Upgrading my K member checklist

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ValiantOne

ValiantOne

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Hey All,

Right now I am in the midst of a rear end/trans swap. I decided to pull the engine an reseal it as I was already halfway there. Now I'm looking at the K member thinking....... Hmmmm, sure would be easier to do the swap to the late K now....... To that end

Car is a 68 Val with biscuit type K, stock front suspension and 9 in drums. I am converting to 73 up K, disc brakes, sway bar.

I have my 73 up K, discs w/calipers, 73 up steering knuckle/spindles, 73 upper cont. arms, correct sway bar, lower cont. arms with sway bar tabs, .998 ( I think. Larger anyhow) torsion bars.

Will my existing idler, center link and pitman work?

Is there anything I am missing here?

Thanks

PS will ask brake questions in brake section
 
ValiantOne said:
Will my existing idler, center link and pitman work?
Click to expand...

Yes IF the pitman and steering box you are going to use fit

Those 4 parts must go together.

I assume, on the LCAs that they "go with" the 73 K / sway bar setup?

I would also ponder reversing the spindles so you can have the calipers on the rear side. Change the calipers side to side so the bleeders are on top, and use Volare hoses.

I don't know of ANY downside to doing that, and it leaves more room for sway bar hardware, and especially if you were to "some day" go to a high performance sway bar
 
67Dart273 said:
Yes IF the pitman and steering box you are going to use fit

Those 4 parts must go together.

I assume, on the LCAs that they "go with" the 73 K / sway bar setup?

I would also ponder reversing the spindles so you can have the calipers on the rear side. Change the calipers side to side so the bleeders are on top, and use Volare hoses.

I don't know of ANY downside to doing that, and it leaves more room for sway bar hardware, and especially if you were to "some day" go to a high performance sway bar
Click to expand...

Cool. Yeah, going to stick with the stock PS steering box so I'm good.

I had a 67 Dart where the guy had put the spindles on the rear. I never could get all the air out. I ended up swapping sides and they bled just fine and got a nice hard pedal. Maybe the hoses were not the Volare ones??

I am tempted to try them to the rear again based on what you have told me.

Thanks!

CE
 
Oh! I think I'll need some motor mounts too. Are all LA's the same? I am having this nagging thought that 273, 318 were alike and 360 different. Thanks for any insight

CE
 
273 and 318 were the same mounts, 340 and 360 were the same, but different from the smaller motors. Only the driver side is different and you can get away with shimming a 318 mount to fit the larger motor.
 
There's really no reason to swap the brakes to rear hung on the 73 and up setup. The sway bar is designed to be nowhere near the calipers like the earlier version. If you want an aftermarket bar, simply buy one that fits the 73^ k member. Staying with the front hung keeps the brake hose out of harms way. If you were trying to use a 67-72 sway bar, it would be different. Those will hit the calipers, but the 73-76 version won't.
 
They only did what needed to be done. Save 20 inches of weld per K-frame, it adds up! $$$$
 
It's been years, wish I had before pics. Some parts just had a few little stitches. Pretty sure he added some gusseting arond the steering box, too. If my car has one thing going for it, betwwen the reinforced K, swaybar, and Firmfeel box the steering and front suspension is nice and tight.

 
JDMopar said:
There's really no reason to swap the brakes to rear hung t.
Click to expand...

One opinion, two opinion, whatever. "Several" of us have done this, and so far have managed to "not" harm a brake hose.
 
I imagine he means on the front side of the K where the pivot goes through. The hole in the K can waller out and the pivot will be loose on that side.
 
The k that I had firm feel do for me had thick fender washers welded there, with the centers welded and reamed back to size.
 
The reinforcing of the LCA pivot's is pretty straightforward. FirmFeel uses what looks like laser cut steel, but HD washers will do the trick too. You'll have to cut the washers down to fit. Then they get welded on, and the end of the pivot tube is captured into the weld on the inside of the washer. If you're careful not to blast the tube with too much heat you shouldn't have to ream it, but cleaning it up afterward to make sure everything is free of slag is a good idea.

This is one of mine, I think this is the one on my Dart. I've reinforced the K's for my Dart and Duster. It's a pretty easy job, just a little time consuming. Just make sure everything is clean first. It's really amazing how much oil hides in the K frame and seams. Even more amazing is how crappy the factory welds are. Reinforcing the LCA pivots and steering box mount makes a huge difference, as does seam welding the whole K.

