6. Building a modern muscle...
6. Building a modern muscle car can be done many ways. We chose to upgrade/improve our ’Bee with the addition of a triangulated four-link rear suspension.
Finally, we wanted to upgrade and improve our rear suspension. When new, our ‘Bee, like any Mopar muscle car, came from the factory with a leaf spring rear suspension. Leaf spring design has come a long way since the tried and true Super Stock spring upgrade of the ’70s, but we decided to take advantage of a new mousetrap (so to speak). Unlawful Racing manufactures a triangulated four-link suspension that eliminates the leaf springs. In a leaf spring suspension, the springs perform two distinct functions. First, they hold the rear axle of the car in place, and secondly, they prevent both forward and rearward movement of the rear end. Under normal circumstances, they also minimize pinion angle change during suspension travel. Try to launch the car from a stop light, and the springs try to “wrap up,” changing the pinion angle. This causes wheel hop and loss of traction. Secondly, they also support the vehicle’s weight. For a stock vehicle that will operate within a predictable range of suspension travel, leaf springs do an adequate job. The problem occurs when the intended usage is changed (i.e. lower ride height, more horsepower, and/or different weight distribution characteristics). The leaf springs can’t perform as intended if the intended usage deviates far from the original usage. With a four link suspension, the function of locating the rear axle and supporting the vehicle are now done by two different pieces; the four link and the coil-over shock absorbers. With a four-link suspension you have the ability to properly locate the rear axle no matter how soft you want to make the spring on the coil over for ride comfort. With a leaf spring rear suspension, softening the spring rate can cause other problems such as a sagging rear end of your car, or an ill-handling car.
Installing the rear suspension and the roll bar do require a welder, and are a little more than a novice might want to try and tackle. The Chassis Stiffening Bars are a simple bolt-in design that can be welded in place, and will give the average Mopar a great improvement in its handling characteristics by itself.
7. The heart of the Unlawful...
7. The heart of the Unlawful Racing suspension is this support brace that welds into your car. Bolting a piece like this with the intended usage of supporting the car is not something we would recommend.
7a. By welding, the mount...
7a. By welding, the mount becomes part of the car. If you simply bolt it in place, it can move around—even if just a small amount, and if it does, very bad things can happen.
8. This shot from directly...
8. This shot from directly underneath the ’Bee let’s you see how the kit works. The lower bars locate the rear by attaching to the rear housing, and to the original front leaf spring location. These are the bars that actually “locate” the rear end in the car. The upper bars (above the rear end), actually control the pinion angle of the differential, and keep the rear from moving side to side. With standard parallel four-link suspensions, a Panhard bar or Watts link would be needed to keep the rear from travelling side to side. Our Unlawful kit also uses a sway bar and Afco adjustable coil over shocks.
9. Back in our July ’07 issue,...
9. Back in our July ’07 issue, we showed you how the Reilly Motorsports Alter-k-tion front suspension went in our ’Bee. Now we need to remove it for paint and body.
10. The Alter-k-tion front...
10. The Alter-k-tion front end features an entirely self-supporting K-frame and suspension. There are no torsion bars, and the coil over shocks handle what the road throws at it. According to the guys at Reilly Motorsports, their suspension systems do more than save weight and add clearance. They’re designed with precise geometry for optimum control.
11. With the major fabrication...
11. With the major fabrication work complete, check back next month as we finally cover the ’Bee with some shiny stuff. mm