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1967 Barracuda Convertible - A Solid Foundation On Suspension - TechWe Start From The Ground Up As Our Latest Project Gets "The Works" From Just Suspension From the July, 2008 issue of Mopar Muscle By Dave Young Photography by Dave Young
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We're starting from the bottom... We're starting from the bottom on our latest project, so follow along as we improve our Barracuda's handling, braking, and drivability by adding "The Works" from Just Suspension. Whether you work for a magazine or not, chances are your project vehicles are like ours and never reach a state of being truly finished. Even after they're complete enough to drive, take to a show, or to the track, there always seems to be another part we want to try, or another piece that will give us a little more power, or . . . well, we're sure you know the feeling. So although our projects never really seem to get completely finished, we still get excited about starting a new project. Deciding where to start, however, can be a perplexing proposition in itself. Since we all want a car that looks good, it may be appealing to start fixing the car up with a trip to the paint shop. Performance is also important, so maybe building that hot big-block is a good starting point. While we've been tempted to begin a project by painting it or installing a new engine, the reality is that most projects, whether they'll be driven during the restoration or not, can benefit from the solid foundation of a good suspension and brakes. As an original Slant Six car,... As an original Slant Six car, our Barracuda had the weakest springs and smallest brakes offered by Plymouth in 1967. Since our plans for this project include a big-block, we'll be upgrading almost everything as we rebuild our car's suspension. You may recognize our latest project from our Rare Finds department of several months ago. We scored a deal on this '67 Barracuda convertible and have decided to build it into something Plymouth never offered in 1967-a big-block Formula S convertible. Given that this car was originally equipped with a Slant Six engine, and the spongy suspension and inadequate brakes that came were standard issue with the Slant Six, we decided that it just made sense to upgrade the suspension of this vehicle before we went any further. Also, since we plan to drive this car regularly, we wanted to be sure the car would handle and stop well enough that we wouldn't be afraid to drive it in heavy traffic. It's simply no fun to have to panic stop behind a new vehicle that has four-wheel disc brakes and ABS if your car is equipped with 9-inch factory drum brakes and a worn-out original suspension, so we felt an upgrade was in order. We know that spending money on your car's suspension generally doesn't reward you with a better looking or better accelerating car. Most people who see your car at a cruise night will notice the paint, interior, and engine before they notice the tubular upper control arms, but the rewards for upgrading the suspension aren't intended to impress people at a car show or cruise night. Suspension improvements are more for the driver of the car, the people in the car, and the drivers and passengers in the cars on the road around yours. Today's cars are lighter, more nimble, and have far better brakes than most musclecars from the '60s and '70s, so we see suspension upgrades as simply keeping up with the times. Driving a big-block-equipped anything these days with worn suspension components and factory drum brakes isn't just no fun, it's unsafe. Since our car didn't just need replacement parts, but needed heavier torsion bars and springs and new brakes, we didn't want to piecemeal our suspension by replacing one part at a time. We needed a comprehensive kit that would give us all the standard suspension rebuild components, as well as the upgraded parts we'd need to make our car safe when the big-block is installed. Our research led us to a new kit offered by Just Suspension called "The Works" kit. Offered as a standard front-to-rear suspension kit for Mopar A-, B-, C-, and E-bodies, with customizable options and upgrades, this kit seemed to fit our purposes perfectly. It contains everything we'll need to complete our car's suspension, while upgrading it with modern components as well.  Knowing our car's factory...  Knowing our car's factory 7 1/4-inch rearend would never hold up to a big-block, we found another A-body to donate its 8 3/4 rear to our project. If you plan a swap like this, be sure to inform your customer service representative when ordering your suspension kit.  In addition to our suspension...  In addition to our suspension and brake parts, we ordered Just Suspension's "Six-Pack" of suspension tools. This kit includes tools to remove and install control arm bushings and ball joints, as well as a handy torsion bar tool.  Starting in the rear, we simply...  Starting in the rear, we simply unbolted the leaf-spring forward and rear mounting brackets and rolled the 71/4 rear out from under the car, springs and all. Out back, The Works kit offers... Out back, The Works kit offers everything needed for a full rear suspension rebuild, including all hardware and an adjustable pinion snubber. We opted for the rear sway bar kit, as well. When we ordered our kit, the folks at Just Suspension asked specific questions about our car and its intended use, then offered options when it came to springs and torsion bars to best suit our vehicle. Additionally, we upgraded our suspension kit with the optional Wilwood four-wheel disc-brake kit, complete with new hard and soft brake lines, brake booster and master cylinder, tubular upper-control arms, aluminum strut-rods, and front and rear sway bars for improved handling. We also had them throw in their handy tool kit that contains all the specialty tools needed to change suspension components yourself. If you're thinking this kit is all-inclusive, you're right. We've been building cars for many years, but we're not sure we'd have thought of all the parts Just Suspension includes in The Works kit. And if you're worrying about cost, Just Suspension has done all they can to alleviate your concerns by supplying quality parts at a competitive price. Also, knowing that the cost of a complete suspension kit can be hard on your bank account if you have to purchase it in one lump sum, Just Suspension offers interest-free financing for twelve months. As working stiffs with families to feed, we appreciated the option of spreading the cost of our suspension out over a year. Be sure to keep the forward... Be sure to keep the forward leaf-spring bracket as it is one of the only suspension parts you'll need to reuse. As we've experienced before when dealing with Just Suspension, they had everything for our project in stock, so we received our parts quickly and were able to get to work. All the parts were high quality and were exactly as-ordered, giving us peace of mind that we wouldn't be making any unexpected trips to the parts store during the installation. The tool kit offered by Just Suspension was especially handy, giving us the convenience of a torsion bar installer/remover, and offering options other than an expensive shop press to install and remove bushings. All told, we found The Works by Just Suspension to be one of the most comprehensive kits on the market today, and we'll feel comfortable driving our car knowing the suspension and brakes have been rebuilt and upgraded for better performance than these cars had when new.  