Project Street Fighter Suspension

Today on muscle car project. Street Fighter gets a new front and rear suspension. We'll show you how to make your own pan, hard bar and go wide tracking in the 61 Catalina

Barraca

is defined as a genus of large predatory fish, including those considered sport fish

which brings us to our C

A.

It will certainly be a predator. We'll provide much sport for whoever takes the wheel

to give Project Street fighter more bite and stop suspension had to go.

But in this place will be a state of the art kit from XB motor sports that'll transform the Ka

from Moby Dick to Moby trick.

Since we rolled the ka

into the shop, we stripped off its scales stiffened up its bones with Subra connectors and some much needed bracing and got the new K member bolted in

a lot of retrofit kits on the market run an early fox body Mustang rack. Well XV found that one from a later model Mustang five and up provides better response and a tighter turning radius.

This K member is designed to marry the Ford rack to the GM based front suspension,

the lower

arms and spindles are straight off of gm's part shelves. They're lightweight trite and true design.

The upper control arms are a product of XVR and D.

They are ultra lightweight machined billet aluminum which will reduce the unstrung weight.

The shots are also specifically designed for the E body. These nitrogen filled coil overs will help keep the bumps in the road from breaking your teeth.

I see

go.

These spindles are from ac five Corvette with a twist.

The hubs have been red drilled with the Chrysler and Ford lug pattern.

Ok.

A couple of spacers bring the steering rack arms in line with the A arms to prevent bump, steer

next up is a sway bar. These mounts are also whittled out of an aluminum block, sway bars controlled body roll. Not that there's going to be a lot where this thing is sitting three inches off the deck.

Yeah.

This arm connects the sway bar to the end links, tying everything together.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yes.

For the brakes, the caliper mounts go on first followed by the 13 inch rotors.

The rotors need to be pressed on to the studs. So we're using washers, lug nuts and old school physics to push them into place.

Since this assembly is for mock up, we'll have to knock them off later with a rubber mallet.

The calipers are a six piston design. They'll bite onto these rotors like a Rottweiler biting on a stick

with the front end mocked up. It's time to move on to the rear end. And that means all this factory stuff here has got to go. Now, this axle was rebuilt and we bought the car, but it's an eight and a quarter and our 440 would knock that thing into little tiny pieces. So we got a full nine inches. We're gonna put underneath here courtesy of Curry Enterprises.

It's also got a brand new gas tank. We're gonna drop that out just to make more room for us to work.

This tank had already been installed when we got the Kuta

and it hadn't even seen any gas before we took it back out.

These brake lines are also new, but they're attached to the old rear end and the whole thing has got to go.

I can go ahead and loosen the upper shock mounts. But before we go any further, we need to support the housing. So I don't end up with a rear end where my head should be

with the shocks loose. I can tackle the shackles.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Now remember kids safety first, we're strapping this thing down to the hoist so it doesn't go anywhere unless we want it to.

The last step is getting this old technology out of the way.

Perfect. It's out of there.

We're ready to install our Curry rear axle, but we laid out our XV parts and realized we're missing a third link in a pan, hard bar. Anyone who's built a car knows it can happen sometimes, especially with a kit with this many parts. That's why it's important to go through everything before you get started.

Yeah, we need to keep moving on this thing though. So we're gonna go ahead and mock up the drive train and get all the steering linkage installed. We'll knock all that out right after the break

coming up. Our big fish swallows 425 horses.

Hey, we're back. You know, if there's one thing that Mopar is well known for, it's their engines and we got a 440 here. That'll make that old pest star proud. Yeah, man, in my book, Mopar

stands for me, Old Plymouth or Rat. And this puppy is gonna be mean 425 horses worth of it.

That stuffing that many mules into this engine compartment is the goal here today. So let's get the cramming

with the help of some offset plates that came with the kit, the engine bolts right up the K member and mounts gear star set us up with our top of the line 727 torque flight. This thing is capable of handling twice. The power of 440 will be cranking out.

There

we go.

It

is.

Now we know we're on the right track because the stock cross member bolts right in

with the engine and trains looking good. We can move on to the rear end,

the heat shield and bump stocks have to come out first.

The factory's shocked mount cross member needs to make way for the coil over mounts

a cleaning dis strips off the undercoating so we can get to the welds can cutts spot weld cutter bit, makes short work and get the old welds out. And mat's

air chisel finishes the job.

The center line of the axle is measured from the front mounting point. So the front mount needs to go in. First,

I hang a string from it and using the measurements provided in the kit, determine where the coil over mount will be welded. In

using the marks we made on the outside of the frame rails. As a guide, we'll run a string across and transfer the marks to the inside of the frame rails.

Now that we know where a mount will land, I can get the area cleaned up and weld it in.

There's several brackets that need to be welded to the new housing. So I'm making sure it's level before I attach anything.

The third link mount is the first to go on and no rocket science here, just make sure it's centered.

The trailing arm brackets have to be perpendicular to the ground. And once the needle reads zero, I'll tack them in place.

The instructions, give concise measurements to place all the brackets. So I'm going to follow them to A T

these trailing arms should be mounted to the car before the rear end goes in. They're another product of XVSR and D and are designed to be super strong and lightweight.

The Dana 60 rear end is a good design but it's heavier than the nine inch, has fewer gear choices and parts are harder to come by.

Street Fighter is being built as a driver and you can find parts for this curry nine inch in just about any parts store across the nation.

Now, earlier, we mentioned that we're missing our third link in a pan hard bar. It looks like we got a problem with shipping because it disappeared somewhere between XV. And here we're on a roll and the third link is next. So we're just gonna make our own.

