Updating Mopar Suspension on a Joe Dirt budget

Updating Mopar Suspension on a Joe Dirt budget

Getting the most from your Mopar’s suspension on a budget. You can do all this stuff yourself, if you mind diving in and getting dirty! I’ve done a lot of these mods with very positive results, and look forward to testing a few others out on my Challenger!

Drop it!
The front can be lowered simply be turning the torsion bar adjuster. With very serious front end lowering, the frame will have to be notched in the bump stop plate area. Rear can be lowered about 1 ½” by flipping the front spring hanger to drop front eye, this increases anti-squat to help plant the rear. No dought, No parts, No guessing on front coil cutting or purchasing.

11/16″ tie rods Upgrade
The 11/16″ tie rod and sleeve set-up that works in virtually all muscle-era Mopars, A, B, and E-body, are just stock replacement 1974-’78 C-body parts. ’74-’77 C-body Tie Rod ends bolt into place of the stockers, and are thicker/more rigid to resist torsion/bending while turning. You will have to use the C-body adjusters, but a cheap way to improve your handling. Tell the guy behind the counter that you have a 1975 Newport or some other landbarge.

74-77 C bodies used a beefy 11/16″ tie rod setup. These will bolt right up to your Challenger and give some added strength but look completely stock. These are also Moog numbers.

ES352R…..outer tie rod, 11/16 (need 2)
ES355RL…..inner tie rod, 11/16 (need 2)
ES440S……adjuster sleeve (need 2)

Big disc brake Upgrade
Find a 11.75″ rotors and caliper bracket off of a later model B-body, think Magnum, Cordoba, St. Regis and New Yorker. Spindle, master cylinder, proportioning valve and hardware (pre 73 A-bodies need 73-up A-arms) from junkyard 73′-up A-body. Also, this changes the bolt pattern to 5 x 4.5″, something to being considered with the earlier A-bodies. It should be easy finding in junkyards, bolts right in, and all wearable parts can be bought new.

Caster for Handling
Caster to 3 deg.: Use offset upper A-arm bushing from Moog ( #7103 ) instead of stock ones. Align offsets to increase caster and press in. Less than $30, you might need bushings anyway.

For handling, you want +3.0 caster and -.5 camber but this is not always possible. Get as much + caster as possible keeping within the +.5 or -.5 from 0 camber.

Control Arms
On police cars, taxis, and some hi-po models, sleeves were pressed onto the rear upper control arm bushings to add strength. The mopar pn is 1857840, and although they are NS1, you can still get them through some dealerships.

Lower Control Arm Swap for Camber
Want to run more camber on your B or E body? Especially on the right if you have a circle track car. Just swap in an A-Body lower with corresponding sway bar arrangement. The A-Body lower is a 3/16″ inch longer. Sway bar locations are nearly identical (1/4″). Must use the E/B-body strut rod though. The A-Body is shorter. Also, this will move the control arm to strut rod hole out. I believe this will not be a problem and could pull your lower ball forward slightly. I think the suspension should handle it. When I got my Poly strut rod bushings they were a 1/4″ inch thicker than the originals. I cut mine back so as not to lose positive caster. The shorter bushing the shorter the effective strut rod length. Pulling the lower ball joint forward (positive caster). Beware this longer lower arm will decrease the effective spring rate because of the longer arm. Beware I have not run this, nor know anyone who has. Works sort of like having custom short upper control arm. Junkyard parts.

Torsion Bars
Available new from Mopar Performance for $119 with a sufficient selection. The MP torsion bars are good pieces, and for E/B bodys try a .920″ set. Don’t forget the balloon seal and clip package, pn P5249609.

Leaf Springs
The Hemi/440+6 rear springs, shackles, and poly shackle bushigs I got from ESPO. The MP rear springs suck, so stay away from them.

Reinforcing the K-member
Gusseting/reinforcing the k-member where the steering box improves the “road feel” of your Mopar. Start your car up, and have a friend turn the wheel left-to-right and watch the hydraulic hoses. Its not the pressure making them move; its the steering box itself moving!

Sway Bars
I wanted to use aftermarket sway bars in their stock location, and found a company that reproduces them. They make both front and rear bars in all the factory sizes, plus an additional, larger size. The front bars use the factory mounts and come with poly end links. The rear bars come with poly bushings in high quality frame brackets with poly end links. They do not make the rear mounting plates that bolt over the leaf spring pack, so you will have to source those. You can get reproduction retaining straps for the front bar through the paddock or year one.

Strut Rod
The LCA/strut rod relationship is crucial here. That’s why I bought 30% over stock strut rods from Just Suspension. They make aluminum and adjustable ones too, but I would rather they bend than break, and I won’t be adjusting them all the time, so I went with steel. Pick up a copy of Mopar Muscle magazine and check their ad on the inside. They have all kinds of HD suspension parts and tools.

Shocks
For shocks, I’m going with KYBs, because I really can’t afford anything better right now. They perform like konis, but the ride is more harsh.

Fast-Ratio Power Steering
Firm Feel will do rebuilds with varying firmness for as low as $180, their advertisements are in Mopar Action Magazine. You could also try a junkyard steering box from a late model Diplomat police car with the firm feel box. A ’73-up pitman is needed in pre-73 A-body K-Membered cars; an idler and center link will be needed. Vast improvement in feel of control, can get in junkyard for under $40, in 30 years of driving most cars will need a rebuilt box anyway.

Quick ratio T/A and AAR pitman arms
Steering with a genuine T/A arm is 12.7:1; 2.xx? turns lock to lock. Stock is 16:1; 3.5 turns lock to lock. With the commonly called “T/A quick steering box” the box is not quick steering, the arm is. The T/A arm is longer. The worm gear ratio in the box is the same. The unit is different though. The internal stops are different to compensate for the greater distance swept by the longer pitman end, to keep the wheels from turning into the inner fenders.

T/A pitman arms have different spline indexing/clocking! If you put an real T/A arm on a non T/A steering box, both wheels will turn more one way than the other. It is known that the T/A quick ratio box cars still came with the standard short idler arm. This will cause the passenger wheel to over turn near full lock. This can be fixed by putting on a ’71 Fury idler. Remember, not all T/A or AAR’s got quick arm boxes on them and some ’71′s got them.

I’ve heard and read ( /96 M.A.) that a C-body pitman with large spline steering box is long like the T/A pitman, but the splines need to be cut down. Then I started looking in the Moog Catalog and found there are lot of different C-Body arms out there. Which one works? I am still researching this.

I was at a friends mopar restoration shop and noticed that the pitman he was taking out of a ’67 Imperial was a long arm. After he took it out, we placed it next to a B/E-Body small spline pitman (68-72). Same spline size and indexing ! Will this work ? I don’t know yet but I will have to find one in the junkyard and give it a try. There are no idlers or pitmans carried for ’73 and older Imperials. The discontinued Moog pitman # K7024 is for 67-73 Imperials. Pitman # K7017 and idler # K7009 is for 63-66 Imperials. The pitman and idler from that 67 Imperial was shot and needed to be sent to Rare Parts in Sacramento to have them rebuilt for $130 each!

There is a new fast ratio arm that Firm Feel in Washington sells. It seems like a great piece.

Many thanks go to the guy over at http://hometown.aol.com/pwall5/cars/2cudapag.html who put a lot of effort in developing this information.