72 Dart with spool mount K Frame

My buddy has a 72 Dart that was previously wrecked, and needed a k frame. He went to the junkyard and got all the parts, including a spool mount k frame, years ago to repair. Did all the work himself, and drove it a bunch of years. I worked on it at one point and noticed the lever that the torsion bar adjuster sits it was rubbing the subframe. I assumed the spool mount k frame is slightly wider at the lower control mounts, causing this. Fast foward a bunch of years, different engine, and new QA1 control arms. Got the car back together and just had it aligned. The alignment shop could only get - 1 degree camber . Has anyone else ran into this ?

are t bars set at correct height? or did you remove them for coils?

They are supposed to be interchangeable except for mounts and the different anti-roll bar mount
I'm told there are different length strut rods over the years

Is it possible something is bent?

Sterling said:

My buddy has a 72 Dart that was previously wrecked, and needed a k frame. He went to the junkyard and got all the parts, including a spool mount k frame, years ago to repair. Did all the work himself, and drove it a bunch of years. I worked on it at one point and noticed the lever that the torsion bar adjuster sits it was rubbing the subframe. I assumed the spool mount k frame is slightly wider at the lower control mounts, causing this. Fast foward a bunch of years, different engine, and new QA1 control arms. Got the car back together and just had it aligned. The alignment shop could only get - 1 degree camber . Has anyone else ran into this ?

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The torsion bar adjuster hitting the frame probably isn’t a K frame issue. Could just be worn out torsion bars, or it’s possible they were clocked incorrectly on installation. It may also be a cracked LCA pivot pin mount, but I’d suspect worn out bars, ride height and clocking issues first.

-1* camber is fine, unless this is a autoX only car. You typically don’t want to run more than -1* camber on the street as it becomes a tire wearing problem long term. For a regular street driver -.5* is fine.

I’d be more interested in the caster setting anyway. Usually getting positive caster is harder than getting negative camber and effects the driving feel more.

All of the alignment settings are ride height dependent too. Bottom line is I wouldn’t be worried at all about only getting -1* of camber if the caster setting was good and this isn’t a track only car.

Yes there is a definite possibility of something being bent, the torsion bars are adjusted ok, ride height is good. He got older QA1 upper and lower control arms, and strut rods. But he didn't get the QA1 k frame. According to the printout he got, it has -1 degree camber on both sides, and 4 degrees positive camber. Mostly a street car, some drag racing now. The alignment tech told him he couldn't get any more camber on the drivers side, so he equaled the camber. Moog used to make offset upper control arm bushings for the factory control arms that I have used before. I would recommend them if he didn't change the arms. I thought possibly the track width is slightly wider with the spool mount k frame, and the QA1 lower control arms might need to be shortened for camber. But the QA1 arms are not rubbing the frame like the factory ones. He is happy with it now, I would like it better, but if he is happy, good for him. Thank you all for the replies.

Maybe when it was hit before the shock towers got a little moved or something else.

-1 camber and +4 caster is way better than stock.

If he wants more of the same direction numbers, he needs more adjustable parts (strut rod, UCA). Doubt K-member change will help.

Sterling said:

Yes there is a definite possibility of something being bent, the torsion bars are adjusted ok, ride height is good. He got older QA1 upper and lower control arms, and strut rods. But he didn't get the QA1 k frame. According to the printout he got, it has -1 degree camber on both sides, and 4 degrees positive camber. Mostly a street car, some drag racing now. The alignment tech told him he couldn't get any more camber on the drivers side, so he equaled the camber. Moog used to make offset upper control arm bushings for the factory control arms that I have used before. I would recommend them if he didn't change the arms. I thought possibly the track width is slightly wider with the spool mount k frame, and the QA1 lower control arms might need to be shortened for camber. But the QA1 arms are not rubbing the frame like the factory ones. He is happy with it now, I would like it better, but if he is happy, good for him. Thank you all for the replies.

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Doesn’t sound like there’s anything wrong with it at all. -1* camber and +4* caster is pretty good with non adjustable tubular UCA’s. It’s better than you can expect to get with stock UCA’s even with offset bushings, usually if you get -1* camber and +3* caster with offset bushings it’s a win.

I wouldn’t suspect anything is wrong with the K frame from that information. I’ve heard of guys getting more caster than that with QA1 UCA’s, but I’ve also heard of people getting less than that too. And since it depends on the ride height of that particular car it’s totally normal for there to be a bit of a range.

The later 73+ spindles have a wider track width than the earlier ones, but that has nothing to do with the K frame difference. 67-72 and 73+ K’s use the same LCA’s and locate them in the same exact place. The engine mounts and sway bar locations are different, but nothing changed with the K frame mounting locations on the frame. And the QA1 K frame won’t change that either, it uses all the stock locations too. It would only make a difference if the K he’s using now is bent, but again, there’s not reason to suspect it is based on the perfectly acceptable alignment specs he’s got.

And yeah, for a street car you don’t need more than -1* camber anyway. Heck based on it being a street/drag race car I’d be more inclined to set -.5* of camber and see if that would let me get a little more positive caster out of it. That would be a better camber setting for drag racing anyway.