Firm Feel tubular upper control arms rub against the frame mounting bracket

[65 Cuda 340]

OK, my 67 Barracuda's front end/brake rebuild has lasted a lot longer than I thought it would, but that's another story.

Latest thing is when I was trying to fit my new .960 torsion bars, I couldn't get the lower control arm to move enough to line up the hexes. Took me a while, but I eventually noticed that both of my Firm Feel tubular upper control arms were rubbing against their brackets enough to prevent full travel of the lower control arm.

So I trimmed the brackets with a cutoff wheel on my die grinder.

I don't think this trim job significantly weakened the bracket, but it's done now. And the UCA's clear. And the torsion bars are in.

Comments/opinions welcome.

 

[66Valiant528]

Im pretty sure that they recommend trimming in just those areas. My QA1 uppers big bj said that.

 

[RustyRatRod]

They all do that. You did the correct modification. Nice job, too! You even left some "corner" on it for strength!

 

[dano]

The QA1's do the same, worse actually but a grinder heals all.

 

[72bluNblu]

Trimming that mount is required for pretty much all tubular UCA’s. The amount of trimming depends a little bit on the style/shape of the UCA and how much extra meat was left on the bracket, some have more extra than others. I’ve been posting this picture below for years

 

[65 Cuda 340]

Im pretty sure that they recommend trimming in just those areas. My QA1 uppers big bj said that.

I bought these UCA's off FABO, didn't get an instruction sheet. I wasn't sure how common this issue is. Glad I figured it out correctly.