1971 Swinger 318/904 bone stock. I am rebuilding my front suspension and steering and I am also upgrading to poly bushings, adding stiffening plates to the LCAs and adding a Hotchkiss anti-sway bar.
I have run into a problem on reassembly. I can't get the LCA into the proper position. It's too far aft, there's about a half inch or so that it needs to go forward to allow the Torsion Bar to be fully installed. I can't get the rear clip into it's slot because the torsion bar sticks out of the frame socket (maybe 1/4" or so). Now then...Why is this happening?
As good as I can tell, it's because the strut rod isn't installed correctly. This 1/2'' measurement for the LCA being too far aft starts out about double that and gets smaller as I tighten the strut rod nut onto the rod. But then the nut bottoms out on the spacer that comes with the poly kit and at that point the LCA isn't fully seated on the pivot shaft.
I bought this poly kit from Energy Suspension and I've been working with them on this problem -- for weeks now! I sent them a bunch of pictures and explanations and the guy I'm working with says it looks like the strut rod bushings and their spacer needs to be thinner -- which I agree with. But this kit has been sold by Energy for some 20 years. Surely I'm not the first guy to run into this problem. I have seen a picture of these strut rod poly bushings in an ad for another supplier and they look about the same. They have this cone-shaped side and the spacer is about 1 5/8".
I have installed the suspension pieces without the strut rod poly spacer and I can get it close to the right position, but I'm tightening the strut rod nut and compressing the poly bushings so much that I'm afraid the poly bushing will split. And I haven't even gotten the nut far enough on the rod to reveal the roll pin hole and the spacer from the kit isn't installed so I don't think this is the way I want my suspension to go down the road. I'd be too worried all the time.
So, my questions are: Who has converted their A-body front end to poly? Did you run into the same problem? Has anyone bought and installed this same kit from Energy? Has anyone figured about a good work-around?
Help! I've had my car on jack-stands since Halloween and I've scraped and cleaned the underside and painted it all up and it looks so good...I can't wait to put the car back together and start driving it again.
I have run into a problem on reassembly. I can't get the LCA into the proper position. It's too far aft, there's about a half inch or so that it needs to go forward to allow the Torsion Bar to be fully installed. I can't get the rear clip into it's slot because the torsion bar sticks out of the frame socket (maybe 1/4" or so). Now then...Why is this happening?
As good as I can tell, it's because the strut rod isn't installed correctly. This 1/2'' measurement for the LCA being too far aft starts out about double that and gets smaller as I tighten the strut rod nut onto the rod. But then the nut bottoms out on the spacer that comes with the poly kit and at that point the LCA isn't fully seated on the pivot shaft.
I bought this poly kit from Energy Suspension and I've been working with them on this problem -- for weeks now! I sent them a bunch of pictures and explanations and the guy I'm working with says it looks like the strut rod bushings and their spacer needs to be thinner -- which I agree with. But this kit has been sold by Energy for some 20 years. Surely I'm not the first guy to run into this problem. I have seen a picture of these strut rod poly bushings in an ad for another supplier and they look about the same. They have this cone-shaped side and the spacer is about 1 5/8".
I have installed the suspension pieces without the strut rod poly spacer and I can get it close to the right position, but I'm tightening the strut rod nut and compressing the poly bushings so much that I'm afraid the poly bushing will split. And I haven't even gotten the nut far enough on the rod to reveal the roll pin hole and the spacer from the kit isn't installed so I don't think this is the way I want my suspension to go down the road. I'd be too worried all the time.
So, my questions are: Who has converted their A-body front end to poly? Did you run into the same problem? Has anyone bought and installed this same kit from Energy? Has anyone figured about a good work-around?
Help! I've had my car on jack-stands since Halloween and I've scraped and cleaned the underside and painted it all up and it looks so good...I can't wait to put the car back together and start driving it again.
