Want to lower my 66 Dart

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C

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Alright, new to this board... I recently bought this Dart and the only thing I want to do is lower it. I requested the best way to do this from another forum and was quickly ripped to shreds implying that I was ruining the car. Was hoping to get some suggestions here... I posted this pic in welcome wagon, but here is car for reference.

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The biggest question is how much you want to lower it. Do you want lower front height with stock rear height? Slammed to the ground? Many of us have lowered our cars some just using the torsion bar adjusters. Regardless of method of lowering you will NEED to perform an alignment afterwards. There is no question or debate about it changing ride height will change your alignment drastically. This opens another can of worms all on its own. It is very common to find the camber and caster adjusting bolts to be seized in place.

If the suspension, springs, frame, and steering components are in good shape then there is no reason that you can't lower you car.
 
Those look like 13" wheels. Go to a 14" or 15" wheel,and lower the front with the torsion bars,and you'll be good to go.
That
 
OKay, read all about torsion bolts... There are 2 of them right? (Stupid question, I know)

EDIT: also, left is to lower, right is to raise... Can I take the bolt to the left too much as so the bolt will come out? Sorry for such basic questions... I'm 30 yrs old and this is the first time I've had the drive to work on my car... Just getting some of the basics out of the way :)
 
Backing out both torsion bar bolts for the front and Mancini,s racing sells lowering blocks in 1/2 inch increments.These go between your leaf springs and rearend.Best to have alignment done after lowering or your tires will wear uneven.
 
Looks like you're low allready. tmm
 

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Welcome and that a nice more door!

like they said torsion bar bolts and lowering blocks 'll get it down in the grass.
 
I have also lowered mine with the torsion bars and I don't have uneven tire wear or an alignment issue. IMO lower the front some and leave the back it will have a nice stance.
 
I lowered mine with two inch blocks in the rear and turned down the torsion bars in the front. The local parts stores sell the blocks with bolts in kits but I never found a kit with the correct u bolts. The early A cars have smaller sized rear end housings that use 7/16 u bolts instead of 1/2. So I had to go to a truck shop to have new u bolts made up in the correct size. I went with 2 inch blocks thinking it would just lower it a lil but my original leaf springs must be sagging because its pretty low. By the time I had the front almost level with the rear there wasnt much clearance left for the bump stops.
 
Keep in mind that if you want to back off the torsion bar adjusters, you need to do it with the front of the car off the ground to take most of the load off the screws.........
 
or use front spring hangars with an extra set of holes to lower the rear about 1-2 inches, they're available through mancini and several other vendors.
-my car with them in the lowered position...
 

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pauly v.100 said:
or use front spring hangars with an extra set of holes to lower the rear about 1-2 inches, they're available through mancini and several other vendors.
-my car with them in the lowered position...
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I have a pair of the Hotchkiss front spring hangers that should lower the back end of your car about an inch. We had them on my son's '68 Dart with the Hotchkiss springs, and it was too low, so we swapped back to the stock front hangers. PM me if you are interested.

Actually, the Hotchkiss info says "for '67-'72 Dart", so I'm not sure if they would fit your car. Maybe someone else can chime in on that.....
 
There has been several posts stating "I lowered mine and had no alignment issues" don't listen to them. I have been working on torsion bar mopars for a long time and I DO perform alignments as part of my job and I DO know how much of an effect ride height changes have on alignment settings. The very first step in every alignment of every vehicle with adjustable ride height is setting ride height no ifs ands or buts. After you lower the car take it and get it aligned. The factory specs are not ideal since they were written for bias ply tires and grandmother arm strengths. Search this forum for articles about alignments. The chart listed from allpar in several of them is very good specs to use. It can be hard to find a decent alignment shop that is familar with old mopar suspensions but they are out there.
 
There has been several posts stating "I lowered mine and had no alignment issues" don't listen to them.
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Ditto.


The very first step in every alignment of every vehicle with adjustable ride height is setting ride height no ifs ands or buts.
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Big ditto. And, adjustments have to be conducted per factory instructions, not some arbitrary seat of the pants measuring method. It is crucial that the relationship of the lower control arm, and other front end parts be correct which is why Chrysler used the A-B mesurment method per side, and comparing left to right sides to be within 1/8 inch. Once the ride height is correct, ride, and handling is greatly improved.

Another thing to keep in mind is these front ends were designed with 70 series tall wall tires as part of the suspension’s springing. When one installs neoprene bushings, and low aspect tires the front end design and ride dynamics are thrown out of whack.

The factory specs are not ideal since they were written for bias ply tires
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Radial tires need more caster and deform differently from bias ply tires when rolling down the road requiring updated settings.


and grandmother arm strengths.
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Also very true, and why pre ’70 cars had large diameter steering wheels where manual steering was standard in the low price car, and power steering a small percentage of production. By ’76 PS had become the industry standard, and so were smaller steering wheels.


It can be hard to find a decent alignment shop that is familar with old mopar suspensions
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Say it again:
It can be hard to find a decent alignment shop that is familar with old mopar suspensions
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I would say almost imposable when you ask technician to change stock alignment specks from what the screen is listing. I will add that I believe a good number of alignment techs don’t have a clue what they are doing, but just making a red number turn into a green number on their screen. Most of these guys have never seen a bias ply tire, and don’t have a clue the differences between them and radial tires make in relation to alignment settings.

And, if you interview a shop to align your Mopar, and they say something like; “hey we do old Mustangs and Vetts all the time.” Run, don’t walk from that shop, they don’t have a clue.
 
wjajr said:
Most of these guys have never seen a bias ply tire, and don’t have a clue the differences between them and radial tires make in relation to alignment settings.
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But how can you find the correct alignment for radial tires if the old bias-specs and grandma-arms are wrong?
 
I think by 1976 radial tires were installed on A body cars, perhaps a 76 alignment spec will work. Other than that there is an alignment chart kicking around listing several different stages of settings depending if DD to all out race car. I'll be damned if I can locate it. I do recall it being recently posted here or on /6, can't remember which.


For a daily driver try to get + 1* or more caster (stock UCA won’t allow much more than 1* of caster, Moog problem solver UCA bushings can add 1 or 2 more degrees caster to stock UCA). Set to 0* to -.75* camber. These settings won’t wear tires, but will improve straight line stability, and cornering over old settings.

The problem with these cars is one side will come close to good caster setting, but the other will be two or three degrees negative, this where eccentric (problem solver) UCA bushings will help. My car was -6* one side, and -3* when I got it, problem solver bushings didn’t cut it, I had to go to tuber UCAs with up to +9* of adjustment to get into the +2* caster range.

Too much negative camber, say over -0.75* (top of tire tilts to engine), will scrub off inside tread, as will worn ball joints.
 
AW-100 said:
But how can you find the correct alignment for radial tires if the old bias-specs and grandma-arms are wrong?
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this is the chart floating around at allpar.com


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double check with the guy/gals here on this board to make sure it's right

I'm setting my 66 up with Typ perf street. since it'll never see the track or road racing
 
I've got the Moog offsets installed in 73 front susp. on my 69 Dart. I'll be needing those specs. Thanks.
 
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