Lowered Ride Height Produced Too Much Camber

[icetech]

I ordered new bushings, new pivot shafts and new torsion bar adjusting bolts. I researched the QA1 LCA's and found that on a 1968 Charger, you have to buy a QA1 K frame and the QA1 front sway bar for the arms to fit! No thanks, I'll rebuild mine!
Your Belvedere looks awesome!

Thanks! It's a pos but will be fun... Heres my issue with the QA1 LCAs... your entire life is in the hands of 1 weld on them.. i'm sure they are fine but i have worked in shops and seen how much people care when they do **** that isn't theirs.. Have never heard of a factory one failing to the point of literally ripping apart.. good enough. Plus they are basically free if you ask

BTW.. why the new adjuster bolts?

 

[6T8 Charger]

Thanks! It's a pos but will be fun... Heres my issue with the QA1 LCAs... your entire life is in the hands of 1 weld on them.. i'm sure they are fine but i have worked in shops and seen how much people care when they do **** that isn't theirs.. Have never heard of a factory one failing to the point of literally ripping apart.. good enough. Plus they are basically free if you ask

BTW.. why the new adjuster bolts?

Just as a precaution. My factory elevator bolts work fine, but when I lowered the car to take the tension off the torsion bars, the passenger side bolt wouldn't completely unscrew, so it's still in the LCA. Probably be okay to reuse, but I found some new ones on evilBay and bought them. I'll make a decision to use on old ones or replace them when I get everything back together.

 

[icetech]

Just as a precaution. My factory elevator bolts work fine, but when I lowered the car to take the tension off the torsion bars, the passenger side bolt wouldn't completely unscrew, so it's still in the LCA. Probably be okay to reuse, but I found some new ones on evilBay and bought them. I'll make a decision to use on old ones or replace them when I get everything back together.

Ah cool.. and yeah they get crust on the upper threads.. clean and lube em and it should come out

 

[SeabeckRedneck]

I've recently rebuilt my whole front end of my 70 B-body and with parts from P-S-T and Firm Feel. I found that my LCA's were a little sloppy so I cut them apart, tightened them up and welded reinforcement plates which I got from Firm Feel, but you can get them from a lot of places. It's easy to do if you have a welder or know a welder. Or Firm Feel can do them for you.
So if you still have the LCA's off the car it's worth looking into.
Good luck with your project

PS. Attached is a photo of mine with sway bar tabs mocked up.

 

[6T8 Charger]

I've recently rebuilt my whole front end of my 70 B-body and with parts from P-S-T and Firm Feel. I found that my LCA's were a little sloppy so I cut them apart, tightened them up and welded reinforcement plates which I got from Firm Feel, but you can get them from a lot of places. It's easy to do if you have a welder or know a welder. Or Firm Feel can do them for you.
So if you still have the LCA's off the car it's worth looking into.
Good luck with your project

PS. Attached is a photo of mine with sway bar tabs mocked up.

View attachment 1743807

Thank you for the info! I've got a welder and will check into those reinforcing plates. Those LCA's turned out fantastic. Did you powder coat those?

 

[SeabeckRedneck]

Thank you for the info! I've got a welder and will check into those reinforcing plates. Those LCA's turned out fantastic. Did you powder coat those?

Thanks! and I did powder coat them. I hesitate to say that because I know they didn't come that way, but I'm not restoring a 1970 Belvedere, I'm building a Superbird to race. But for all the Mopar purist out there, rest assured, I still have the factory air in the tires!

 

[6T8 Charger]

Thanks! and I did powder coat them. I hesitate to say that because I know they didn't come that way, but I'm not restoring a 1970 Belvedere, I'm building a Superbird to race. But for all the Mopar purist out there, rest assured, I still have the factory air in the tires!

Awesome!!

 

[6T8 Charger]

Update: I removed both LCA's and found the bushings in the worst condition possible. The driver side didn't have a rubber bushing left, it was just the metal sleeve over the pivot pin. To make things worse, the pivot tube had broken free from the K frame and it fell out when I removed the LCA. (see pictures). I was able to install the new pivot shaft and line up and re-weld the tube onto the K frame. It worked out good. I ended up buying a 12 ton press from HF to install the metal cups, polyurethane bushings and pivot shafts. I saw a guy on YouTube able to use a hard plastic hammer to install his bushings and pivot pins, that wasn't even close to being an option for me, I had to use the press on everything. Anyways, got it all together and it fixed my alignment issues, the front-end geometry is now correct, and the drivability is excellent. I drove down the road over the manhole cover again and the car didn't even flinch. I still have to fine tune the front-end alignment, but I'm very happy. One other thing: I decided not to use the lock nuts on the pivot shafts. I opted for grade 8 nuts and with a lock-washer. It's so much easier torquing those down without the shaft spinning and breaking out the pipe wrench (IYKYK). Thank you all for your input! I really enjoy this site.