K frame lowering blocks

[Oldmanmopar]

Raise the hood? Talk about old school lame fixes. That's like adding A/C by rolling down the windows.

Air hats? Chances are good you'd drop the top of the air hat so low it would impede airflow. That's counter-productive. Those air hats look like you-know-what, too. I'm not seeing a whole lot of modern technology at work in either of your suggestions.

Spacers are easy, fast, light, cheap, and all but invisible. Hammers are old, too, but they sure have stayed popular.

How much air flow do you need on a /6. The spacers are cheap? What about all the other work and parts involved. Did you lower your K-member ? I didn't think so. You have no clue of the what would be involved on that old car. He said he was worried about modifying the hood. What about the bottom of that intake setting on the shock tower/stud . I can think of 4 things he'll have to modify or change after he puts those spacers in.

And that little super charged Omni. It probably flowed more then a built slant. Flow was no problem at all. Still had to modify the hood. Had two different carbs 500 holley and a 750 carter . Hat on or off no flow problem at all.

 

[gregcon]

Well, as I said, I actually have used spacers. Not for a Slant Six, but I'm not a snob...I've been a Mopar guy long enough to recognize that the lowliest Valiant with the smallest Slant is every bit as righteous as the fabled Hemi Cuda.

You see, a supercharged engine might tolerate a hat far better than a naturally aspirated engine. After all, you are forcing air, not sucking it.

I'm very well aware of those old cars. The intake will hit the shock tower? No way. And even if it did...well, that's why it's called hot rodding. Maybe he swapped one problem for another. That's exactly what hot rodding is.

Stuff sticking out of hoods is acceptable when you have no other choice. Otherwise, it stops being cool the day you turn 20 years old. Holes are easy. Making it fit under the hood is for grown-ups.

 

[brian6pac]

I would bet a dime that the crossmember tolerance when built likely had damn near this much angle variance!

I bet if you put one end of the T-bar in the crossmember with out a LCA in, you could move the T-bar up and down a good 2"

 

[Dave_J]

How much air flow do you need on a /6. The spacers are cheap? What about all the other work and parts involved. Did you lower your K-member ? I didn't think so. You have no clue of the what would be involved on that old car. He said he was worried about modifying the hood. What about the bottom of that intake setting on the shock tower/stud . I can think of 4 things he'll have to modify or change after he puts those spacers in.
...........................

When I dropped my K-Member on my 1965 Dart GT it was due to using a real tall manifold and spacer on my 273. The tall air cleaner would not fit and the dropped base air cleaner hit the AFB. I was also using 340 A body Iron header and it was hitting before I dropped the K member.

I used 4 large nuts (7/8 wrench head and 7/8 inch long unmodified) and ground down to 3/4" tall. I then put the K-member up in and then tack welded the nuts to the frame real good. The K-members taper for the bolts still kept the unit from moving.

Nothing needed major modifying to fit.
1. The Z-bar for the clutch would have worked but in stock it was miss-aligned so I slotted the bracket that bolted to the frame.
2. The Torsion bars fit well, slid in with a slight tap with my deadblow hammer.
3. Steering shaft fit after i just loosened up the firewall bolts and relaxed the slop in the housing.
4. Brake struts to lower control arm were a bit tight so all I did was loosen the nut in the K-member and re tightened it. I was using Poly bushings so just a re settiling was needed, no binding.
5. Trans fit fine as did the driveshaft angle.
6. I did need to screw the torsion bar bolt in the LCA out a few turns to lower the front the amount of raise the body gained. Alignment shop had to adjust the Camber and toe just a bit but nothing drastic. It was still in spec but not where I wanted it.

The only difference in handling was before this was if I hammered the brakes, the nose dropped a lot. After dropping the front did not dive as much so the car stopped shorter.

EDIT:
This Dart GT went from Seattle Area to Ft Devens Mass for a military school, back to Seattle and then to Augusta GA where I drove it 2 years and traded it in for my 84 Shelby. So well over 10,000 miles after I dropped the K-member with no ill effects.

 

[kursplat]

some of y'all should go read her thread, and see what's she's actually building, to understand why some things are not appropriate to the build

 

[Oldmanmopar]

You see, a supercharged engine might tolerate a hat far better than a naturally aspirated engine. After all, you are forcing air, not sucking it.

That end of the carburetor is still the draw side. The bottom of the Supercharger is the pressure side. Your thinking pro-charger. That's not a blow through.

I gave my opinion on lowering the K-member that is all. Thats a lot of work when a air hat is one wingnut.

Engine clearance for a header or tunnel fitment is a different reason. Myself I would still do other changes. I just would never change suspension geometry on a street car. Track car maybe street car? No.

Just my opinion you all can do what ever you want. I would say air hat is what I would try. Originally I had a plastic one on the omni . I got it off of a new van $5.00 at a U-Pull-It. I bought the spector for appearance because it still came through the hood. I bought the 2.2 charger fake cowl hood and it still didn't cover it.

My Duster I originally cut the hood for that factory air cleaner ram air system that was in a old mopar action magazine. After I installed the Indy intake I had to make a breather or it would have been to tall. Same car just orange at the end of its life Started life Bahama Yellow.

 

[moparmat2000]

Honestly, use an air cleaner with a dropped base if you dont want a hole in the hood, and if your wanting it to sit up a little higher in the front, turn up the torsion bars a little to make the front sit a little higher. If your going for a 60s gasser look, then why not a hood scoop? Buy a second flat hood, and cut one of em up.

Spacering the K frame though I have never heard of such a thing before now, from what others have said, was done on Hemi Darts, and Hemi Barracudas. However since their driving was 1/4 mile at a time, I would imagine whatever binding or geometry issues that may do to the suspension. was probably negligible. I mean how many miles did the typical Hemi dart travel in its lifetime? 500 miles maybe

 

[Dave_J]

When I dropped my K-Member on my 1965 Dart GT it was due to using a real tall manifold and spacer on my....................
...................The only difference in handling was before this was if I hammered the brakes, the nose dropped a lot. After dropping the front did not dive as much so the car stopped shorter.

EDIT:
This Dart GT went from Seattle Area to Ft Devens Mass for a military school, back to Seattle and then to Augusta GA where I drove it 2 years and traded it in for my 84 Shelby. So well over 10,000 miles after I dropped the K-member with no ill effects.

Honestly, use an air cleaner with a dropped base if you dont want a hole in the hood, and if your wanting it to sit up a little higher in the front, turn up the torsion bars a little to make the front sit a little higher. If your going for a 60s gasser look, then why not a hood scoop? Buy a second flat hood, and cut one of em up.

Spacering the K frame though I have never heard of such a thing before now, from what others have said, was done on Hemi Darts, and Hemi Barracudas. However since their driving was 1/4 mile at a time, I would imagine whatever binding or geometry issues that may do to the suspension. was probably negligible. I mean how many miles did the typical Hemi dart travel in its lifetime? 500 miles maybe

I edited my post above to add mileage driven after this mod.