Using C-Body spindles on an E-Body ( and A-Body LCA's & Viper calipers)

[cudazappa]

Terrific idea on the grease groove!

[Beck]

i believe the firm feel 1.12" torsion bars have a 7 degree offset.
at least that's what dick told me when i ordered mine.

cheers!

[brads70]

i believe the firm feel 1.12" torsion bars have a 7 degree offset.
at least that's what dick told me when i ordered mine.

cheers!

Ya he told me they are clocked or offset different amounts depending on the size of the bar so they can be adjusted without sitting too high.

[Aussie Challenger]

Just a small update, got grease-able LCA pins and poly bushings from firm feel. Thought someone might like to see a picture of them? I machined a grease groove 360 degrees so the grease gets into all the "splines" of the bushing. I installed them into the A-Body LCA's todayI made my own adjustable strut rods too.

It's amazing what you can do with a lathe, pity these didn't come with that grove, it is only a small thing but makes a big difference.   

[brads70]

I had to scrap the gold part of the adjustable strut rod. It didn't quite fit in the hole in the K-frame! 
So I made new ones today. Not a big deal. I got them mocked up in position along with the sway bar tabs, A-Body LCA's, and the Hotchkis sway bars. Everything looks great,  boy is the Hotchkis sway bar huge! Now to weld in the sway bar tabs on the LCA's

[72bluNblu]

Nice looking strut rods! I bet you could sell those if ya wanted too...

And, you have your sway bars! Jealous! I'm still waiting for mine, on backorder at Summit still. But, considering the deal I got on them, 15% off a sale price already, I guess I can wait a little. I still need to get the new UCA's on anyway.

Keep up the good work!

[brads70]

Nice looking strut rods! I bet you could sell those if ya wanted too...

And, you have your sway bars! Jealous! I'm still waiting for mine, on backorder at Summit still. But, considering the deal I got on them, 15% off a sale price already, I guess I can wait a little. I still need to get the new UCA's on anyway.

Keep up the good work!

Did you go with Hotchkis uppers?

[72bluNblu]

Did you go with Hotchkis uppers?

Yup. It was either that or the Magnumforce double adjustables. The double adjustable part would be nice, but the relocated front pivot wins out for me. I don't change my set up enough for the double adjustable feature to be necessary, and after setting up the CAP uppers I think I have a pretty decent idea of how to put the Hotchkis uppers in the ballpark.

Plus I bought all the Hotchkis stuff when Summit was having a sale on it, and used a 15% discount on top of that, so it made their prices a lot more reasonable/comparable to other stuff out there. I got the frame connectors, UCA's and sway bars  . Still waiting on the sway bars, just have to find the time to do the rest. But I need a few days since its my daily...

[brads70]

Yup. It was either that or the Magnumforce double adjustables. The double adjustable part would be nice, but the relocated front pivot wins out for me. I don't change my set up enough for the double adjustable feature to be necessary, and after setting up the CAP uppers I think I have a pretty decent idea of how to put the Hotchkis uppers in the ballpark.

Plus I bought all the Hotchkis stuff when Summit was having a sale on it, and used a 15% discount on top of that, so it made their prices a lot more reasonable/comparable to other stuff out there. I got the frame connectors, UCA's and sway bars  . Still waiting on the sway bars, just have to find the time to do the rest. But I need a few days since its my daily...

Sweet! They sure are nice !

[brads70]

Got some more done this weekend. Without the sway bar attached I can get 9" of travel, bump stop to bump stop. ( I don't think I'll ever be into the stops for the upper control arms.) More than enough! I wonder what stock is?
The adjustable strut rods sure work sweet! I adjusted them till the bushing sat square on the pin then locked them in position. Moves up and down real nice! I had to clear the Hotchkis front pivot as the upper hit when I lifted it up to hit the bump stops. I doubt the stock E-Body spindle would have this issue, but I'd check it anyhow? I adjusted it so I have both positive and negative camber so I'm now sure it will all work! I don't think you could do this with stock or non-adjustable uppers. Also I don't think you could run the A-Body LCA's without an adjustable rod end strut rod either? The hole for the strut rod is 3/8" out farther than and E-Body LCA along with being 3/16" longer. Now that I have the drives side all figured out and installed, I'll move over to the other side. Can't do much more without a rotor which I'll pick up next month.

[mopar12372]

ill bet just the hime jointed  adjustable strut rod would correct alot of the handleing on these e-bodys.

[Aussie Challenger]

With that adjustable strut rod there should be no excuse for having uneven tracks and maybe sneak a bit more caster, looks great, you have used your spare time wisely.   

[73EStroker]

Brad-  we wait with baited breath. Hope once this is done there can be a way to offer a complete package. I am about to install my UCA from Hotchkiss as soon as my son gets his GTi off my hoist. He is installing water/meth to go to 320HP. Then I can get in and get that suspension working better. I have my car sitting about 3/4" lower than stock so not sure if that makes it handle better or are there other issues that come along by doing that? What the E Body world needs is the lower ball joint assembly to have a shorter distance from the tie rod end to the CL of the lower ball joint. This would effectively improve steering ratio using the stock steering box. Game enough to turn these out on a CNC? Using titanium or high grade alloy?

Barry

[brads70]

HP2  ( I think it was? ) said Firm feel had something like this as a prototype? A shorter steering arm and at the right height to best suit getting rid of bump steer would be cool!

[cudazappa]

those steering arms would need to be drop forged just like Firm Feel's pitman arm.  The longer pitman arm accomplishes the same thing.

If one were to do that, the steering arms would be like $90 ea, just like Firm Feel's custom idler arm.  Also, a shorter steering arm would require more effort to turn (less leverage at the wheel) and also, the tires would also try to determine the steering that much more, too.

The big issue is getting the outside tie-rod the correct height to eliminate bump steer.  Hotchkis has already accomplished that.