Dillinger Front Suspension Install

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-Sledgehammer-

-Sledgehammer-

Mopar Performance
Joined
Jun 26, 2009
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Location
Central, PA
Started installing the Dillinger kit on my dart! First issue I ran into was the supplied spacers were too big of diameter and would not fit my k member. Maybe my k member is goofy.

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Diameter need to clear k member.
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Not sure if this is the stock location for front disc brakes but I am going to relocate the tabs elsewhere no biggie.
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I did not like the texture on the spacers in the kit for fear of bushing wear over time and I decided to go with smooth hardened spring shims that are .060 thick each and will give more adjustment anyways.
Cheap and easy/better IMO $7 adjustment.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/CCA-4751-16/

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Also I noticed with the supplied spacers in the kit there was still a lot of slop and didn’t wanna tighten down the LCA’s so much to put unwanted stress on them. Starting to really think I have a goofy k member here :0( However I spoke to Dillinger on this and he is sending me out a custom made spacers at no cost even though I have the hardened spring shims now.

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You can see where the spacer did not clear k member! Also I did not wanna tap the bushing in per instructions and just had it solid welded into k member.
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Bushing solid welded in and smoothed up to weld spacer in.
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Once the supplied washer that gets welded to k member was turned down to diameter need to clear k member the next problem was out of square as well as varying thickness from side to side on the supplied spacers. I also did not wanna “float” the spacer up with shim/weld to square it up for the fix.

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My buddy is real clever and made a tool/cutter to square the k member up! He made a shaft to fit the ID of the supplied bushing and put a cutter on the end of it, slid it in and hooked it all up to a drill and “pulled” into the k member and squared it all out nice on both sides! Both sides are square and Lower Control Arms and move effortlessly up and down without over tightening onto k member. (will have pics later)
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Tool in action and mounts cut to desired thickness!
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94WKOd69gDg&feature=youtu.be"]Squaring up mounts stock MOPAR k member for tubular setup - YouTube[/ame]

Going to see how much extra weight can get extra out of k member buy cutting off all the useless lips K member was already modified but did not weight “stock weight” before first k member mod… maybe someone has bone stock weight.

Will have more pics/update at another time. ( too many projects right now... )

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Thanks for the heads up. I'm kind of stumped. I have three different K members here that I have used for test fitting and have not had an issue with the spacers contacting the K member and non of them have the gap that yours does. Actually they are kind of tight and difficult to get the spacers installed. I will turn down more and send them to you right away.
 
That area of the factory k-members differs quite a bit. The only dimension that really needs to be consistent is the location of the rear of the tube and even that is not real critical (as built for a factory alignment) as there is adjustment at the upper arm. Just another reason that I have no interest in the aftermarket pieces to eliminate the torsion bar.
 
Badart said:
Thanks for the heads up. I'm kind of stumped. I have three different K members here that I have used for test fitting and have not had an issue with the spacers contacting the K member and non of them have the gap that yours does. Actually they are kind of tight and difficult to get the spacers installed. I will turn down more and send them to you right away.
Click to expand...

Thanks again man! Like I posted I feel I have a goofy k member and I'm sure others may run into it down the road and just informing them there is a solution and great you will custom make a set of spacers if needed. :prayer:

Like I posted after squaring everything up it free moves nice. can't wait to get it all hooked up!
 
Jim Lusk said:
That area of the factory k-members differs quite a bit. The only dimension that really needs to be consistent is the location of the rear of the tube and even that is not real critical (as built for a factory alignment) as there is adjustment at the upper arm. Just another reason that I have no interest in the aftermarket pieces to eliminate the torsion bar.
Click to expand...

I have some nice slant 6 bars if ya wanna buy them. :D
 
Nope, no interest in slants or slant bars. I'd like bigger than the .890s I've got for my Barracuda, but I got a good deal on them so they'll do. I never should have let my son sell his .990s.
 
My Dillinger lowers work great. Had a problem with the driver side being a little out of square but the K member looks to have had a nasty impact on that side in its past. The k member bolted into the car with no problems but I think the impact tweeked that side just enough so all I could do is set the lowers in the stock location.

But like I said, no probs at all! Everything was nice and tight and fit like a glove!! Aligned up fine and everything.

Next upgrade will be a set of adjustable strut rods; once the 318 is done at the machine shop and in the car.
 
yea with the tool my buddy made it is nice I can have a nice squared up system. I did get shipped 4 new spacers (badart even made them to the spec I wanted thanks again) but work has been so ridiculous busy no time to work on front suspension... the little time I had I spent mocking up new fuel cell stuff... maybe in January I can get more updates time will tell.
 
well it's january.... done working way too many hours and haven't had time to get stuff done but work slowed up and starting to work on car again...

Dillinger shortened up the lower rad bar for me (thanks again) and fits nice and i'm pretty much using it for more frame stiffining and maybe attach some stuff to it. couple more small things to do then time to start mocking everything up on car.

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My guess is fan and shroud clearance for a big motor. Damn the grill, full speed ahead!
 
mopardude318 said:
wow. never seen a radiator mounted that way! whats the reasoning?
Click to expand...


I gained about 6.75" of engine bay clearance for 1(for future upgrades / easier to get engine out/more room for other crap...) and went from single pass 27" rad with HHR fan to dual pass 31" rad with dual 14" fans also. I like having the rad out of the under hood heat also.

HHR fan setup
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AFCO DA shock of choice for me. the lower bearing also fits perfect inside the dillinger lower control arm. Upper mount will go right into stock location.

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i'm slow...lol but got started on the upper shock mount re-enforcement... I didn't want them angling down to much cause I have proparts style 2 1/8"headers and room is tight especially on the drivers side...

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I must say I don't have anything from Dillinger but your customer service is the way I run my business so I commend you on that. I will also be doing business with you in the near future.
 
Well a friend come over to help and we got started on the shock support. not done but it's starting to come out nice. I couldn't run the plate across the top and have the plates more angled like the other member did on here cause I run the proparts style 2 1/8" headers and 1 tube on each side wouldn't clear. so I put the plate on the underside of the upper shock mount for support their. This main idea was from another member here and is pretty simple, all I did was drill a string of 1/4" holes on each side to match the snout bar and put the 1/4" plates up thru to the bar and seems very rigid like this.

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underside support etc....

you can see a small are will need be notched (red circle) but no big deal at all this is what it will be with shock free hanging and on it's suspension will be off that area but just wanna clearance it some. I 've seen this combo on other cars and they notched that area so it must be a common mod for this type of shock. Can easily shim the underside of shock on bottom of upper mount also if needed. I guess it all depends on the setup you want and I didn't wanna run all that extra underneath support bar etc... Well time to do some clean-up work and then try and mount everything to k-member.

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This area will need clearanced also (it's clearanced in that pic already) just from the size of the shock body. this is same shock used with t bar setup stock suspension but also see I have a smaller uca stop a thicker one would obviously put shock with more clearance in that area.

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Went back to the new fuel system for a bit but got some work done.... cut back the shock support (red circle area) for the afco da shocks and all fits good now.

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