Those are beautiful Pouria!  All my stuff like that had to be torch or plasma cut, not nearly as nice!

Pouria

#14
April 14, 2013, 05:28:49 AM
Thanks Areibel:) Water jet's precission is 0.1mm that is more than enough for our application. It is also cheap in my area, I paid 25$ for 6pcs of each (totally 18pcs), I preferred to have enough spares in case of necessity ;)

Pouria

#15
May 31, 2013, 04:48:56 AM
Well, after a month of delay due to the welder's being busy on a big project in another city we finally did the job! It took much more than expected and kept us busy for three working days. I took many pictures that can be seen below. All the factory welds are redone and the water cut pieces I showed in previous posts are welded in place. The white substance on the frame body is called "White Contrast" and is used to find the micro cracks. After it is applied on the body, a magnetic agent that has micro particles of iron immersing in the water is sprayed and then the body is magnetized. The cracks are then easily seen on the "White Contrast". You can see these cracks welded on different parts of the body in the pictures:
































































My new friend, the welder is seen in the last two pictures. It is now the time to de-grease the K and have it powder coated. Like always, opinions are more than welcome. I am also about to start the engine and tranny rebuild and will open the threads today. Please follow then up and help me do the job better.
Print
Go Up Pages1
User actions