67 Dart 270...Project Old School

Over the weekend I got the QA1 strut rods installed. I was extremely lazy and cut the originals in half and popped them out. My dream was to install the new QA1 strut rods without having to mess with the torsion bars. Fat Chance!!! the QA1s would not get short enough to fit in without some help.

I removed the tension from the torsion bars and used a simple ratchet strap connected to the lower control arm and the front subframe. The ratchet strap is a small one with only a 4" handle on the ratchet, so we aren't talking about a lot of tension here. This allowed me to get the QA1 strut rods into the lower control arm. I released the small amount of tension on the ratchet strap and proceeded with the install.

Once you get the QA1 strut rods in place, I adjusted their length to the measurement I took from the original strut rods (15" at MY measuring points). I then tightened everything down and reapplied tension to the torsion bars back to my original settings. I took the Dart for a quick drive and everything felt solid. The tug to the left when I jumped on the brakes was gone. Now I need to get a real alignment and I should be good to go.