78 Volare K Frame in 74 Duster

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GoldOne

GoldOne

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Anyone seen this before? I bought this Duster for my son & I to have a project together (car is for him). The K frame was swapped to a 78 Volare K frame in about 1992. The wheels appear to sit about 2" to far forward to fix this problem he cut out about an inch out of the lower leading edge of the fender :dontknow:. I have heard this will not work and looking for info from those with experience with this. He put it and the 318 out of the Volare in the Duster.
I am familiar with changing out 6 cyl. engines to V8 using Schumacher mounts or swaping to V8 K frames but have never seen an F body K frame used in an A. My thought is to find a 73-76 K frame and just swap it back. But if this would work ok and I could move it back I would coinsider doing so. At this point I have found a another sety of fenders to replace the cut on ones. Too bad he cut these as they are really straight. Could be repaired but I would rather replace.

Thoughts?

Thanks!
 
GoldOne said:
Anyone seen this before? I bought this Duster for my son & I to have a project together (car is for him). The K frame was swapped to a 78 Volare K frame in about 1992. The wheels appear to sit about 2" to far forward to fix this problem he cut out about an inch out of the lower leading edge of the fender :dontknow:. I have heard this will not work and looking for info from those with experience with this. He put it and the 318 out of the Volare in the Duster.
I am familiar with changing out 6 cyl. engines to V8 using Schumacher mounts or swaping to V8 K frames but have never seen an F body K frame used in an A. My thought is to find a 73-76 K frame and just swap it back. But if this would work ok and I could move it back I would coinsider doing so. At this point I have found a another sety of fenders to replace the cut on ones. Too bad he cut these as they are really straight. Could be repaired but I would rather replace.

Thoughts?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Pictures?
 
Kind of my thoughts as well! But it is under there, lol! I will have to take some pictures of it when I get a chance to get under it.
Maybe tomorrow.
 
Well the Duster had been hacked up more than I cared to tackle after further inspection. So we sold it. Here is my sons new ride below. A 73 Dart Sport. Scored a really good deal. Best thing is it is pretty much original with an 86 model 318 in it. Fortunately it was a V8 car to begin with. It has been sitting for the last six years but a tune up, carb rebuild and a tank cleaning we were cruising last weekend :). Well the bottom stripe is not factory, lol!

20130331_194906_zps25fc52d8.jpg
 
If I remember correctly the Volare K frame is self-contained with the transverse torsion bars, upper and lower control arms and basically the entire front suspension all included in one unit that can be bolted in with four bolts. I've seen it used in street rods and a 55 Ford truck! Really! Anywhere you want to use a small block Mopar, it's a bolt in swap. It seems sort of redundant to use in an A body. I'd swap back in the correct A body frame if it hasn't been altered.

As far as engine swaps, the Volare K frame had either a small block v8 or a slant six with the newer spool mounts. There are Schumacher mounts to do a 6cyl spool to small or big block conversion AND a small block spool to big block spool conversion.
 
gregpurcell said:
If I remember correctly the Volare K frame is self-contained with the transverse torsion bars, upper and lower control arms and basically the entire front suspension all included in one unit that can be bolted in with four bolts. I've seen it used in street rods and a 55 Ford truck! Really! Anywhere you want to use a small block Mopar, it's a bolt in swap. It seems sort of redundant to use in an A body. I'd swap back in the correct A body frame if it hasn't been altered.

As far as engine swaps, the Volare K frame had either a small block v8 or a slant six with the newer spool mounts. There are Schumacher mounts to do a 6cyl spool to small or big block conversion AND a small block spool to big block spool conversion.
Click to expand...

That is what I was thinking but I didn't want to post until someone else brought it up. I thought they used transverse torsion bars.
 
The problem was that it will not bolt right up as the width will not line up with the frame rails so there were steel plates that they had welded onto them. Also they had cut the upper a arm mounts off with a torch so there was no place to go back to anywhere close to original. We are much happier with the Dart condition. Here was what the Duster looked like for comparison.

20130316_160626_zps59848367.jpg
 
gregpurcell said:
If I remember correctly the Volare K frame is self-contained with the transverse torsion bars, upper and lower control arms and basically the entire front suspension all included in one unit that can be bolted in with four bolts. I've seen it used in street rods and a 55 Ford truck! Really! Anywhere you want to use a small block Mopar, it's a bolt in swap. It seems sort of redundant to use in an A body. I'd swap back in the correct A body frame if it hasn't been altered.

As far as engine swaps, the Volare K frame had either a small block v8 or a slant six with the newer spool mounts. There are Schumacher mounts to do a 6cyl spool to small or big block conversion AND a small block spool to big block spool conversion.
Click to expand...

This is correct and they also use larger rubber bushings between K frame and body
 
From what I saw it was not a direct bolt in with the steel plates added at the front of the frame rail. It appeared to be wider.
 
GoldOne said:
From what I saw it was not a direct bolt in with the steel plates added at the front of the frame rail. It appeared to be wider.
Click to expand...

I think you made a wise decision to start with another car. I have seen some down right scary rigging in my lifetime.
 
GoldOne said:
Well the Duster had been hacked up more than I cared to tackle after further inspection. So we sold it. Here is my sons new ride below. A 73 Dart Sport. Scored a really good deal. Best thing is it is pretty much original with an 86 model 318 in it. Fortunately it was a V8 car to begin with. It has been sitting for the last six years but a tune up, carb rebuild and a tank cleaning we were cruising last weekend :). Well the bottom stripe is not factory, lol!

20130331_194906_zps25fc52d8.jpg
Click to expand...

I used to own that Dart Sport!
I didn't put the lower paint on it, the guy I sold it to did that.
That car was passing thru the little town I lived at the time.
My wife spotted it with a for sale sighn in it. This was 1989.
The car was perfect, just needed a front end rebuild.
I drove the car off & on for a couple of years & my Mother-in-law used it for a year.
At the time I sold it, I had 5 cars. Sold it to guy that I worked for on his old cars & he put his son off to college in it.
It went way up North somewhere to school, that might explain the rust in the rear 1/4's.
I didn't care for the lower paint though. He brought it by to show it to me.
Thats wild, I guess if you own enough of them, your going to see one from time to time.
 
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