IMG_1651_zpszs785a36.jpg


IMG_1647_zpsu9ebakha.jpg
 
I do not think the tube that the pivot goes through passes through the K on the front.

I just got my revised pivots for the HDK tubular LCAs I am putting on the Demon. I talked Denny into making me a set with 3/4" dia on the K frame side after the taper. Also have some 3/4" ID washers he made. I used a 3/4" step bit in a 90* air drill to open up the K frame hole to 3/4", and when the new pivot is put in the 3/4" part sticks out about 0.060, or roughly about the K frame metal thickness. The washers he made slip over the pivot and still have room to pull the inside of the K tight when the pivot nut is tightened. That 3/4 hole in the K and the washer with a 3/4 pivot took out all the 45 yrs of wear and tear. I'll weld the washer in place.

Now there is a firm foundation to mount the LCAs on.
 
72bluNblu said:
The reinforcing of the LCA pivot's is pretty straightforward. FirmFeel uses what looks like laser cut steel, but HD washers will do the trick too. You'll have to cut the washers down to fit. Then they get welded on, and the end of the pivot tube is captured into the weld on the inside of the washer. If you're careful not to blast the tube with too much heat you shouldn't have to ream it, but cleaning it up afterward to make sure everything is free of slag is a good idea.

This is one of mine, I think this is the one on my Dart. I've reinforced the K's for my Dart and Duster. It's a pretty easy job, just a little time consuming. Just make sure everything is clean first. It's really amazing how much oil hides in the K frame and seams. Even more amazing is how crappy the factory welds are. Reinforcing the LCA pivots and steering box mount makes a huge difference, as does seam welding the whole K.
Click to expand...

I think I get it. I'll have to go out and look at the k to make sure I have it right in my head. I guess the trouble I am having in picturing this is, if you add to the width of the K at the pivot points, why don't the pivot bolts have to be longer to make up for it? As the K sits in the the car is this on the front side or the rear side?

Does anyone have pictures of how they gussetted the steering box mount?
 
ValiantOne said:
Does anyone have pictures of how they gussetted the steering box mount?
Click to expand...

If you wait a week, I can take pix of what Firm Feel did to mine. I'm also about to install the pitman arm reinforcement.
 
ValiantOne said:
I think I get it. I'll have to go out and look at the k to make sure I have it right in my head. I guess the trouble I am having in picturing this is, if you add to the width of the K at the pivot points, why don't the pivot bolts have to be longer to make up for it? As the K sits in the the car is this on the front side or the rear side?

Does anyone have pictures of how they gussetted the steering box mount?
Click to expand...

The LCA pivot reinforcements are on the LCA side. The don't interfere with anything for two reasons- one, the weld should be on the outside of the pivot tube, and the "washer" is larger than the pivot tube by a good 1/4" or more all the way around. Two, the LCA pivot is pretty small.

You can see in this picture that the flange on the LCA pivot fits inside the reinforcement.

IMG_2790_zpsj1t3mbyg.jpg


Same here. This is the side under the steering box. If you look closely you can actually see the corner of the steering box gusset, as well as a lot of seam welding that I did.

IMG_2787_zps3quv7ejw.jpg


As far as the steering box gusset, I don't have any pictures of the finished product. :violent1:

I did take some pictures of one that hasn't been reinforced and added what the gussets look like for another member, so I have those. Basically, you add two gusset to the steering box mount. One is just a triangle, the other looks kinda like a sno-cone before you fold it. Then you just weld around the entire mount so all of the edges are welded to the K.

This is the bottom of the steering box mount, near the pivot (the corner you can see above). The red lines are where I weld, the open part gets a gusset like the template shows, the rest just gets welded.
IMG_1661_zpsgwvzjpy0.jpg


The template I use. It gets bent near the end to follow the contour of the mount.

IMG_1660_zpsrmepykzq.jpg


This is the top side, but its under the steering box once it's installed. The red is where I would weld it in after it gets trimmed to fit. This one can't stick up any higher than the mount already does, in fact, it has to be lower. Found that out the hard way when the "snout" on the steering box hit on my Duster and I had to re-work it do fit.

IMG_1662_zps275ympwd.jpg
 
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