Aerocoupe
12-25-2017, 10:10 AM
So some history here on what I am building so you will understand my question. I have a the entire front suspension from an '06 P71 car that will be installed into my 1970 F100 project. I have have been gathering up all the parts to do the swap (or so I thought) for about two years. So I will be installing new UCA's, LCA's, set of Naake coil overs (he and I talked and settled on a spring rate), new sway bar bushings, and new LCA rear control arm bushings. I am also going to do the Zack big brake conversion (just ordered the adapters from Jerry) but have not bought the rest of the parts as the family came first with Christmas. So now you know the project and materials I have so far.
After noodling around on here I learned that there is a camber kit for these cars and I thought that would be a good idea so go ahead and do being that I will have the K-member stripped down to powder coat. So after reading quite a bit on this here I wanted to learn more about how the camber adjustment works on these cars. So I did the usual Google searches and read what I could. I then searched all of this tied back the 67-72 Bumpside Ford F100's and came across a guy in Texas doing the CV conversion on his 67 on YouTube. He is really slow but meticulous and just seems like a guy you would sit down and drink some cold beers with.
So in Part 4 of his video series he mentions that you have to split the LCA rear bushing housing and rotate the bushing inside the housing and then weld the housing back up so the camber adjustment will work correctly. This threw me for a loop. I Googled this a bit more and Richey Classic Truck Suspension has them for sale with the mod already done here:
https://ritcheytrucksuspension.com/products/kit-723-brand-new-lower-control-arm-bracket-with-bushing-rotated
The add states it is for the correct caster adjustment but on the few F100 builds that have done the CV swap that talk about this say it is for camber. It appears they rotate it such that the slot is parallel to the mounting plate. Other pictures I have seen (have not torn my suspension down yet...too damn cold) show the slot at an angle to the base plate.
Confused yet? Yeah me too. What I am used to with an SLA system is the control arms basically being centered on the spring/shock. The control arms will have a bar between the front and rear mounts that have the offset washers on them and the entire control arm moves in and out equally on the forward and rear mounts to set camber. The Panthers are different in that the UCA is centered on the spring/shock but is non-adjustable. The LCA on the Panthers is really different in that the forward mount is centered with the spring/shock and the rear mount is trailing behind it a long way and it appears that the only camber adjustment is on the front mount.
So I completely understand the camber adjustment process on the LCA front mount with the off center bolt moving the LCA in and out but what about the LCA connection at the rear bushing? It appears that the rear bushing is slotted so that it too will move so does the tech also move that one and if so is it for caster or camber?
I need to understand what does what on this suspension so I can figure out why the hell these guys are rotating the rear bushing inside the housing. Does anyone have a picture of the LCA mounted in a Panther so I can see the physical connection of the rear bushing to the frame of the car?
After noodling around on here I learned that there is a camber kit for these cars and I thought that would be a good idea so go ahead and do being that I will have the K-member stripped down to powder coat. So after reading quite a bit on this here I wanted to learn more about how the camber adjustment works on these cars. So I did the usual Google searches and read what I could. I then searched all of this tied back the 67-72 Bumpside Ford F100's and came across a guy in Texas doing the CV conversion on his 67 on YouTube. He is really slow but meticulous and just seems like a guy you would sit down and drink some cold beers with.
So in Part 4 of his video series he mentions that you have to split the LCA rear bushing housing and rotate the bushing inside the housing and then weld the housing back up so the camber adjustment will work correctly. This threw me for a loop. I Googled this a bit more and Richey Classic Truck Suspension has them for sale with the mod already done here:
https://ritcheytrucksuspension.com/products/kit-723-brand-new-lower-control-arm-bracket-with-bushing-rotated
The add states it is for the correct caster adjustment but on the few F100 builds that have done the CV swap that talk about this say it is for camber. It appears they rotate it such that the slot is parallel to the mounting plate. Other pictures I have seen (have not torn my suspension down yet...too damn cold) show the slot at an angle to the base plate.
Confused yet? Yeah me too. What I am used to with an SLA system is the control arms basically being centered on the spring/shock. The control arms will have a bar between the front and rear mounts that have the offset washers on them and the entire control arm moves in and out equally on the forward and rear mounts to set camber. The Panthers are different in that the UCA is centered on the spring/shock but is non-adjustable. The LCA on the Panthers is really different in that the forward mount is centered with the spring/shock and the rear mount is trailing behind it a long way and it appears that the only camber adjustment is on the front mount.
So I completely understand the camber adjustment process on the LCA front mount with the off center bolt moving the LCA in and out but what about the LCA connection at the rear bushing? It appears that the rear bushing is slotted so that it too will move so does the tech also move that one and if so is it for caster or camber?
I need to understand what does what on this suspension so I can figure out why the hell these guys are rotating the rear bushing inside the housing. Does anyone have a picture of the LCA mounted in a Panther so I can see the physical connection of the rear bushing to the frame of the car?