Lowering a 67 dart

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eksnolp

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I have a 1967 DART GT that has been sitting in storage for 10 years and no I would like to start working on it. It is a 273 car. I plan on sticking a big block in the car and would like to lower the whole car by 2-3 inches. Are there any kits available or does anyone have any helpful ideas, links or maybe could point me to an article on the subject? Any help would be great.
 
The front on your car is easy to lower by adjusting the torsion bars. I don't know about the rear. I'm sure someone else will chime in to help you.

And Welcome to FABO :cheers:
 
you could always use lowering blocks....my dad made some himself to lower the back of his 69 dart 2-1/2 inches, and now it looks like a pro street car
 
i lowered a 68 dart its the most simple car in the world to lower
turn down the t bars in the front "2 bolts"
and put some blocks in the back
Picture012-2.jpg
 
You can get lowering blocks from mancini's, even billett ones too, just make sure you get longer U-bolts for the added length as well.

Note: The U-bolts I got from Mancini's were fine, but the nuts that came with them had hit and miss threads in the center of the nuts, some nuts had no thread at all.

Make sure Mancini's has it all in stock and that they inspect the U-bolts and nuts before they send them should you decide to order from them.
 
Don't buy the super stock leaf springs if you ever replace your leafs. It raised my Duster a good 2.5 inches! Of course I like it raised a bit.

71 2duster1.jpg
 
A slightly more sophisticated way to lower the rear is described in Tom Condran's book. Replace the front spring hangers with one with the shackle hole located higher up (don't just flip the stock ones over -- that creates other problems). One inch at this location lowers the car more like 2 inches. I think somebody actually sells lowering hangers with 3 sets of holes so you can pick your height. I don't know if it's MP or FirmFeel or...?

Also, if you crank down the front adjusters enough to lower the car an inch, you had better have it realigned. The camber at least will be way out. And your suspension travel (to the bump stop) wil be almost nonexistent (BTDT). A drop spindle or a sectioned LCA is a better longterm solution.


==========================
Max
1967 Fastback
Johnny Lightning Muscle Cars USA #14
273 Commando
Factory disc brakes
Mountain View, CA
 
This is a complete rebuild, The car is stripped - just a shell right now. May be drop spindles would best for the front.
 
how did the car handle and ride after it was lowered?? who has done sway bars and how well do they work?? what else can be done to help my 5000 lb car handle better??
moparkid340 said:
i lowered a 68 dart its the most simple car in the world to lower
turn down the t bars in the front "2 bolts"
and put some blocks in the back
Picture012-2.jpg
Click to expand...
 
I would look for another option to lower the front. Cranking down the torsion bars completely removes spring resistance to bumps. May look cool but rides like crap. I did it on my 76 Charger and busted a lower ball joint on a pothole. Ripped it out of the a frame. I would search the web and find dropped spindles if anyone makes them so as not to change suspension geometryor try a low profile tire package. The hi tech way would be to air bag it but this is expensive. Nothing worse than a nice car that rides like crap. With the extra rb weight I would not even consider this option. search the suspension threads and good luck with your project.
 
I think Fatman Fabrication makes front lowered spindles for a 2" drop, last time I checked they were a little pricey @ $550.00 for the pair.Sway bars make a huge difference in the body roll department, but the rest of the suspension should be in excelent shape. In other words new torsion bars in a higher rate & well matched rear leafs would give the same effects as adding sway bars to a car with poor spring rates(ie:sagging springs)But if you add the bars with well matched springs & T-bars you'll have a corner carver.
 
What is your budget? You could go with an RMS or Magnumforce front end and sit it any height you want. If you turn the bars down you need lower profile bumpstops to keep the ride quality. The drop spindles are the best way to do it cheap. The biggest concern will be oil pan clearence I recommend using a skid plate for the pad.
 
RAMCHARGED said:
In other words new torsion bars in a higher rate & well matched rear leafs would give the same effects as adding sway bars to a car with poor spring rates(ie:sagging springs)But if you add the bars with well matched springs & T-bars you'll have a corner carver.
Click to expand...

Actually, sway bars (if installed correctly) theoretically have no effect on ride quality. They only come into play when one side of the car is more heavily loaded than the other. This most frequently occurs during cornering (obviously; this is the purpose of the "antisway" bar). When proceeding in a straight line, suspension travel, spring rate and jounce characteristics are unchanged.