We upgraded our kit with the...  We upgraded our kit with the optional Wilwood rear disc brake kit. This kit is easy to install, bolting directly to the axle retainer hardware on the rearend, and will greatly improve the braking of our Barracuda.  Since our new suspension with...  Since our new suspension with heavier springs, torsion bars, and sway bars will put more pressure on the car's chassis, we decided to stiffen our car up with a set of Competition Engineering framerail connectors.  Since we're installing a big-block...  Since we're installing a big-block in this project, we ordered stiffer rear leaf springs with our kit. A nice feature of this suspension kit is that it is fully customizable to your specifications.  With the new leaf springs...  With the new leaf springs in place, we cleaned up our donor 8 3/4 housing and bolted it in. The rear sway bar kit can now be installed with the supplied hardware. This is an easy upgrade and only requires drilling four holes in the car's rear framerails.  Up front, we started by taking...  Up front, we started by taking the tension off the torsion bars, then removing them with this tool from Just Suspension. This tool is a slick piece and won't mar up the torsion bar like the pipe-wrench method does.  Because our car is a convertible,...  Because our car is a convertible, it's equipped with torque boxes, and, therefore, our frame connectors had to be cut to fit before welding them in place.  We found the front suspension...  We found the front suspension kit to be as complete as the rear, providing all the pieces and hardware necessary for a full rebuild. We chose to upgrade our front suspension with a sway bar, aluminum strut-rods, heavier torsion bars, and tubular upper control arms.  The tubular upper-control...  The tubular upper-control arms are nice pieces and will flex less than the factory units for better handling and all-around drivability. The side-by-side difference is dramatic.  Using a tie-rod separator...  Using a tie-rod separator or "pickle fork," the inner and outer tie rods can be removed.  To eliminate tie-rod flex,...  To eliminate tie-rod flex, Just Suspension includes heavy-duty tie rods as a standard feature in The Works kit.  While those of you lucky enough...  While those of you lucky enough to have a press can use it to press in the control arm bushings, Just Suspension's tool kit includes a tool to install the bushings just as easily without a press. If you plan on doing any suspension work on your car, this kit will be a nice addition to your toolbox.  Also included in our suspension...  Also included in our suspension kit is a new steering box. Since we feel a true performance car shouldn't have power-robbing accessories like power steering, we're converting our car to a manual steering box.  Along with the new torsion...  Along with the new torsion bars, new torsion-bar adjustors are included with the kit. This is a big convenience as decades old factory adjustors can be rusty and hard to turn.  Rather than replacing our...  Rather than replacing our rusty original strut-rods with factory units, we decided to upgrade to new, lighter aluminum strut-rods.  Like most Mopars with original...  Like most Mopars with original suspension components, our lower control-arm bushings were shot. Luckily, new ones are included with the kit, and they're easily pressed into place with one of the tools in our suspension tool kit.  Upper ball-joint threads are...  Upper ball-joint threads are cut with a slight interference so it's easiest to bolt the control arm in place before installing the ball joint. Alternatively, the upper control arm can be placed in a vice to accomplish this task.  When all the new front suspension...  When all the new front suspension components are in place and tightened to the proper torque, don't forget to install the cotter pins.  Now that our front suspension...  Now that our front suspension is installed, we can concentrate on our disc-brake conversion. The Wilwood brakes included in our Works kit bolt right to the factory drum brake spindles and will greatly reduce the stopping distance of our Barracuda.  We're updating our car with...  We're updating our car with new rear axles and changing to the larger Mopar lug bolt pattern. If you plan to stay with the standard 4-inch pattern, however, the front rotors are drilled to accommodate either.  Front rotors must be bolted...  Front rotors must be bolted together, and the bolts are kept from backing out with aviation safety wire. Safety wire and safety wire pliers can be found at most aviation supply stores and some automotive performance stores.  The key to properly installing...  The key to properly installing aviation safety wire is to make sure that if the bolt tries to back out, the wire will get tighter.  With the rotors assembled,...  With the rotors assembled, the front brakes can now be installed on the car. While actually designed for racing, the Wilwood brakes are a dramatic improvement over the 9-inch drums our car came with and will be a major improvement to our street car.  Though our kit came with all...  Though our kit came with all new stainless steel brake lines, we're only installing the flexible lines at this time. The rest of the brake lines will go in place after our car gets back from the paint shop.  Though we're eager to feel...  Though we're eager to feel the handling, ride, braking, and drivability improvements that our new suspension will give us, we'll have to wait until the car is finished. We're sure, however, that the difference will be dramatic. For now, we'll just bolt some old wheels on it and take it to the paint shop with confidence that when this project hits the road, it will be riding on the solid foundation of a great suspension and brake package from Just Suspension.
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