Our B3 project car was originally...
Our B3 project car was originally designed to run ten second elapsed times for a cost of under ten grand. With that goal accomplished, we're now ready to upgrade with strong, lightweight, and highly adjustable tubular suspension components from CAP Auto Products.
If you've been a Mopar Muscle reader for long, chances are you remember our B3 (budget, bracket, Barracuda) project vehicle. The original premise of this build was to legally run ten second elapsed times in the quarter, on a ten thousand dollar budget. While we accomplished this goal, running a best of 10.13 seconds at 133 mph, and have successfully raced the B3 for over a year now without any major issues, we simply want to go faster than our car's current engine and stock suspension can reliably take us. Since we'll be upgrading to a 500 cubic inch, Indy-headed wedge, and running Calvert Racing rear suspension to help our car hook up, we decided to upgrade the front of our Barracuda with a tubular K-member and tubular upper and lower control arms from CAP Auto Products.
There are several benefits of installing tubular front suspension components, the first being added strength and reduced weight. Factory Mopar K-members and control arms were manufactured from stamped steel and welded together, making a good, but not great front frame member. The stamped steel OEM pieces are prone to flexing, and fairly heavy for their strength. Alternatively, the CAP Auto Products replacement K-member and control arms are made from strong, lightweight steel tubing, making them significantly stronger and lighter than factory pieces. The CAP K-member also bolts right in place of the factory unit, and gives you a ton more oil pan clearance than a factory K-member. In fact, with the CAP tubular K-member you can easily remove the oil pan with the engine in the car and the centerlink of the steering removed.
Another nice feature of the CAP tubular K-member is that it retains the factory steering box location and comes with your choice of engine mounts already welded in place. As an upgrade, rack-and-pinion steering is available, but we chose to keep the factory steering box so we can legally run the stock suspension classes at our local drag strips. We also chose to mount our engine using a motor plate, so while we hated to take the saw to our brand new part, we cut the engine mounts off for additional clearance and weight savings.
The CAP tubular K-member is...
The CAP tubular K-member is made from strong, lightweight steel tubing, is fully welded and braced...
To add additional rigidity and adjustability to the suspension of our Barracuda race car, we complemented our tubular K-member with tubular upper and lower control arms, and aluminum strut-rods, also from CAP Auto Products. The upper control arms are not just stronger and slightly lighter than the factory units, they also offer additional caster and camber adjustability by having threaded ends and using shims where they attach to the car's frame. These extra adjustments gave us the ability to get our front end alignment nearly perfect throughout the travel of the front end, which is mandatory for a car that leaves the starting line with the front wheels in the air. The tubular lower control arms are slightly lighter than OEM units, but CAP has manufactured them to be three times stronger, and three times stronger is a good feeling in a car that could see nearly 150 mph in the quarter-mile.
When our parts arrived we immediately noticed the quality of these pieces. The parts looked great and all the parts were professionally welded and powdercoated black. CAP Auto Products will also powdercoat the parts to a color of your choice for a small extra charge, but for our application black worked just fine. When we installed our parts, everything literally just bolted right in. Replacing all of the front suspension components with the CAP tubular pieces took us less than a day with a lift, but could easily be accomplished in a weekend with the car on jackstands. Follow along and we'll show you just how easy it is to improve your car's front suspension with tubular components from CAP Auto Products.
...and has additional lightening...
...and has additional lightening holes in the boxed structure.
Before we could install our...
Before we could install our new parts, we had to get the old stuff out. We began by unloading and removing the torsion bars.
After removing the cotter...
After removing the cotter pins, we disconnected the steering linkage and tie-rods.
One of the only specialty...
One of the only specialty tools needed for this job is a tie-rod separator, commonly called a "pickle fork."
After the steering linkage...
After the steering linkage is disconnected, the upper ball joints can be loosened. The spindles will be reused, but the control arms, strut-rods, and K-member will all be replaced.
Using a floor jack and jackstands,...
Using a floor jack and jackstands, the original K-member and lower control arms are lowered from the car.
Side-by-side you can plainly...
Side-by-side you can plainly see that the CAP tubular upper control arm just looks cleaner and tougher than the original unit. It's also slightly lighter.
The CAP tubular upper control...
The CAP tubular upper control arm (on the left) has threaded adjustable ends. The ends are also narrower than the original unit and are installed with shims. Both of these features allow for more caster and camber adjustment than the OEM setup allows.
The new K-member comes with...
The new K-member comes with your choice of motor mounts. Since we're installing our engine with a motor plate we cut the mounts off the K-member for additional clearance and weight savings.
Next to each other, the differences...
Next to each other, the differences between the stock K-member (top) and the CAP unit are apparent. By replacing our stock pieces with CAP tubular ones, we shaved nearly 50 pounds from the front of our Barracuda.
With our old suspension out,...
With our old suspension out, we could begin installing our new parts. Another nice feature of the tubular K-member is that it's light enough that you don't need a jack to install it.
The new K-member simply bolts...
The new K-member simply bolts in place of the old one. New hardware is included in the kit.
The factory steering box bolts...
The factory steering box bolts directly to the new K-member just like the old one. The CAP tubular suspension kit is also available with rack-and-pinion steering if desired.
The upper control arms simply...
The upper control arms simply bolt in the same position as the factory control arms and come with heavy duty Mopar ball joints already installed. Half-inch washers are used to make up the difference as the new arms have narrower bushings than the originals. This also allows for caster adjustment that wasn't an option with the factory control arms.
The new lower control arms...
The new lower control arms also install just like the originals, and the lower ball joint is reused. CAP has tested these arms and found them to be three times as strong as the originals even though they're over a pound lighter.
Also included in our kit were...
Also included in our kit were these aluminum strut-rods. Again, these are lighter than the originals, don't sacrifice strength, and are fully adjustable.
We adjusted the new strut...
We adjusted the new strut rods to the length of the old ones as a starting point and installed them. If we choose to make caster adjustments later, the strut rods can be adjusted to accommodate our changes.
With our new tubular K-member...
With our new tubular K-member and control arms in place, the torsion bars can be re-installed. Don't forget to install new suspension components with plenty of fresh grease for smooth operation and to prevent corrosion.
It took us the better part...
It took us the better part of a day to install our new suspension components with the help of a lift. Even without a lift, however, this job could easily be accomplished in a weekend with just a jack and jackstands.
Though our front suspension...
Though our front suspension upgrade with CAP tubular parts is complete, we're not quite ready for track testing yet. Be sure to follow along as we install a 500 cubic inch Indy headed wedge and Cal-Trac rear suspension in future articles.
Anytime front suspension components...
Anytime front suspension components are changed, the car must be realigned. Thanks to the additional adjustability of our new components, we adjusted our suspension for nearly perfect wheel alignment throughout the range of suspension travel.
So far our B3 project Barracuda...
So far our B3 project Barracuda has run a best elapsed time of 10.13 in the quarter-mile. We're confident that our new combination, including CAP Auto Products suspension upgrades, will get the car deep in the nines.