The Great Pumpkin - '71 Duster
Reassembly continues. I really should be working on the wiring but my initial plan to start with that went out the window. Number one, wiring is tedious. Number two, I totally forgot about it because all these big, long and heavy suspension parts have been sitting on a bench and on the floor for over a year and I got tired of them being in my way. I'm not going to install all of it now because some things may or may not need to be changed/adjusted etc. but it's good to get some of the bigger items out of the work area and make a little progress at the same time.
So unfortunately, I didn't realize before the car was painted that the fancy QA1 upper control arms require extra clearance to allow full travel. There is a gusset on the inside of the control arm mount that needs to be ground down about 1/4" for the front inside tube to clear. Not a huge deal and par for the course with aftermarket stuff but again, I wish I had bothered to read the info sheet ahead of time instead of having to grind newly painted surfaces.
Below is the area that gets trimmed. Only thing I can think of as to why this wasn't figured out when these arms were developed is that they didn't want to narrow or bend the tubing at that point because it would probably weaken it. I don't know really but whatever the thinking was, the gusset needs to be trimmed for them to fit and work properly.
Here you can see where the gusset hits the inside of the arm before trimming. I was thrilled about chipping my nice, new powder coated parts.
From what I could tell, the rearward mount area needs some trimming as well. The pointer shows where the bottom of the arm makes contact with this outer box structure. QA1 does not mention having to massage this spot in their info sheet but it was pretty clear that it needs to happen since mocking up the arm resulted in it chipping there as well.
After two minutes with the grinder, no more interference and full travel is achieved. I will probably grind a little more away just to be safe.
Didn't need much here, just the tip of this area.
Got the clearance, Clarence. Bumpers are shorter than stock for more front end travel. These are Energy Suspension universal ones with .687" height.
What's also a little curious is that QA1 mentions needing to deal with this situation on the passenger side only. As far as I can tell though, the driver's side needs the same treatment. If I hadn't taken the info sheet at face value, I would not have chipped the other arm. Maybe I'll write them a letter.
Rear spot. Not sure why the painted surfaces look so lumpy here because they're not as exaggerated as they appear. Just the reflection of the camera flash I guess.
Also started to hang some rear stuff. Again, this was mostly to get parts off the ground. Installing the rear could affect the balance of the car on the lift since there is nothing currently installed in front. OTOH, having it in will aid placement of other things so I will just have to be careful and use pole jacks for support. It's all going to get loosened again to check/adjust pinion angle and/or whether I want to use the top hole in the spring hanger.
Yes, Caltracs and Dr. Diff offset spring kit. Cass makes primo parts, so much betterer than the old Mopar pig iron ones. I got some new pivot plates and stiffener tubes for the traction bars since the old ones were starting to rust because you guessed it, the powder coating chipped. Shiny parts is good but the new powder coating makes it difficult to install the old, oxidized preload bars through their intended holes and they chip before they're even on the car. Grrrrr...
Chipping away at this a little at a time (pun intended) but surprisingly, this project does not feel totally overwhelming. Just putting the little bits and pieces on seems to help build momentum and confidence.
More to come.
Reassembly continues. I really should be working on the wiring but my initial plan to start with that went out the window. Number one, wiring is tedious. Number two, I totally forgot about it because all these big, long and heavy suspension parts have been sitting on a bench and on the floor for over a year and I got tired of them being in my way. I'm not going to install all of it now because some things may or may not need to be changed/adjusted etc. but it's good to get some of the bigger items out of the work area and make a little progress at the same time.
So unfortunately, I didn't realize before the car was painted that the fancy QA1 upper control arms require extra clearance to allow full travel. There is a gusset on the inside of the control arm mount that needs to be ground down about 1/4" for the front inside tube to clear. Not a huge deal and par for the course with aftermarket stuff but again, I wish I had bothered to read the info sheet ahead of time instead of having to grind newly painted surfaces.
Below is the area that gets trimmed. Only thing I can think of as to why this wasn't figured out when these arms were developed is that they didn't want to narrow or bend the tubing at that point because it would probably weaken it. I don't know really but whatever the thinking was, the gusset needs to be trimmed for them to fit and work properly.
Here you can see where the gusset hits the inside of the arm before trimming. I was thrilled about chipping my nice, new powder coated parts.
From what I could tell, the rearward mount area needs some trimming as well. The pointer shows where the bottom of the arm makes contact with this outer box structure. QA1 does not mention having to massage this spot in their info sheet but it was pretty clear that it needs to happen since mocking up the arm resulted in it chipping there as well.
After two minutes with the grinder, no more interference and full travel is achieved. I will probably grind a little more away just to be safe.
Didn't need much here, just the tip of this area.
Got the clearance, Clarence. Bumpers are shorter than stock for more front end travel. These are Energy Suspension universal ones with .687" height.
What's also a little curious is that QA1 mentions needing to deal with this situation on the passenger side only. As far as I can tell though, the driver's side needs the same treatment. If I hadn't taken the info sheet at face value, I would not have chipped the other arm. Maybe I'll write them a letter.
Rear spot. Not sure why the painted surfaces look so lumpy here because they're not as exaggerated as they appear. Just the reflection of the camera flash I guess.
Also started to hang some rear stuff. Again, this was mostly to get parts off the ground. Installing the rear could affect the balance of the car on the lift since there is nothing currently installed in front. OTOH, having it in will aid placement of other things so I will just have to be careful and use pole jacks for support. It's all going to get loosened again to check/adjust pinion angle and/or whether I want to use the top hole in the spring hanger.
Yes, Caltracs and Dr. Diff offset spring kit. Cass makes primo parts, so much betterer than the old Mopar pig iron ones. I got some new pivot plates and stiffener tubes for the traction bars since the old ones were starting to rust because you guessed it, the powder coating chipped. Shiny parts is good but the new powder coating makes it difficult to install the old, oxidized preload bars through their intended holes and they chip before they're even on the car. Grrrrr...
Chipping away at this a little at a time (pun intended) but surprisingly, this project does not feel totally overwhelming. Just putting the little bits and pieces on seems to help build momentum and confidence.
More to come.
