My "new" '74 Duster- or why I need a project like a hole in the head
Ok, it's about time I did something to my Duster, so here's the update. I've been sitting on a set of TTI shorty headers, SPC upper control arms and QA1 lower control arms for awhile now. Like years apparently. I finally got some time, so I figured, what the heck. Pull the Doug's 453's, gain some ground clearance, install the SPC's and QA1's, lower the car a smidge and pick up some more suspension travel. Heckuva plan.
So first, I "fixed" the brand new QA1 LCA's. I had a set of these, made by CAP before they sold the design to QA1, on my Challenger. One of the welds failed. Now, QA1 welding is way better than CAP welding, but given what that failure taught me about the LCA's, I decided to add some gussets.
Brand new and powdercoated QA1 goodness
There's a seam right here. That's where my CAP built arms failed, the weld separated.
Like this- the old arm built by CAP from my challenger. The QA1's wouldn't do this, look how lousy those welds are on this CAP piece. The QA1 built pieces are so much better.
But, gussets added to the top and bottom. Don't worry, they clear the torsion bar lever.
Not sure why these come with rubber LCA bushings. Brand new tubular arms with rubber bushings! So, out with those, in with Delrin bushings from Peter Bergman.
bushing and LCA pins out
Shells out
Delrin in
Ok, it's about time I did something to my Duster, so here's the update. I've been sitting on a set of TTI shorty headers, SPC upper control arms and QA1 lower control arms for awhile now. Like years apparently. I finally got some time, so I figured, what the heck. Pull the Doug's 453's, gain some ground clearance, install the SPC's and QA1's, lower the car a smidge and pick up some more suspension travel. Heckuva plan.
So first, I "fixed" the brand new QA1 LCA's. I had a set of these, made by CAP before they sold the design to QA1, on my Challenger. One of the welds failed. Now, QA1 welding is way better than CAP welding, but given what that failure taught me about the LCA's, I decided to add some gussets.
Brand new and powdercoated QA1 goodness
There's a seam right here. That's where my CAP built arms failed, the weld separated.
Like this- the old arm built by CAP from my challenger. The QA1's wouldn't do this, look how lousy those welds are on this CAP piece. The QA1 built pieces are so much better.
But, gussets added to the top and bottom. Don't worry, they clear the torsion bar lever.
Not sure why these come with rubber LCA bushings. Brand new tubular arms with rubber bushings! So, out with those, in with Delrin bushings from Peter Bergman.
bushing and LCA pins out
Shells out
Delrin in
