Building my triangulated 4 link

-
The 4 link should be a lot easier compared to the T56 conversion!
As long as I have it done by March, I’ll be happy. My sister will be coming into town and it’s become kind of a tradition that I pick her up in my Duster, because nobody ever believed it would make it there and back. It’s only about an hour drive one way haha
 
Rear is out
DF4EBCCF-B02D-4B66-8E9C-3FC3E7AA353A.jpeg
 
No turning back now!
Needs some adjustments before welding the box in, but it’s close.
72A06430-712C-4D03-A475-0DCCC4FA382E.jpeg

Also went and picked up another project that I’ve wanted for a while.
37CC3AD8-7E89-4485-AFD7-0A5D480FC8FE.jpeg
 
We run a single triangulated 4 link on our tube frame road race car , the lower links are triangulated only, they converge at the center of the diff housing at the bottom
and form a close to 90* , the top links are straight and parallel to the ground, this is called a "lotus link " style and has been used on MANY SCCA national championship GTL cars,It puts the roll center very low ( at the convergence point) it was built by Robbinson racing in GA. I have been thinking on trying it on a V8 car for a while using some 7075 link material, As far as coil-over location the stock location should work after reinforcement if you have good shock body clearance. The wider the mounting points from center of chassis the better. Dont over spring, you can calculate shock ratio based on location, See Accutune Off Road for some cool shock tech, off road mostly but the calculators they use to have are slick, real good suspension needs to be compliant and use its travel. Just some thoughts.

very cool. Do you have pictures of this setup?
 
Just tacked in the boxes. I used a piece of threaded rod to help keep them square with each other.
B77A4D52-93EE-4EDE-9984-198615F6ED60.jpeg

6884C738-6066-4AA6-8602-67711B5DEAF0.jpeg

Don’t look too closely at my tack welds. I’m still learning lol
 
reminds me of when I did mine, used a piece of 1/2" tubing slid into the stock hangers. used it to make sure everything was in line with the stock mounts.
 
Went to the shop and found out I need better hole saws for stuff like this. Luckily there was this MONSTER end mill available to use.
0C36DBB6-FE2E-4F45-8BDB-FD86F7FDE368.jpeg

4EFCB3E8-97DC-4D22-B4A4-8EC400506196.jpeg

They’re not welded or cut to the exact length yet.
 
Lower bars are cut to length and the tabs are tacked in place. The upper coil over mount is cut to fit very tight between the frame and bolted in with some mounting flanges. I bolted it to the frame rails to help hold it there while I’m welding it in and to give the additional strength to the bar... because I’m the one doing the welding lol.
I’m working on getting the upper bars tacked up now, but hit a few road blocks. Once that’s done I’ll tack in the tabs for the coil overs and then get my buddies big welder over here to burn it all in.
So far this project has been very easy, just time consuming with all of the measurements.
I found out the factory leaf spring perches on the axle were installed by a blind man. There’s about a half inch difference in side to side and front to back placement.
DADF4695-CC87-4DA7-8B2D-397B43D7CA9A.jpeg

I can’t wait to cut off those old exhaust hangers
 
Hoping it will be done by next weekend. Just have to figure out how I want to mount the coil overs and order them. Then fully weld everything.
3AF1EB97-D748-4F35-8C72-68C454E65E5A.jpeg
 
Yeah mine was off the road for about 3 months when I did the T56 in it. I had it done it 2, but using the wrong hydraulic throwout bearing the first time cost me another month.

The 4 link should be a lot easier compared to the T56 conversion!
Are you Happy with the T56 ? I want a T56 in my 64 Valiant wagon. I know it's a Job, but the wagon is going through major reconstruction anyway being converted to 2 door hardtop, etc. Possibly RMS Aterkation.
 
Are you Happy with the T56 ? I want a T56 in my 64 Valiant wagon. I know it's a Job, but the wagon is going through major reconstruction anyway being converted to 2 door hardtop, etc. Possibly RMS Aterkation.

The T56 is great, and you can skip the alterKation and handle just as well for thousands less.

Shoot me a PM and we can discuss it further, I don’t want to hijack Craig’s thread.
 
Coilovers came in. All that’s left now is to fully weld and paint everything. I should have it done and on the ground in about a week!
85BD3BB4-BB04-4E02-BCDB-2D2E4235547F.jpeg
 
Well everything is completed. I borrowed a friends big welder and and it zipped right through this 1/4" steel. I accidentally burned through one of the threaded end adapters and had to order an extra one.
I got it all painted and installed and couldn't be happier with how it turned out.
the axle sits perfectly square in the car. It sits about 1/16" over to the passenger side, but I can adjust that out of it. And that's way better than the 1/2" off that the leaf spring perches were!
The car is still on jack stands until I put the fuel tank back in, so if I have time for that today I'll post some pictures of everything.
And because I did everything completely by myself, the total cost of everything is about half of the RMS Street Lynx kit. $1222 (not counting the time I spent on it)
 
Well everything is completed. I borrowed a friends big welder and and it zipped right through this 1/4" steel. I accidentally burned through one of the threaded end adapters and had to order an extra one.
I got it all painted and installed and couldn't be happier with how it turned out.
the axle sits perfectly square in the car. It sits about 1/16" over to the passenger side, but I can adjust that out of it. And that's way better than the 1/2" off that the leaf spring perches were!
The car is still on jack stands until I put the fuel tank back in, so if I have time for that today I'll post some pictures of everything.
And because I did everything completely by myself, the total cost of everything is about half of the RMS Street Lynx kit. $1222 (not counting the time I spent on it)

Awesome! Can’t wait to see the finished product!

Time is money.

Sure, that’s true. But for some of us time is more readily available than money. And that’s too simplistic anyway. If you enjoy the work then it’s not just “lost” time. Not to mention the sense of satisfaction you get from learning new skills and doing something yourself.

And, even the RMS kit takes time to install.
 
Sure, that’s true. But for some of us time is more readily available than money. And that’s too simplistic anyway. If you enjoy the work then it’s not just “lost” time. Not to mention the sense of satisfaction you get from learning new skills and doing something yourself.

And, even the RMS kit takes time to install.
My point of view exactly. I’ve never done anything like this, and enjoyed every bit of it. I only worked on it in my time off. That’s why I have this car. I enjoy working on it when I’m not busy.
 
This is about where the ride height will be. I may go an inch lower once I put my 18x9.5s on, but it’ll probably stay at this height until I redo my low hanging exhaust.
640143C3-20B0-4E4A-BCAD-6DA7603975E1.jpeg
 
Just mildly launched the car for the first time with this setup. The car has never been able to hook up because of the absurd amounts of wheel hop. I knew the car had potential to be fast off the line. But I had no idea it would hook like it does now.
So far I’m 99% satisfied with this project. Only thing I wish I had done differently is install grease fittings for the poly bushings. Which I can still do pretty easily.
I’m going to do a few things to the car this weekend and will try to finally get some detailed pictures of how it fits in the car.
 
Looks great! Glad to hear your happy with it. Looking to do the same with my dart someday. How big a wheel and tire are you running? Could you go wider now that everything is inboard?
 
-
Back
Top