1982 Cordoba Stock Car.

The difference in the idler arm is probably a year thing, as I've never heard of a police-package pitman or idler arm. The only differences in the entire police package front end was higher-durometer bushings, a larger swaybar, and a reaction spring internal to the steering box for better feel. Everything else is the same. Torsion-bar pivot bushings aren't easy to find (I was going to use Firm Feel's polyurethane), and the anchor bushings at the LCA are bloody expensive (and police durometer are just plain not available).

The tie-rod ends aren't really a necessary upgrade on dirt since the wheels don't hook all that well to cause deflection, but if you want to do it, you certainly can. Good call on the pin-style calipers as they're a lot less likely to stick. Another thing you'll want to remember is to leave every abutment/anti-rattle clip off and add a couple of thousandths (literally, a couple) to your front wheel-bearing endplay after you've broken in the bearings. If stock is .008", go .010". The calipers do not self-retract on either design and the slight extra bit of wobble actually pushes them out of the way.

On the bushings, I would cut the factory sleeve out entirely. What you want to do is solidly mount the K-member to the frame, which will require another set of the huge washers for both fronts and rears. What you want to do is weld a piece of steel pipe to the upper bushings, then install the bushing (yes, you'll have to hog them out, and that sucks), and weld the first spare washers to the piece of pipe so they contact the K-frame. I can get you the dimension of how thick this assembly needs to be. Then you do the same with the lowers, which is less critical dimension-wise. The oval openings in the K-frame need to be sandwiched in steel, where the rubber has absolutely no effect. No one said cheating was easy.

Something else to consider: polyurethane can be ground to take the fancy sharp edges off, sandblasted to look like rubber, or in the case of K-member bushings, shot with rubberized undercoating to appear as rubber. I have a set of black poly control-arm bushings and cop swaybar bushings here, new in the Energy Suspension boxes. Stupid offers considered.

Every radiator in the world has one core. The core is the cooling tube/fin assembly between the tanks. It's the number of rows in the core that make the difference. Chrysler has never used a four-row, because in their testing by the time the air got past the first three rows, it was actually hot enough to be heating up the fourth. I got dressed down by a local radiator guy when I was looking to get the radiator in my Challenger fixed when I was 17. "Three cores, huh? Must be the only one in the world!" He then went onto tell me what I just told you. He also said that was a typical Chevy thing, because they'd brag about their "four-core" radiators. :D
 
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Ok I'm following you on everything but the K-frame bushings.


What about that steel part of the bushing that goes through the oval hole in the K-frame to keep it from moving? Do I weld the pipe to that?


I have no idea what to offer you for those other parts. I think I might have to wait and see what the first batch sets me back.
 
You'll need four washers or "plates" per bushing, so to speak, for best results. You might get away with three. You want one at the frame, preferably two to sandwich the K-member in steel, and one at the bottom of the bushing. You could get away with three by leaving one out at the K-frame, on the bottom side of it, but that will still allow for a lot of flex. Since you're trying to appear stock, you need to solidify both the upper and lower bushings. Grind off the factory metal stanchions and use heavy steel pipe. Line it up with a bolt while welding so it all aligns when you go to reassemble it. The bushings are purely decoration at that point, and you will not believe the difference in the feel of the car. The shitty angularity of those cars is a lot easier to learn when the front framerails are staying aligned...

[Bee Gees] Ah, ah, ah, ah, stayin' aligned, stayin' aligned! [/Bee Gees]
 
Since the shock mounts are being upgraded to some modded late C-body ones and the ISO springs mounts are going bye bye I'm having to get different, slightly longer shocks.


Original. KYB KG5546

[TABLE="class: moreinfotable"]
[TR]
[TD]Extended Length[/TD]
[TD]Compressed Length[/TD]
[TD]Stroke[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]17.72"[/TD]
[TD]11.02"[/TD]
[TD]6.69"[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]



Rear shocks for a '72 Dart.

KYB KG 5511

[TABLE="class: moreinfotable"]
[TR]
[TD]Extended Length[/TD]
[TD]Compressed Length[/TD]
[TD]Stroke[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]21.57"[/TD]
[TD]13.39"[/TD]
[TD]8.19"[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]



Should work nicely.
 
I have a full set of brand-new KYB Gas-A-Justs for your setup, but the rears were looked up as pre-'73 B-body application. Probably the same shocks, though. They're still sitting in the basement on a shelf, waiting for a LeBaron that will never be.
 
OK, the rears are the KG5512s, which are a little longer but they're the standard for the shock-plate conversion. You'll also need different spring center bolts, and damn if I don't have those as well. :D
 
Got some more done today.

Found out that "By the book." once again doesn't mean shit. :D

The diff I took out of my 1980 Diplomat /6 station wagon was suppose to have 2.45's in it and after I pulled the cover it has 2.94's. :doh:

So I have to swap those out with the 2.45's I have on the shelf.

2012-07-15184712.jpg



Got the rear disassembled.

2012-07-15184735.jpg



Some scrap metal.

