Possible suspension swap

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George Fischer

George Fischer

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I'm brand new to the forum, so please be gentle if I ask a stupid question...

I bought my first project about a year ago, a '70 Dart Swinger. Been pulling the weekend warrior detail, and have a buddy that's done auto body and mechanic work his whole life helping me out. He's a Chevy guy, but I won't hold that against him, as he's first and foremost a classic car guy. In any case, my car has the 225 slant. Guy I bought it from had intentions of doing a resto, but it sat in his yard from 2000 until I picked it up last summer. With a bit of cleanup, had her fired up in less than an hour, then figured I'd re-gasket the motor because she sat for 16 years. Found out there's been some work done to this motor, so for now I'm staying with the slant.

As I go through the car, I'm finding some oddities. Someone upgraded to an electronic distributor, everything I've found online says that the stock version was points. The 7.25 rear end (planned upgrade there at some point) has 5x4 bolt pattern for the lugs, and the driver side is left handed. Front discs, 5x4.5 pattern. The rotors are one piece with the hubs. Based on what I've read, and what comes up when researching the stock replacement parts, every rotor I come up with as an OEM replacement is a rotor w/o the hub and a 5x4 bolt pattern. Is this normal? Or should I suspect that someone has upgraded to a '73 or later front end? What's the easiest way to tell? This will make finding parts tedious at best. If I had the cash I'd just do a complete suspension overhaul with custom K-member and associated parts, but for now that's a wishlist item. Any help would be appreciated!
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George Fischer said:
I'm brand new to the forum, so please be gentle if I ask a stupid question...

I bought my first project about a year ago, a '70 Dart Swinger. Been pulling the weekend warrior detail, and have a buddy that's done auto body and mechanic work his whole life helping me out. He's a Chevy guy, but I won't hold that against him, as he's first and foremost a classic car guy. In any case, my car has the 225 slant. Guy I bought it from had intentions of doing a resto, but it sat in his yard from 2000 until I picked it up last summer. With a bit of cleanup, had her fired up in less than an hour, then figured I'd re-gasket the motor because she sat for 16 years. Found out there's been some work done to this motor, so for now I'm staying with the slant.

As I go through the car, I'm finding some oddities. Someone upgraded to an electronic distributor, everything I've found online says that the stock version was points. The 7.25 rear end (planned upgrade there at some point) has 5x4 bolt pattern for the lugs, and the driver side is left handed. Front discs, 5x4.5 pattern. The rotors are one piece with the hubs. Based on what I've read, and what comes up when researching the stock replacement parts, every rotor I come up with as an OEM replacement is a rotor w/o the hub and a 5x4 bolt pattern. Is this normal? Or should I suspect that someone has upgraded to a '73 or later front end? What's the easiest way to tell? This will make finding parts tedious at best. If I had the cash I'd just do a complete suspension overhaul with custom K-member and associated parts, but for now that's a wishlist item. Any help would be appreciated! View attachment 1715035031 View attachment 1715035032

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looks like someone swapped to the 73+ brakes for sure. So you'll need the rotor from a 73-76.


Side note, I know it's not in your cards at the moment, but one day if you do decide to swap out to a custom K kit, check into Gerst Suspensions , I have one and its absolutely worth every single penny. He's a little bit cheaper than some other options out there. And for the sake of your car, stay away from AJE and Magnum Force, lots of evidence of them failing and causing lots of damage. Probably why they're so cheap compared to the others. Anyway, good luck with your build.
 
Thanks for the info!! I figured it was a '73 or newer. I have a potential donor car (mid 70's Dart Sport) for some of the little things - Like I need a heater core cover, the seats I have came from a Ford ZX2, but if I can get factory buckets from another a-body that'd be preferable. Not sure how much I can use from a Dart Sport, but it's an a body so it's a start. Hoping it has an 8.25 rear end with the bigger bolt pattern.
 
George Fischer said:
Thanks for the info!! I figured it was a '73 or newer. I have a potential donor car (mid 70's Dart Sport) for some of the little things - Like I need a heater core cover, the seats I have came from a Ford ZX2, but if I can get factory buckets from another a-body that'd be preferable. Not sure how much I can use from a Dart Sport, but it's an a body so it's a start. Hoping it has an 8.25 rear end with the bigger bolt pattern.
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if you were closer, theres a guy local to me selling some factory a body buckets but the shipping would be $$$$
 
Ordering parts is simple when you know what you have :) I don't see a aftermarket kidapter at the upper ball joint so you do have the upper arms with the large ball joint, along with spindles, calipers, pads, hoses, etc.., for 73 thru 76 disc brake parts.
I doubt the entire K member and/or steering linkage was swapped. How to tell... Pre 73 model K is closed so the stabilizer bar went around the front of it. The 73 and later K has opening where a stabilizer bar threaded through the middle of it.
There are ways to add OEM or aftermarket stabilizer bar around the K member you have, even with those later model disc brakes.
For now we will assume you still have pre 73 model center link, pitman arm, and idler arm.
Duster, Demon, and Dart Sport stand separately from all other a-bodies in a lot of ways, especially body wise. Much of the mechanical will interchange though. Good luck with it.
 
Don't fall into the trap of believing you need to change your front suspension, especially if your buddy is a Chevy guy. (I sometimes actually feel sorry for those guys)

The Mopar front and rear suspensions have better geometry and hardware than the factory GM and Fords of that era. With the correct combination of parts it's more than capable of holding it's own. Google Green Brick if you want to amuse yourself.

It is VERY common to swap to 73-76 A body BBP discs on the earlier cars. My 68 has them and it looks like your Swinger does too. Another way to tell what K member you have is to check the motor mounts. 73-76 have spool mounts and the earlier ones have biscuits. Yours probably retained the 70 K.
 
KosmicKuda said:
Don't fall into the trap of believing you need to change your front suspension, especially if your buddy is a Chevy guy. (I sometimes actually feel sorry for those guys)

The Mopar front and rear suspensions have better geometry and hardware than the factory GM and Fords of that era. With the correct combination of parts it's more than capable of holding it's own. Google Green Brick if you want to amuse yourself.

It is VERY common to swap to 73-76 A body BBP discs on the earlier cars. My 68 has them and it looks like your Swinger does too. Another way to tell what K member you have is to check the motor mounts. 73-76 have spool mounts and the earlier ones have biscuits. Yours probably retained the 70 K.
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Nah, not looking for a change of suspension, but all of the bushings are shot (or close to it). Figure while I have it apart it might be easy to replace some of the hardware for (presumably) better components.
 
George Fischer said:
Nah, not looking for a change of suspension, but all of the bushings are shot (or close to it). Figure while I have it apart it might be easy to replace some of the hardware for (presumably) better components.
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if you want some very good upgrades while still maintaining a factory suspension, give Hotchkiss a call. They have a good complete kit. Another place to look is Firm Feel and PST, both have good reps and fair prices.
 
George. I just got off the phone with him, he sold them last week.
 
Just wondering if anyone had changed out to a coil over using Reilly Motor Sport or Magnum front suspension with a slant 6.
 
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