Chassis stiffening for early A's. Need a volunteer.

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Badart

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Ok I took some measurements on my 65 Barracuda and the frame rails are very similar to the later cars and I can just make my bends a little bit different on my 67-76 parts.

Looking at the lower radiator support someone can mount the bar behind the valance/radiator support or they could remove it all together. There is plenty of room for lower radiator hose and trans lines. The bar will not hang lower than the K frame (looks like a couple of inches above it).

The current inner fender bracing will also work, but will require some trimming of the tube to get the fit that you want.

I am looking for someone doing a nice high quality restoration that will test fit these free of charge on my part. I will even pay for shipping. I will need this done asap so we can get these out to other Fabo members. A person will just need a grinder and some basic fabricating and welding skills. I just don't have time to pull my Barracuda in the garage and start thrashing on it. Any takers?
 
The fit will be similar to this.
 

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Looked at your kit,you are pretty good with that bender.
 
Pick me,pick me!!!LOL I do have the bumper and grill off of my 66 Dart right now and will have the engine and tranny out next week.I can test fit the rad support bar for you.I have fenderwell hedders so the other bars are of no use to me.Pm me if interested. ; )
 
pettybludart said:
Pick me,pick me!!!LOL I do have the bumper and grill off of my 66 Dart right now and will have the engine and tranny out next week.I can test fit the rad support bar for you.I have fenderwell hedders so the other bars are of no use to me.Pm me if interested. ; )
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Cool Scott the lower radiator kit is yours. You do excellent work. Pm me your adress and I will get it shipped to you tomorrow. Thanks buddy
 
hey john.......i have question.........i know the current kits you have are for the 67-76 A bodies, and you are currently working on the early A's, but, how will these kits fit with cars with 17" wheels? I forgot to ask you that previously.......cuz on both my dart and cuda, I have 17x8 inch wheels on the front...with a 245/45/17 tire....
 
mopardude318 said:
hey john.......i have question.........i know the current kits you have are for the 67-76 A bodies, and you are currently working on the early A's, but, how will these kits fit with cars with 17" wheels? I forgot to ask you that previously.......cuz on both my dart and cuda, I have 17x8 inch wheels on the front...with a 245/45/17 tire....
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James it looks like that size of tire is about 25.5"-25.7" and the tires that I test fitted in the picture is a G60-14 and is actually the same size at 25.8" and was so wide it would rub the frame (the picture was taken with the suspension bottomed out and there was still a good 2" of clearance). What I would do if I were you is back off your torsion bar all of the way and jack up the lower A arm until you are on the bump stop and then test fit. You can actually mount the bars higher and in tighter than I did and I don't think that you will have a problem. I think these will help stiffen up that shock tower area quite a bit and help with handling.
 
Cool,Art.Found a way to pay for the mopars in a intuitive way,I love it.
 
Thanks for the compliment John,but I,ve seen your work too.I think ya got me beat in the bodywork department.LOL.Once these arrive I will post pics of fittment,then welded up for everybody,s viewing pleasure.Hope my welds turnout ok.:happy1:
 
I'm getting ready to install a ten or twelve point cage in my 62 valiant in the winter but the car is ready to start now
ill be your huckle Berry the front bumper is off the car now but honestly I'd prefer to do both kits the only problem I have a mig welder flux core it works ok but I'm not to fond of the weld quality I'm looking at picking a tig welder up in the next week or so but the welder I have is good enough to tack everything in place and get u some pics I could have it done in a day or two
Aaron
 
srixon4406 said:
I'm getting ready to install a ten or twelve point cage in my 62 valiant in the winter but the car is ready to start now
ill be your huckle Berry the front bumper is off the car now but honestly I'd prefer to do both kits the only problem I have a mig welder flux core it works ok but I'm not to fond of the weld quality I'm looking at picking a tig welder up in the next week or so but the welder I have is good enough to tack everything in place and get u some pics I could have it done in a day or two
Aaron
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PM sent
 
Wish I could but I can't weld and I don't have a welder.
 
Do you think you could make the inner fender bracing at varying lengths? The reason for this question is that if I went with your setup, I'd use the bracing to set up front coil-overs, as I'm doing away with my torsion bars, and going with a more modern setup.
 
Make some J bars for the early A's and Ill be your testbed. Many Narrow A's dont run inners because of header clearance issues and so forth. They would go from a stiff part of the firewall (??) over the shock mounts (with tabs for shock mounts) to the radiator core support/subframe intersection. From the front they would run parallel, over the shock towers then neck in and down to the front frame channels at the core support. I weld too, in So. Cal. They could even be used with inners as they would clear them.
 
Man this is cool stuff. I'd love to get my wagon to handle like it should.
 
pishta said:
Make some J bars for the early A's and Ill be your testbed. Many Narrow A's dont run inners because of header clearance issues and so forth. They would go from a stiff part of the firewall (??) over the shock mounts (with tabs for shock mounts) to the radiator core support/subframe intersection. From the front they would run parallel, over the shock towers then neck in and down to the front frame channels at the core support. I weld too, in So. Cal. They could even be used with inners as they would clear them.
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Are you talking about what magnum force does? Like this?
 

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