lower control arm question

[zoltan c]

I'm rebuilding the front end of my 65 barracuda and doing a brake swap to the 11.75" rotors with wilwood calipers. (before I put my 360 and 727 combo in there)
I ordered some reinforcing plates to weld onto the bottom of the lower control arms but I don't know which LCA I should use. I have a set of LCA off of a 73 duster with swaybar brackets, I wanted to use those and move the calipers to the rear for clearance. The 73 sway bar however goes thru the K-frame on the duster and I don't think it will work on my 65 K-frame. If I bought an aftermarket front sway bar could I mount it to the bracket on the 73 LCA? From the pictures that I have seen the bracket is in a different location on the early LCAs than it is on the 73 and up LCAs. So, the other option is to use the stock non sway bar LCA from the 65 and buy an aftermarket swaybar and weld the tabs onto the LCA in the correct location. I don't want to reinforce the control arms and apply new bushings only to find out that I should have used the other ones.
If anyone has done this can you let me know, Thanks.

 

[Altamont]

Zoltan,

I am rebuilding the exact same thing. Even in flat black.
Making a Road racing/Street car out of it.

I used all Firm Feel (www.firmfeel.com) parts in the front of mine. They have assured me that all LCA's are the same and that anything A-Body should work. They have a sway bar that adds mounts to the LCA's if you dont have them. Sounds like you should just get their sway bar and use your LCA's with their mounts.

Just suspension (www.justsuspension.com)has them too. Dont think they are as good as FFI but cheaper.

Where are you located? I'd like to see some more shots of the car.

Zak

 

[Altamont]

Check this out for the parts Im using.

www.moparmax.com/tech/2007/ii_7-cuda-1.html
www.moparmax.com/tech/2007/ii_8-brake-1.html

zak

 

[zoltan c]

Zak, I'm located in British Columbia, Canada. I'm probably going to order the front and rear sway bars from Firm Feel just as you suggested. I will try to get some of the other stuff that I need from a local autosupply store just to save me the hassle of shipping all the stuff across the border.
This is my second barracuda that I bought just recently, because my first one is too rusted out so it has become a parts car to finish this new project. The body work has been done as you can see and now I just have to finish the car and eventually get it painted. I do like the flat black but I will probably go with a different color. I'll post some more pictures but they are on my other computer at the moment.
Thanks for the info on the LCAs. I will first reinforce the K-frame and reweld all the seams, then it will get tubular upper control arms and adjustable strut rods(from CAP automotive products) I'm waiting for parts from Mancini Racing as well, to complete the disc brake swap. I'll try to take some pictures of the progress, it has been a very slow process because of time constraints.

 

[autoxcuda]

I've also noticed the T-bar adjuster/receiver arms seems loose withing the LCA stampings. Some more that others. So I clamped those tighter, still leaving ample looseness, and welded a strap to tie them together a little tighter.

I would think you could do that with AndyF's reinforcement plates if you just clamped the back while you welded them.

Some pics of my reinforced 73-76 K-member with added plates.

You need the sway bar equipted LCA's in the right of this picture for a 66 and down k-member.

You guys need to start figuring the right backspacing on 17" rims to get the most wide tire and rims underneath a early barracuda. If you run a 17" with enought inside clearance to run 5.5 backspacing up front that will help a bunch. Don't be afraid to cut back the lower front corner of the front wheel well. That's where they usually rub. I think 245/45/17 or 255/45/17 should be a target goal.

When you do that you can sometimes run a stock B-body rear end housing width. Then you run the same high backspacing rims in the rear so you don't have to shorten the rear end. And the plus is you can rotate your tires so you don't wear the heck out of your fronts at track days a Willow Springs.

Zak, you're going to have you Cuda done for the Spring Fling Speed Festival next year right??? :clock:

 

[C130 Chief]

Two points. First, the tabs on 73 and later bars were inboard so the calipers could be front mounted. But as you noticed, the 73 bar will not fit an early A-Body. Second, most if not all aftermarket early A-Body sway bars come with a 90 degree bracket which mounts to the lower shock bolt. This is where the end links go on the aftermarket bar. You will probably need to rear mount your calipers with this setup. I would mock everything up and at least tack that bracket to the LCA before you paint. Also consider welding the bar mount brackets to the K-Member as well once everything is lined up.

 

[zoltan c]

Just as AutoXcuda has said I also noticed that some control arms have more slop than others around the t-bar adjuster. I'm going to weld reinforcing plates to the bottom of the LCAs which should take care of that.
I wish that I could just use the 73 K-frame in my cuda, that would save me a bunch of work and parts buying. I thought about cutting the motormount tabs from the 73 K frame and welding them to the 65 k frame so I can use spool mounts for the 360, but if I don't get the location correct I will have major fit problems with the tranny and headers and so forth. I will just get some engine mounts from Schumacher's and use the early K frame.

I just got an email notification my stuff from Mancini Racing has arrived! Got to run for the border! :cheers:

 

[zoltan c]

Two points. First, the tabs on 73 and later bars were inboard so the calipers could be front mounted. But as you noticed, the 73 bar will not fit an early A-Body. Second, most if not all aftermarket early A-Body sway bars come with a 90 degree bracket which mounts to the lower shock bolt. This is where the end links go on the aftermarket bar. You will probably need to rear mount your calipers with this setup. I would mock everything up and at least tack that bracket to the LCA before you paint. Also consider welding the bar mount brackets to the K-Member as well once everything is lined up.

Thanks for the details, I want to mount the calipers to the rear anyway and I was thinking of welding the aftermarket tabs to the control arms as well. That is the plan. Now I just have to find the time to do it!