Firm feel reinforcement plates worth it?

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Dragonbat13

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Are firm feel reinforcement plates worth using on the LCA and K frame, or is it just added dead weight?

Here is my plan,
Rubber LCA bushings, Rubber MOOG ecentric UCA rubber bushings, Urethane swaybar end links, and some form of adjustable strut bar on the front. Later down the road a dillinger lower radiator support bar installed. I dont know about torsion bars yet, and I dont know what I have in the car right now. The car does have disc brakes and 4.5 bolt pattern all around (its a 74 dart sport). Also, HD (the larger ones) tie rod setup. I just want to get the car in decent shape all around, so I figured this would be some good budget stuff to do.

So what about those reinforcement plates? I plan on cleaning up the arms and K member, tack welding them on, and bringing everything up to the local fab shop to have them weld it all together with some nice welding.

EDIT: Car is going to roll on 215/60 on stock cop wheels, 225/60 if I can make em fit.

Thanks,
 
Find and watch the video on Youtube concerning lower arm service/repair. The lower arms can spread apart at the torsion bar end, plus the sway bar attachment twists on only one side of it. Both are good reasons to tie their 2 sides together in some manner.
I don't know enough about K member weakness to comment on reinforcing those.
 
I don't think you will gain anything from it unless you are going to take the turns or autocross,especially running rubber bushings. they definetly work though. I have used a lot of Dicks parts,he makes some great stuff.
 
I didnt know they had some videos, gonna check some stuff out when I get home from offshore.

If there is some flex, Im gonna go ahead and use them. I do want the car to take the turns, and since I have the chance to do it while the front end is torn down I may as well. Its not that expensive of a mod.

Thanks for the help.
 
I would say no on the Firm feel reinforcement.

I would say yes on cutting some flat bar, making your own and welding them in.

Free or just a couple bucks (if you have a chunk of flat bar laying around) is worth it. $30 + shipping isn't.
 
RedFish said:
Find and watch the video on Youtube concerning lower arm service/repair. The lower arms can spread apart at the torsion bar end, plus the sway bar attachment twists on only one side of it. Both are good reasons to tie their 2 sides together in some manner.
I don't know enough about K member weakness to comment on reinforcing those.
Click to expand...

The lower control arms on my drag Demon were pulled apart in that way. I sand blasted a different set and then welded on the bottom reinforcement plates I got from Mancini. Also welded the seams on a K frame. Hopefully will last through what I hope will be - - wheelies.
 
I have em on my car. It took surprisingly little to flex my LCA's, so I bought 'em and welded 'em in, and the rigidity goes up appreciably. For the $25 they cost when I bought them, it wasn't even worth my time to make a set.

And I highly recommend his reinforced K-frame. I sent him one with broken-out pivot stud holes and it came back awesome!
 
I made my own lca reinforcement plates from an old dart bumper I had laying around, some cutting wheels on my angle grinder, and a 1 1/4 hole saw. Make sure you clamp the end with the pivot together before you weld, if it is separated at all. I will also be making my own sway bar tabs, might get creative with rod ends with that.
 
Hell no! Look at my build. Page 3.

DSCN1491_zps949449b8.jpg
 
These stiffener plates do help if the car is going to be driven aggressively. They are a MUST if you plan on using a large front sway bar because during a turn, the forces from one side of the car get transferred to the other. These plates will provide better control in everyday situations too. Driving on uneven roads with potholes?
The reworked K members offered can be duplicated if you have the 3 things a newbie fabricator has: Welder, sawzall and a grinder!
I have welded and gussetted a few K members. The most recent was the one that is now in my 70 Charger. I welded the seams. I welded washers around the strut rod hole and the lower control arm pivot hole. I even added a small skidplate to serve as a deflector.
 
It's worth it to do the reinforcing, absolutely!

Whether or not you buy the plates or not is up to you. I bought a Firm Feel kit that had all the plates to reinforce the K member and box the steering box mount off of eBay and used that to reinforce the K member for my EL5 Dart. When I reinforced the K for my Duster, I just made the plates and used washers around the strut rod mounts and LCA pivot sleeves. I probably spent about the same amount of time doing both K frames, even the one I made the plates for. Seam welding the K frames go a long way for stiffening things up, and I think reinforcing the steering box mount and LCA pivots makes sense for EVERYONE given how often the LCA pivots tear out of the K and the number of times I've seen a cracked steering box mount.

The LCA plates I've bought a couple times for my various cars. It's not that I can't make them, its just that for $30 they look a lot nicer, and I don't have to spend time making them.

If you're even considering those reinforcements, get 1" torsion bars. Even if you currently have V8 bars, those will be a MASSIVE improvement. Rubber bushings are just fine, especially for a street car. 225/60/15's will fit just fine on cop rims, that's what I have on my '74 Duster...

IMG_3619.jpg
 
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