This plate goes in first and then we can get our measurements.

Now, we don't want to end up with a hole in the floorboard. So we're reinforcing the mounting points to handle the strain from axle torque.

We'll also be adding a larger plate to the inside of the car for additional strength.

The third link prevents the axle from twisting backwards while the wheels are pulling forwards. We're designing this one to be adjustable so we can change the pinion angle if we need to.

Brent's already made the piece that attaches to the housing

and with it mounted, he can figure out how long the other half of the link should be.

This piece of round stock will have to mate the bushing sleeve. So it needs to be fish mouth

a few minutes with the grinder and it butts right together.

A threaded bung is walled into this end of the link and the other end will screw in.

This gives the third link adjust.

That'll keep the rear end from doing somersaults in the car if you like that stick around because coming up, I'm gonna show you how to make your own pan hard bar

after the break. Pontiac's big body beast hits the road.

Today's flashback. A 1961 Pontiac Catalina.

In the early sixties, Pontiac dominated the strip and the track with its sleek and mighty Catalina

Mickey Thompson and Ray Nichols were racing super duty equipped cats breaking speed endurance and quarter mile records. Now, this 61 model may have never made it to the track, but it's got plenty of raw power to spend.

There's no feeling like like getting into one of these cars and going down the road. The Catalina name was first introduced in 1950 to

dyno Pontiac Hard Tops. In 59 it became its own line. An entry level full size car for 61. Pontiac came out with a completely new look.

They shaved off

a

400 pounds and shrunk the wheelbase by three inches, a

new perimeter frame replaced the traditional X frame making it safer and roomier styling changes included sculptured side panels, smaller tail fins and the return of the split grill first seen in 59 and a fixture on Pontiacs ever since.

One of the most distinctive features of this car is the bubble top roof only available in 61.

It gave the driver 360 degree visibility as well as a smooth aerodynamic look.

This year was also the first time you could get a four speed as a regular production item. Instead of special order

Pontiac continued the white track feature it had introduced in 59.

Engineers moved the wheels out five inches to make them even with the fenders, given a better handling and traction on the road.

The power plant was the versatile 389 which came in a variety of configurations.

The top of the line street engine with its 425 A which pumped out 348 horses. It got its name from the amount of torque it produced but it was still a 389.

These engines were beefed up with a performance camshaft, heavy duty head with bigger valves and topped off with 32 B. Rochester carburetors,

serious minded racers could take it even further with a super duty 389 which got around 400 horses. Only about 25 of those were filled.

Mickey Thompson's crew took several 389 s and ford him out to a 421. They had so much power, they had to create a new class to race in optional super stock

in 1961. I was in Indianapolis speedway and Hayden Profit was in a 61 Pontiac and he raced Don Nicholson in the 6149

and at that

time,

he beat him and he won with a Pontiac in

62. The 421 super duty would become a factory option. Replacing the 389 Super duty is the ultimate race engine in a Poncho.

So many of the early sixties, Catalina were raised. It's hard to find one in such pristine condition as this one. It's unfortunate for young people today to never have been able to experience what we grew up with in the f

in the sixties. I never was a generation before that, anything like that. And there will never be another one

up next. How an adjustable panhard bar is made?

Hey, we're back, you know, Project Street Fighter is gonna bob and weave like a champ and we got to put a little spring in its step. That's where coil overs come in

by bolting the coil overs into the upper mounts. First, I know the angle of the lower mounts

with the location marked, I can grind off the coating and get to welding.

You know, project Street Fighter may not exactly be a budget build, but there are ways to save money that can apply to almost any project like building your own adjustable pan hard bar. Now you can drop 100 and 50 to 200 bucks and buy one or you can build your own for about 40 or 50.

Build on a budget muscle car projects that save you time and money.

All you need is a piece of dom tubing,

threaded bone

and a couple of end links. You can buy these with the bushings already installed for a few dollars. But before you need these, you need this

and the Barracuda, we've got so much space between the frame rail and the center line of our axle, we're gonna have to build a drop bracket for a pan hard bar. So I need to find the center of my rear axle and then come down about two inches and up two inches. And that'll tell me where to set my holes for the adjust ability. We'll start about 11 inches on this one.

A chunk of two by three box tubing is the foundation for the bracket.

It's a thick walled tube that'll give plenty of support.

It's a little too wide.

But as usual, I got a plan to fix that.

After cleaning up the edges, I'm taking a slice right out of the middle. Once it stitch back together, it'll be the perfect width for the bushing

much better.

Since the right height is adjustable, the pan hard bar needs to be adjustable as well. These three holes will give us different settings to keep the bar parallel with the rear end.

Like all the other brackets. This one needs to be exactly perpendicular to the ground.

Once I check the angle of the dangle, I can weld it in

the pan, hard bar prevents side to side movement of the rear axle, which means the drop bracket takes the brunt of the forest. So we're adding a brace to make sure it stays put

to make the actual bar. Brent started by attaching a threaded bung to one end of a length of

tubing.

Like the third length, the threaded end will allow us to adjust the pan, hard bar and center the rear end.

After taking a quick measurement, he can cut the bar to length 33 and three quarters.

Now, this center will hold the bushings that attach to the drop bracket, completing the panhard bar set up

right on. That's not a bad way to spend 50 bucks, huh?

Heck, yeah. You know, we're still gonna have to fine tune it though before Street Fighter is ready for its first throw down. Yeah, we probably need to hold off until we know it's final. Wait. But we could throw in the sway bar though.

Uh, we could, but for this week we're out of time. So, until next time we're out of here.