1969 Dart Pro touring daily driver **Crashed**
For the steering coupler I was going to get a universal joint to replace the old one with but Bergman said that the original design was far better, once I had it in hand I could see why, its precise and allows some chassis flex without the any risk of the steering binding. The steering column lined up well but not totally perfect, it seems like a normal thing though. I used the rubber boot solution instead of the original cover just so that it can all come apart again easily if need be.
The next surprise came when installing the torsion bars, they were now about 5mm or 0.2in too long. I didn't notice when making the car a roller last time as I never installed the clips. I made sure the lower control arms were the whole way forward and then tried to see if the K-member could be moved forward but found they were still too long. Since literarily every part had been changed (apart from the car and torsion bars) I figured it was a tolerance thing and removed some material from the front of the bars until the clips would fit snuggly.
The new lower control arm pivots and bushings seem more chunky than the old ones which should push the lower control arm and therefore torsion bar back, but it seems like this is not a common problem?
For the steering coupler I was going to get a universal joint to replace the old one with but Bergman said that the original design was far better, once I had it in hand I could see why, its precise and allows some chassis flex without the any risk of the steering binding. The steering column lined up well but not totally perfect, it seems like a normal thing though. I used the rubber boot solution instead of the original cover just so that it can all come apart again easily if need be.
The next surprise came when installing the torsion bars, they were now about 5mm or 0.2in too long. I didn't notice when making the car a roller last time as I never installed the clips. I made sure the lower control arms were the whole way forward and then tried to see if the K-member could be moved forward but found they were still too long. Since literarily every part had been changed (apart from the car and torsion bars) I figured it was a tolerance thing and removed some material from the front of the bars until the clips would fit snuggly.
The new lower control arm pivots and bushings seem more chunky than the old ones which should push the lower control arm and therefore torsion bar back, but it seems like this is not a common problem?