What happened to 1973?

[Cole317]

Hi, im building a 73 charger and am running into problems
i'm starting to get frustrated by the fact that almost everything cuts off at 72 B-bodies. Mainly suspension... I was wondering what the difference is between the two years and if i can at all modify the kits to fit, as i have the resources to do so if possible. I was looking at XV, magnumforce, and AlterKtion.
thanks for any help!

[Ghoste]

A great oversimplification but in 73 they really began to engineer for ride quality and noise level at the expense of handling.  There were a lot of changes in bushings and mountings but one of the 3rd gen gurus can explain it properly for you.  Have you checked out the 3rd gen forum?  There is a lot of specialized help there.

[JeffYoung]

Firm Feel can help you (www.firmfeel.com).

[FLG]

Basicaly they added alot of rubber crap to get a better ride. Some of the rubber stuff can be replaced with poly  (rear leaf isolators for example) or metal (K-Frame mounts)

The rear isolators can be found on ebay, or you can get a 72 rear and use that setup if you want to get rid of them all together...though i believe you will need to also change the rear cross member because there is a difference in height. Someone did it already on the forum (Forgot who, a search might turn up something)

The front K-Frame mounts in steel can be had at firm feel.

The rest of the front end parts are available through rockauto.com and whatever is not on there can usually be found on ebay or firmfeel.

[Charger74]

Hi, im building a 73 charger and am running into problems
i'm starting to get frustrated by the fact that almost everything cuts off at 72 B-bodies. Mainly suspension... I was wondering what the difference is between the two years and if i can at all modify the kits to fit, as i have the resources to do so if possible. I was looking at XV, magnumforce, and AlterKtion.
thanks for any help!

Cole,

Basically you might as well forget any of the above companies.  I do know that at one point Bill Reilly was looking into doing a setup for 73 and up, but as far as I know it never happened.  I know your frustration, I would like to use the same stuff on my 73 SE, but gave up on that for the front end.   Check out the Firm Feel site and go with their stuff.  it's at least a start towards better handling.   Also so that you know, Magnumforce now has 2" drop spindles that appear to be pretty good and a lot cheaper than the Fatman drop spindles.

As for the difference, most has already been discussed.  Ma Mopar made big changes inbetween 72 and 73. 

[FLG]

Not to hijack the thread, and might be a dumb question but but whats the point of using a drop spindle??

[Nacho-RT74]

the bigger diff on 73s and laters from earliers is the suspension is allmost totally isolated from unibody ( specially in front ). You got on earliers the shocks and UCA attached to unybody, and now they are attached to K member and K member as explained, is isolated from unybody with rubber pucks.

Same about T bars crossmember, isolated from unybody.

On springs, axle is also isolated from spring, and springs got thicker bushing making smaller diameter bolts.

NOTHING of the front suspension is interchangeable, and some stuff on rear it is with slight modifications.

Another difference is the BB and SB cars got diff K members to the diff engine mounts locations. Earliers all V8 K members ( but hemis ) were the same. Engine mounts design changed too.

[BROCK]

I got into MoPars in the late 70s.  There were no kits for anything.  We had to
figure stuff out on our own - well, with the help of Direct Connection, later it
was Mopar Performance.  Now-a-days the 73 up cars still don't have kits. 
But, you do have Mopar Performance & internet forums!!! 

Speaking of spindles:  Make sure you don't revert to the 72 & earlier version. 
The fact that they are just about an inch shorter will change suspension
geometry for the worse.

[lisiecki1]

Not to hijack the thread, and might be a dumb question but but whats the point of using a drop spindle??

2" drop in front suspension while retaining original suspension geometry and lower the center of gravity of your car for better cornering ability.  also lets you run your torsion bars tighter without jacking the front end of the car wayyyyy up in the air.

[JeffYoung]

Does lowering the ride height via the torsion bar adjuster reduce the torsion bar rate?

[lisiecki1]

I believe it does, nominally.  But mostly I believe it's for height adjustment.

EDIT: on second thought I don't think there would be even a nominal adjustment in the tension on the torsion bars, with the same amount of weight on them the entire time they'll have the same amount of twist or torsional stress no matter how tight the bolt is.  So it's purely height adjustment.

[Cole317]

wow guys i really didnt expect this much help! I had no idea the years took such a dramatic change, and yeah the whole BB and SB cross member differences were a slap to the face when i wanted to drop in a 440. If it's allright, can i post up a setup  in a few days and see if it's any good and get me the results i'm looking for?
thanks again  for all the help

[Charger74]

wow guys i really didnt expect this much help! I had no idea the years took such a dramatic change, and yeah the whole BB and SB cross member differences were a slap to the face when i wanted to drop in a 440. If it's allright, can i post up a setup  in a few days and see if it's any good and get me the results i'm looking for?
thanks again  for all the help

Go for it cole, and yeah the different k-frames suck.  I have to find a bb one for my 73 as well.

[rudyjrusa]

the bigger diff on 73s and laters from earliers is the suspension is allmost totally isolated from unibody ( specially in front ). You got on earliers the shocks and UCA attached to unybody, and now they are attached to K member and K member as explained, is isolated from unybody with rubber pucks.

Same about T bars crossmember, isolated from unybody.

On springs, axle is also isolated from spring, and springs got thicker bushing making smaller diameter bolts.

NOTHING of the front suspension is interchangeable, and some stuff on rear it is with slight modifications.

Another difference is the BB and SB cars got diff K members to the diff engine mounts locations. Earliers all V8 K members ( but hemis ) were the same. Engine mounts design changed too.

Does anybody sell new rubber pucks??

[quapman]

If you do a motor swap, I'm pretty sure you can get conversion mounts from Schumacher and won't have to change the K.

As far as part availability, sometimes you'll have better luck locating parts for 75-79 Cordobas. Most of the suspension parts are the same as 73-74 Charger.

There's a 3rd gen only forum? 

[FLG]

the bigger diff on 73s and laters from earliers is the suspension is allmost totally isolated from unibody ( specially in front ). You got on earliers the shocks and UCA attached to unybody, and now they are attached to K member and K member as explained, is isolated from unybody with rubber pucks.

Same about T bars crossmember, isolated from unybody.

On springs, axle is also isolated from spring, and springs got thicker bushing making smaller diameter bolts.

NOTHING of the front suspension is interchangeable, and some stuff on rear it is with slight modifications.

Another difference is the BB and SB cars got diff K members to the diff engine mounts locations. Earliers all V8 K members ( but hemis ) were the same. Engine mounts design changed too.

Does anybody sell new rubber pucks??

Firm feel sells em in metal, i believe there also around in poly. I plan on using metal and getting rid of the isolators.

[73chgrSE]