Hello , New to this forum. I have been restoring a 1970 Challenger for a few years now.My question is after all the hard work painting the car including the bottom and inner fenders ,the thought of gouging the paint to get the stock upper control arms in is a real bummer. does any one have any tips on avoiding paint damage when putting in the upper control arms? Thanks in advance
All I did was endure the new bushings were fully seated and use a soft mallet to tap the control arms in. If your worried about the edges scratching or the paint on the control arm chipping while tapping into place, you can use painter tape to tape off close contact areas, and also where your tapping with the mallet to protect the paint. There wasnt much resistance in mine when I installed them
Hope this helps
:iagree: Take a little time and just go slow. It's gotta go back and any little damage to the paint will be so minor that it's not going to be seen.
And welcome to the forum
@Mopar5 (https://forum.e-bodies.org/mlist/mopar5_3709) :welcome: Would love to hear more about your car! :popcorn: :banana:
Thank you for the replies ,I appreciate it. The main area I m concerned about is the area where the dimpled ends of the bushings will contact the sides of the inner fender mounts as they slide in. My bushings are seated fully and the resistance is such that I will need to tap it in with a rubber mallet. I definitely will get some photos posted of the car when I can. Thank you
Here a few pics of my progress
Welcome to the site from Ontario, :canada: and good luck with the reassembly. The car looks great so far! :wave:
Couple more
Looking great!!! Sweet color! :1place: :perfect10: :banana:
Hopefully this works
That looks amazing!
Thank you
I have a burnt orange Challenger too and I've been torn whether to go back to the original color or do it in black which I've always loved. Seeing yours though has me thinking it over again!
I felt the same way about the color when I started. Seeing older cars with the K5 paint that was faded reminded me of red oxide primer it wasn't my first choice but I want this car to look like it it did when it rolled out of the factory with very little alteration The K5 color when new is very nice especially in the sun when all the flake shines. The color flops to a whole different shade out of the sun .Overall Im happy I went with the color. Thanks for your good words!!
That color, when fresh, looks amazing!
Car looks great. I'd be more worried about scratching something putting the fenders on then putting the control arms on! I'd smear some white grease all around to help it slide in.
I agree: A small amount of grease and whack them in. Smoke a joint and have a beer (that was the factory procedure) when doing it.
Rich and Run Charger thanks for the replies the tape and grease is the way I will go. Run Charger The recommended factory procedure of getting loaded before installation cracked me up. :))
Hi Cody, Thank you BTW great site you have here . I found the heater/AC box rebuild so helpful when rebuilding the box.Anyway lots of great info here hopefully I can contribute something to help someone else. Mike
Great looking car and :welcome: to the forum!!
Thanks XX88
Anyone familiar with the Moog K7026 strut rod bushings They look a bit different from the original and the outer diameter is a bit smaller everywhere I have checked it says they are correct for 70 Challenger just don’t want to use an incorrect part the pics show the new moog set and the original set that is zip tied
I've used them. They do work. I don't know if the original looking ones are still available.
Quote from: Rich G. on January 22, 2019, 06:35:37 PM
I've used them. They do work. I don't know if the original looking ones are still available.
The bushing looks taller? Would that not push the lower control arm back reducing caster and putting the lower control arm bushing under pressure? :notsure:
The originals stacked up are about 2 3/8 inch the new are 2 3/4" bear in mind that is not compressed like the old ones have been for years. I did more research according to Moogs website they offer OEM style which is K7016 and the ones I bought according to Moog are the improved design version which is K7026. So I will give them a shot. What I could not find is Moogs explanation of what the improved design actually corrects. Is it a caster issue or just a better bushing or just cheaper for them to make?
Yes the original style ones are still available, I accidently got the ones you have once, but I decided NOT to use them, so I can't speak to their fit etc....
As a side note, I've found Rockauto to have the best prices on Moog parts :alan2cents:
they will work fine , probably a better rubber formulation than the 50 year old compound , might be a bit stiffer :alan2cents:
You're right Neil, they are a bit stiffer and when I put them on my car, it was a bit of a challenge(r)- pun intended- to get the nuts started as there wasn't much of the strut rod peeking through them. The car aligned up dead nuts according to the alignment shop. :cheers:
Yes: They compress to the correct height. Maybe they're stiffer than original when compressed.
Thanks guys I appreciate the feed back :grouphug: