Street/Mostly Strip Front Suspension

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I'm a fan of oem rubber bushings and understand how the lca bush works, don't much care for poly Bushings in the lower arm but many do and claim to have no problems running them, what I'd like to see from someone running the poly bushing is a video clip of how the poly Bush performs while normal street driving, camera focused on bush, forwards brake, reverse brake, corners ,speed bumps the lot . Who knows it may change my mind on poly, i know this don't help the OP with his query sorry pal.
 
The hymes on ours are for a track car. The problem I have seen with the poly LCA's is the arm moves front and back. Very noticeable when you put the car in reverse and hit the brakes. What does that do when foot braking the car and leaving off the brake . We saw that the only thing holding the LCA forward. is the torsion bar and the clip. I have seen race cars with them on and they drill the torsion bar socket at the rear and put a bolt through. But just relying on the clip with shims is not the way to go.

No one ever thought it through on the LCA moving front to back with poly bushings. The OEM if installed and tightened at ride height don't rip. If they are tighten at the lifted position then let the car down the rubber helps lift but when the rubber breaks free from the sleeve its shot. Because it allows forward and rearward movement. Put your car on the lift and pry the arm back at the K-member with poly bushings it moves front to back at least 1/2 to 3/4 inches.

As far as the struts, Without the shear sleeve the K-member gets ruined. This is the reason they went to the two piece bushings with the molded steel in them. Some replacement rubber strut rod bushings don't have the sleeve either. But the rubber is more forgiving then poly when used and last longer. I have not taken a set of poly off yet that the male nipple that seats in the K-member wasn't gone. I didn't install them they were installed by other shops and owners. The cars come here because the steering wanders on our PA. wavy bumpy and **** roads . I agree that when you look at the bushings on cars installed they look fine . Take them off and inspect them you will see the bushings are wore and tore. No one will ever change my mind on what I have seen with my own eyes. I will never install poly on lowers or struts.

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Maybe that's the issue. We, OMM and myself, drive on PA roads. Potholes, ruts from coal trucks, salt, brine, etc... Our roads are not paved with gold.
When I did my 74 front end, the PST Kit included the OEM style LCA bushings and the poly style. The pin slid right into the poly and the poly slid right into the used outer LCA shell. I always liked when I slid my pin into a nice tight bushing compared to sliding it into one that had a sloppy fit and you had to put lube in it. Not to say a bad reputation too. Just sayin...
 
And here's our first time out with new combo doing just that, tops and unloads them>

and funny enough that was our quickest of the day a 10.5@125.83

Looks like your front is tied down also your car has very little lift. Same as mine. My car left level and straight. 10.60's at 128.

 
Yes thats very similar to ours, not sure if its the shocks or what yet, were perhaps gonna cut the bump stops down some but really it needs adj@the front, early days, we have a plan.
 
I am reading all of this and taking it all under advisement, as they say. (I don't know who "they" are.:))

I bit the bullet and ordered QA1 strut rods. Freedom of movement, for sure.

I'm going to use poly on the uppers, and I'll look into the lowers more carefully and thoroughly before I decide there. A lot of good points have been made. I want to make sure the design and installation is correct.

:thankyou: everyone!
 
and funny enough that was our quickest of the day a 10.5@125.83[/QUOTE]
And here's our first time out with new combo doing just that, tops and unloads them>

and funny enough that was our quickest of the day a 10.5@125.83


You have probably already figured this out
but maybe a little bit more pressure, or tighter shock setting. Side wall is becoming a spring and bouncing back up.
Slick folding up as well.
Capture.PNG
 
The hymes on ours are for a track car. The problem I have seen with the poly LCA's is the arm moves front and back. Very noticeable when you put the car in reverse and hit the brakes. What does that do when foot braking the car and leaving off the brake . We saw that the only thing holding the LCA forward. is the torsion bar and the clip. I have seen race cars with them on and they drill the torsion bar socket at the rear and put a bolt through. But just relying on the clip with shims is not the way to go.

No one ever thought it through on the LCA moving front to back with poly bushings. The OEM if installed and tightened at ride height don't rip. If they are tighten at the lifted position then let the car down the rubber helps lift but when the rubber breaks free from the sleeve its shot. Because it allows forward and rearward movement. Put your car on the lift and pry the arm back at the K-member with poly bushings it moves front to back at least 1/2 to 3/4 inches.

