1982 Cordoba Stock Car

[MiradaMegacab]

Damn, that's some crazy plating on the lower control arm!
I've only seen them boxed in with a plate on the bottom.

 

[Diplomat_Wagon]

Damn, that's some crazy plating on the lower control arm!
I've only seen them boxed in with a plate on the bottom.

Circle track racing tends to bend the control arm directly under the torsion bar mount.

I was NOT taking and chances.

 

[jasperjacko]

Can't wait to see you win some races!

 

[Diplomat_Wagon]

Can't wait to see you win some races!

I'm hoping to at least finish some races.


If I finish them all I'm guaranteed to win just though the process of elimination.

Thunder cars in my class are notorious for breaking down.

 

[MiradaMegacab]

Circle track racing tends to bend the control arm directly under the torsion bar mount.

I was NOT taking and chances.

I've broken a couple of torsion bars, street driving. I got to post a pic but what broke on my most recent torsion bar was the round plate that's welded onto the*bar that retains the torsion bar bushing at the control arm side. I locked up the brakes at hi speeds and apparently the bushing retainer broke off, causing the control arm to move rearward. The torsion bar still loaded, sprang down, grinding the pavement. Im guessing the lower control arms poly bushing split too, when this happened. The tire was rubbing the plastic inner fender by the door jamb.

Anybody else ever have this happen?

 

[Mr.Lopar]

i've never heard of anyone breakin a torsion bar on a f/m/j
hell my 5th goes through a ton of stress on the front suspension and dont have any problems

 

[Diplomat_Wagon]

Got a bunch more done today, Here's what I've got pics of so far.

Went about boxing in my Steering box mount today. Turned out really good!

Figured since I'm completely sealing this off I had better make damn sure those steering box weld nuts are good and stuck to the frame.

Finished welding it all together and was wire brushing it off and found a crack! Good thing I'm boxing this in eh?

All fixed!

 

[MiradaMegacab]

i've never heard of anyone breakin a torsion bar on a f/m/j
hell my 5th goes through a ton of stress on the front suspension and dont have any problems

Normally they break at the bend, right next to the mount on the K frame.
The rear shocks ripped the upper shock mount out at the same time the torsion bar pulled out from the control arm. When I break things, I really break things! LOL

 

[slant6billy]

Yep, that is how I broke mine -at the bend. I'll never park at a city basketball court again. The local yutes thought my car was the bleachers to sit 20 or so of their worthless asses. I came out of class and the car was down on the ground. The driverside T bar broke. Are the slant6 torsion bars the same for V8s in FMJs. I would believe them not to be the same and perhaps the bar on the driverside slant6 is smaller?

 

[Diplomat_Wagon]

Yep, that is how I broke mine -at the bend. I'll never park at a city basketball court again. The local yutes thought my car was the bleachers to sit 20 or so of their worthless asses. I came out of class and the car was down on the ground. The driverside T bar broke. Are the slant6 torsion bars the same for V8s in FMJs. I would believe them not to be the same and perhaps the bar on the driverside slant6 is smaller?

F/M/J cars from '76-'89 all have the same torsion bars regardless of engine size.

Sway bars and steering components were the only differences with police package cars. Steering box, Idler arm and tie rods.

 

[Diplomat_Wagon]

Did some painting of the outside of the cage and the inside of the door skins and installed them.

Tail panel installed, trunk and trunk pins installed.

Additions added to fuel cell mounting.

K-frame and rear leaf shackles finished.

Window screen fabricated and half welded into place.

 

[Diplomat_Wagon]

Finished the window screen.

Painted the back of the header panel.

Welded up the diff.

Made myself a pair of backlash adjusters. I just copied the one from work.

Finished my leaf springs.

 

[roadrunnerman]

Somebody has been busy the last few days.

 

[Diplomat_Wagon]

Eliminated the ISO setup.

Shock Plates Finished.

Gear carrier installed, ISO eliminating pieces tacked in place ready for welding.

New shoes, wheel cylinders, axle seals, shoe hardware and all the welding done. Just need to press in the new wheel studs and I can install the axle shafts and bolt the diff down.

 

[jasperjacko]

will you be racing this spring?

 

[Diplomat_Wagon]

Test and tune is June 1st and 2nd. I'm hoping to make it but I can't guarantee anything.

It's a lot of work for one guy on weekends only.

 

[Diplomat_Wagon]

Made some more progress this weekend. Currently waiting for more parts to arrive from Summit Racing and Bryke Racing.



LCA's Installed.

New rear brake line installed. Just need my stainless braided hoses to arrive.

Differential Installed.

Header Panel Installed.

Top of both door skins finished.

Window Net Kit Installed.

Looking more and more like a race car!

 

[80 Lebaron Coupe]

Great Job! I would like to see a Video of it in the race.

 

[Diplomat_Wagon]

Great Job! I would like to see a Video of it in the race.

That there will be, I even have an in car camera I plan on using.

 

[Diplomat_Wagon]

So I finally received my torsion bar bushings from www.polybushings.com and set about trying to take apart the old torsion bar mount to replace the bushings last weekend.

Got one apart intact, things are looking good.

Second one not so much.

So I decided to just make two replacement inner bushing sleeves using the one undamaged one as a guide.

Got a piece of water pipe and got a friend of mine to take it to work and machine down either end.

So now this past weekend I set about the fabrication process yet again.

Cut to fit and reused the factory end washers and welded them in place.

Pressed the sway bar mount onto the end, drilled the retaining bolt hole and then pinched the two metal halves together and tack welded them.

One completed torsion bar mount. I did replace the pivot bushings with the poly ones as well but they went in so easy I forgot to take pictures.

Torsion bars installed, K-frame installed, UCA's and spindles installed.

Next Weekend.

Steering box, pitman arm, idler arm, 11.75" rotors, bearings, seals, pads, pin type calipers, 11/16" inner tie rods, 11/16" outer tie rods and 11/16" tie rod sleeves.