The Yard Dart, a Reclamation. '64 Dart GT Ragtop
Looking at the interference has me looking hard at the control arm setup and the angles involved.
The RMS upper control arm uses the stock pivot points and adjusters, which is a pretty cool setup in its simplicity.
The problem I’m running into with the wide wheels is that the RMS upper is a wide hoop, a big “U” shape and is wider than a stock upper control arm which is more of a 'V' shape.
The pivot inclination (which is stock) makes this hoop high in the front and frankly, unnecessarily in the darned way.
Also evident is that the stock rebound bumper is no longer in play. (I hope the shock has this function built in)
The suspension is currently hanging at full droop. No further droop is possible as it’s limited first by the shock and second (shock removed), by the ball joints’ max angles.
So, considering my options, I'm formulating a plan to modify this.
The pics will help the understanding I hope.
My plan (unless y’all talk me out of it) is to pie-cut the front of the hoop at the upper ball joint, reattach it.
In the picture, I’ve applied a piece of red tape to indicate the pie-cut. The effect will be to angle the front of the hoop downward to gain clearance for wheel; this can be accomplished without changing the geometry of the setup at all. The other end of the rotated piece is simply a threaded connection at a Heim joint. An unexpected benefit to this operation is that it’s possible that the hoop would now actually contact and therefore utilize the stock rebound stop! That would be a win-win.
This entire suspension will be removed and disassembled for painting anyway.
Since the mod would not cause a geometry change or create other interference that I can foresee, I can’t think of a downside... any thoughts?
EDIT: I just had another possibility pop into my head... I note that the rear of the arm is welded at a downward angle.... and now I'm wondering if the upper arms are by chance installed *backwards* meaning this one belongs on the driver's side?.... hmmmmmm
Looking at the interference has me looking hard at the control arm setup and the angles involved.
The RMS upper control arm uses the stock pivot points and adjusters, which is a pretty cool setup in its simplicity.
The problem I’m running into with the wide wheels is that the RMS upper is a wide hoop, a big “U” shape and is wider than a stock upper control arm which is more of a 'V' shape.
The pivot inclination (which is stock) makes this hoop high in the front and frankly, unnecessarily in the darned way.
Also evident is that the stock rebound bumper is no longer in play. (I hope the shock has this function built in)
The suspension is currently hanging at full droop. No further droop is possible as it’s limited first by the shock and second (shock removed), by the ball joints’ max angles.
So, considering my options, I'm formulating a plan to modify this.
The pics will help the understanding I hope.
My plan (unless y’all talk me out of it) is to pie-cut the front of the hoop at the upper ball joint, reattach it.
In the picture, I’ve applied a piece of red tape to indicate the pie-cut. The effect will be to angle the front of the hoop downward to gain clearance for wheel; this can be accomplished without changing the geometry of the setup at all. The other end of the rotated piece is simply a threaded connection at a Heim joint. An unexpected benefit to this operation is that it’s possible that the hoop would now actually contact and therefore utilize the stock rebound stop! That would be a win-win.
This entire suspension will be removed and disassembled for painting anyway.
Since the mod would not cause a geometry change or create other interference that I can foresee, I can’t think of a downside... any thoughts?
EDIT: I just had another possibility pop into my head... I note that the rear of the arm is welded at a downward angle.... and now I'm wondering if the upper arms are by chance installed *backwards* meaning this one belongs on the driver's side?.... hmmmmmm