As far as the struts, Without the shear sleeve the K-member gets ruined. This is the reason they went to the two piece bushings with the molded steel in them. Some replacement rubber strut rod bushings don't have the sleeve either. But the rubber is more forgiving then poly when used and last longer. I have not taken a set of poly off yet that the male nipple that seats in the K-member wasn't gone. I didn't install them they were installed by other shops and owners. The cars come here because the steering wanders on our PA. wavy bumpy and **** roads . I agree that when you look at the bushings on cars installed they look fine . Take them off and inspect them you will see the bushings are wore and tore. No one will ever change my mind on what I have seen with my own eyes. I will never install poly on lowers or struts.

View attachment 1715559373
My t bar was not up against the snap ring when i removed them, but it is well lubed now......will be worth taking another look at it.
 
and funny enough that was our quickest of the day a 10.5@125.83


You have probably already figured this out
but maybe a little bit more pressure, or tighter shock setting. Side wall is becoming a spring and bouncing back up.
Slick folding up as well.
View attachment 1715560515[/QUOTE]

Agreed and we only have 9 ways on there so no control over rebound. If his cheap tyre guage was correct we are already@16lbs in rears, we'll soon be getting into radial tyre pressures, but yes stiffer ext next time out and we won't load the suspension raising the rear even more which is a no no as its too high as it is, rather take a run@the converter amongst 10 other different things we need to do.
 
Well I went and took some pictures of some differences and the shear sleeves. The first picture is of a worn rubber without the sleeve. The second picture is of one with the shear sleeve,

Note the first picture the rubber is worn but still there. Poly nipple would be totally chewed up and gone.

The second 2 pictures are with the sleeve. They are the best strut bushings you can install. That sleeve fits tight in the K-member and never shears because it is a metal sleeve molded in the bushing.

The male side of the bushings always go in from the front

The next pictures are of early 72 and older The OEM is a one piece. The other one is a 2 piece for 72 and older. I have some of them from years ago. I like them better then the one piece but they are harder to find today. You cannot use poly bushings with the early strut rods they are not long enough. You need to get the later coarse thread strut rods

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Well I went and took some pictures of some differences and the shear sleeves. The first picture is of a worn rubber without the sleeve. The second picture is of one with the shear sleeve,

Note the first picture the rubber is worn but still there. Poly nipple would be totally chewed up and gone.

The second 2 pictures are with the sleeve. They are the best strut bushings you can install. That sleeve fits tight in the K-member and never shears because it is a metal sleeve molded in the bushing.

The male side of the bushings always go in from the front

The next pictures are of early 72 and older The OEM is a one piece. The other one is a 2 piece for 72 and older. I have some of them from years ago. I like them better then the one piece but they are harder to find today. You cannot use poly bushings with the early strut rods they are not long enough. You need to get the later coarse thread strut rods

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Do you have source fro the strut bushing with the sleeve that I could apply to a 67 Barracuda? Factory stock suspension.
 
I Bought a bunch years ago. I have a drawer of them so I haven't looked for them for myself for sometime. I'll give a freind a call see what he comes up with.
 
I wrapped this up today.

I ended up using:
- Proforged upper and lower ball joints. The uppers are 1/2" longer than stock to increase travel. Caltracs are in the
car's future and Calvert wants a lot of travel. I'm also going to cut the upper snubber.
- Energy Suspension poly UCA bushings.
- BAC delrin LCA bushings.
- QA-1 strut rods. (Worth blowing the bugdet.)

I'm saving for a good DA shock.

There is very good freedom of movement. I'm hoping it will be very responsive to tuning.

Thanks for all the ideas.
 
Save your money onto Calvert shocks. You need something that is double adjustable. For the cost difference, it’s just not worth it for a single adjustable shock.

Same goes for the front shocks. I’ve seen enough cars unhook because the front end is so violent it it upsets the entire chassis.

And yes, most of them were 11 second cars.

You’re off to a good start. I think everything your doing/planning is spot on except for shocks.

FWIW I told my cousin the exact same thing, and he didn’t listen. The first time he went to adjust his Calvert’s I wasn’t there. He called me and asked what to do. I said IDK, what does turning the knob do to bump? The video says you need a stiffer bump setting, but no matter which way you turn the knob, you’re changing both bump and rebound. Call Calvert.

He played with it for a bit. Now he’s going order some DA Vikings for it.

He is the perfect example of not having the money to do it right once, but he has plenty of money to do it 2, 3 or 4 times (or not wanting to spend the money because he doesn’t see the difference between price and value).

Just one example of many I could cite. Spend once, cry once.

And unfortunately that is the case with our junk currently but we have got a better handle on things to date.
 
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