In the real world, where you might hit a pothole with one wheel and not the other, you might occasionally get the impression that the suspension is stiffer or more harsh. But to imply that replacing worn springs would be equivalent to adding sway bars, or vice versa, is not correct. The two affect different aspects of ride and handling.

To summarize, higher spring rates affect the ride all the time (compliance over bumps, and body "lean" when cornering), but sway bars only affect the latter. So I suggest setting the spring rates where you are comfortable, then tuning with sway bars to achieve "modern" cornering performance (rather than 60s-style body roll).
 
I have my 70 Swinger lowered using blocks in the back and the torsion bar adjustment in the front. I had the front end aligned after the adjustment and the ride is fine, the suspension travel is adequate, and there are no oil pan clearance issues. However, long tube headers don't work; they hang too low and scrape on every ripple in the road. The blocks were initially 3" tall (providing a 3" drop in the back), but I didn't want to have the car that low anymore, so I had them chopped to about 2" high. I just kept tweaking the front until it was exactly where I wanted it, and now it's perfect. The car handles much better than it did when it was up high.

The only real issue is that it requires a lot of steering effort. I'm OK with it, but some women that sleep in my bed find it too difficult in parking lots or at low speeds. And I'm totally OK with that.
 
The only real issue is that it requires a lot of steering effort. I'm OK with it, but some women that sleep in my bed find it too difficult in parking lots or at low speeds. And I'm totally OK with that.



thats an easy way to keep the car yours!!
 
daredevil said:
I would look for another option to lower the front. Cranking down the torsion bars completely removes spring resistance to bumps. May look cool but rides like crap. I did it on my 76 Charger and busted a lower ball joint on a pothole. Ripped it out of the a frame. I would search the web and find dropped spindles if anyone makes them so as not to change suspension geometryor try a low profile tire package. The hi tech way would be to air bag it but this is expensive. Nothing worse than a nice car that rides like crap. With the extra rb weight I would not even consider this option. search the suspension threads and good luck with your project.
Click to expand...

Turning the torsion bars does not effect spring tension! It just alters the angle of the lower control arm. If you lower it too far though it will ride like crap, for 2 reasons. 1-you won't be able to set the caster/camber properly with stock a-arms, you'll end up in positive caster and thats not good. 2- You'll end up riding on the bump stops. This is likely why you ended up with frame damage.

If you want your car to handle (it doesn't weigh anywhere close to 5000 lbs btw), you'll want to get new torsion bars and rear springs. Up front I'd go with .94 to 1.09" bars depending on what you're plans are. In back you can go with XHD or SS springs, but the SS springs will raise the rear. You can get around this somewhat with new spring hangers, the new ones have 2 holes, one about 1.5" above the other, for a little bit of a drop. You may need new hangers anyway, I broke several studs on mine when I tried to remove them. Then you can go with blocks and longer u-bolts if you still need them.

If you're going to use a drop spindle, I'd use Magnumforce's new spindles. I have them on my challenger, and they're excellent parts. They're cheaper than the Fatman spindles, and are single piece cast units like the originals, not fabricated multi-piece units like the Fatman's. They also use the later '73-up spindle, so you can convert to 11.75 disks while you're at it if you want, or just use the easier to find '73 up rotors. The drop spindles will make you life easier if you want to keep the stock a-arms, since you'll retain the standard caster/camber settings.

Sway bars are a good thing to have too, although they become somewhat less necessary if you run stiffer bars/springs. Keep track of your wheel rates if you can, if you run better bars and springs you may not need huge sway bars.

And a good set of shocks will help things too, KYB's aren't bad but the adjustable QA1's are better.

Here's the Magnumforce setup with 11.75" rotors...I know I've posted it up before...

IMG_3766copy.jpg
 
I agree with above. I like the idea of the drop spindle, as you can run a 5" travel shock. Putting the lower control arm back where is belongs in terms of angle is a plus as well. For the rear, I'd like to see dearched springs. I feel that changing the front eye location can negatively affect pinion angle, which will affect traction. Same deal with lowering blocks. The intersection point of the spring/axle tube should be as close as possible.
 
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