2012-07-15184906.jpg

2012-07-15184933.jpg



Leafs ready for new bushings.

2012-07-15184920.jpg



Steering column almost finished.

2012-07-15185453.jpg



Got my K-frame bushings all disassembled and ready material removal and sleeves.

2012-07-15185227.jpg


My awesome drawing :D , the bushings are about the same thickness top to bottom so the sleeves will be the same thickness top to bottom.

2012-07-15185742.jpg



The wifey found a whole pile of tires in Canadian Tire's inventory reduction tent and I got lucky and found a couple to run on the front left! :dance:

Brand New Continental Touring Contact 205/65/15 $30
2012-07-15185113.jpg


Brand New General Evertrek HP 205/60/15 $30
2012-07-15185006.jpg
 
As for welding the cage or ANYYTHING on the body while building that car, do yourself a big favor and take it off of those roller stands. Take the time to make 100% sure the car body is perfictly leval! Do what ever it takes to make sure the car stays 100% perfictly leval while you are building the cage and or welding factory seams. If it means installing ancors in your floor and chaining the car down while you are doing it, then do it. The stiffer and squarer you can build that car the better the suspension will work.

On a side note, If you have ancors in your floor you can "pull" the car back after a wreck.

Take your time when building it too. Take notes. Lots of them. Mark your frame where the stands are when you build it. Mare the stands positions on the floor when your building it. Mark the stands so they can go back in the same place on the floor if you need to "Pull" somthing. Plumbob all of your axle centers. Weld a small tab on your frame rails so you have a "Known place to measure from if you ever need to get the axle back where it once was.

Keep a not book and record everything you do in the shop and at the track. Record everything. Qualifing lap times, are temp, humidity, tire air pressure before and after each race, Record tire temps on the inside, center, and outside of the tread after each race. (All you need for that is an infra red gun). If you can measure tire temps across the tread of each tire you can get a good read of your alignment settings. If you change anything, change only one thing at a time and record the result (good or bad) in your note book. If you change more than one thing at I time you don't know what one made what result.


Read the book befor you start changing spring rates! Watch for some racing scales on line and buy them! Knowing corner weights is huge chassie setup. If you can get your hads on four grane scales they will work too. Just make sure whatever scales you use, to make sure you mark the floor and the scales and always use the same scales in the same spot. And make sure they are leavel to eachother!
 
I hear yah about keeping the car level. I plan on taking those roller plates off before installing the cage.

I'm also planning on rewelding alot of the major frame seams.

If the car gets hit hard enough I can straighten it at the shop. No need to ruin my new garage floor with anchors.

Our thunder cars are so basic Stretch that they don't keep track of track times nor do any of us have to run qualifying laps or any cars for that matter. It's slap a cage in a car and run it.

I'm already 10 times more involved in this build then any of my competition. They have a hard enough time keeping their cars functioning for a whole race day, like making sure the wiring doesn't get melted or torn off in the steering linkage.

I'm planning on building a consistent, reliable car and to most of all have fun doing something I love. If I had to record all those specs and measure tire temps I wouldn't be racing. That's why I have no interest in ever building a street class car. Too much money and too much bullshit.

But I don't take that the wrong way. I very much appreciate your advice and your interest in seeing me whoop some ass. :)

This is racing at it's simplest.
 
hell if you want to be able to keep it on rollers.....make yourself a jig thats strong and level and WELD the frame to it ....i spent alot of time calculating level building my lloyd.

a good car starts with a level square and true chassis regardless of what its doing....hell i would even go thru that much trouble welding in frame rail connectors..in fact i have gotten out the lazer level to help check everything was spot on when doing it
 
Frame rail connectors would not be allowed be cause they are not stock and would be a blatant modification.

My sub frame connectors will be a roll cage.
 
Well Have a buddy keep times for you then. Put them in that note book and keep track of every change you make and keep track of the result. Keeping records and knowing the result of changes will ony make the car faster and more reliable. You don't need a big H.P. engine to win. The key is being fast in the turns. The fastest cars are ALWAYS the best car through the turn. The guy who can drive in the deepest, and get back on the throttle the soonest is ALWAYS the fastest!
 
Oh I will keep a note book to keep track of mods.

I can have someone in my pit crew run a stop watch.

I've always wondered what I ran for lap time.
 
I realize that you're on dirt, but sliding is slowing. You seriously have what may be the worst front-end design ever for dirt-track circle racing (hell, any racing that involves turns), so you really need to know how to keep that thing pulling as much as possible. The better you can hook the rear, the faster it's going to be... and that goes back to Stretch's comments about making sure the car is totally square when you weld the cage in so the suspension can do its thing. I have an NOS '81 chassis manual with every measurement to make sure the car is square (it didn't change from '80).

Stretch knows from whence he speaks; heed him and you'll be unbeatable. Stretch, remember when Mike Gardner was invincible in Street Stock? Someone claimed his engine, and the next week he kicked their asses with their own old motor. That car was built like a brick brick. :D
 

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