Front End Rebuilding

  Since I decided to replace the drum brakes with disk brakes, I decided to remove the entire K-member.  The entire unit comes out easily by removing the torsion b rods and four bolts.  It's a must to replace all the bushings on the car because they will be all cracked  and dried out making handling and front end alignment difficult.  I used the Energy Suspension Hyperflex bushing kit that contains everything you need for both the front end and leaf springs.  The sway bar bushings and ball joint rubber boots are sold separate.  It's hell getting some of the old bushings out but I'll show you how below.

  This is the new K-member setup that I bought on eBay.  It included the complete four piston disk brake setup, spindles, upper and lower control arms, and manual steering box.  All the parts were already sand blasted and ready for priming.  Reference this web site for torsion bar removal.  http://www.home.eznet.net/~heiny/mml/tech/tbar/removal.html

     My Dart came with a power steering box and drum brakes.  I wasn't keen of power steering since they take a lot of room and tend to leak due to the header heat.  My whole new K member unit also came with the manual steering box that I will use.  The car is quite light and manual steering will be fine and is in keeping with the true muscle car look and feel.

  The new bushing kit also contained lower control arm bushings. Try and get those suckers out!  Forget it, not without high heat or a strong hydraulic press.  I chose the heat method and gave the bushing housing a good shot with the acetylene torch.  It will stink like hell but it works good.  Be very careful not to have the flame set too high so that it cuts the metal.  Place a vise grip pliers on the bushing shaft and after applying heat for several minutes, you should be able to force the shaft to rotate.  Keep rotating it back and forth until it comes out.  Putting in the new bushing is easy.  Simply put the shaft into the bushing and place it in the freezer overnight.  After 12 hours, rub the bushing with the special grease that is supplied.  It should now slide in without too much trouble.

  The upper control arm bushings are also difficult to remove from the "A" arms.  At first glance, it looks like the bushings are welded into the arms but there're not.  To get them out, you can use a hydraulic press but that is risky since the arm are quite flimsy and easily bent in a big press.  I opted for the "junkyard fix" that involves first cutting both ends off each bushing and then bashing out the center sleeve and then the rubber.  Next, take a reciprocating saw with a hack saw blade and very carefully cut through the outer shell of the bushing being careful not to cut too deep so as to cut into the control arm outer sleeve that remains.

  The disk brake setup that I got was for the Mopar small bolt pattern (5 on 4 inch) wheels.  This was nice because it allowed me to use my factory rally rims.  This disk brake front end came from a 1970 Dart Swinger 340 so the fit would be perfect.  I also rebuilt the 4 piston calipers since they were off the car anyway and the rubber bushings were all hard and cracked.  There are several options available for Mopar "A" body disk brake conversion and in all cases you will need the upper control arms from the donor car along with the spindles, rotors, calipers, and master cylinder.  You may want to check the following link.  http://www.moparts.org/moparts/tech/pages/abody.html and

  For that authentic 19870's Mopar muscle car look, I wanted to refinish the factory rally wheels that came with my car.  This can be easily done in the home workshop with a little elbow grease and some argent paint.  Visit this web page for an excellent article about wheel refinishing.  http://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/howto/39998/

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