Now
I had the kit. But what direction to go? First, I wanted
it to be a daily driver. No drag racer or custom. (I hate
body work, so that kind of modification was definitely not
going to happen). For the most part, I wanted it to be an
easy, low stress project.
I
wanted the car to be able to handle. After all, if you drive
it around everyday, and it's packing a Hemi, you still want
the car to be able to take a curve. Like a street version
of a TransAm
racing car. Maybe a modern version of Pro Touring.
This
would mean, the old torsion bar front end just wasn't going
to cut it. There's not much there to work with, and not
many ways to make that kind of suspension better. With some
Googling, I found a company online that actually makes a
new front end (Tubular K-member) for real Cudas, Magnumforce
Racing. Pretty hot setup. It's a bit complex to replicate
in 1:25 scale, but gave me a good baseline on what to do.
With upper and lower control arms, and coil-over shocks,
that gives you several ways to tune the front end. Just
the idea I was looking for.
With
this in mind, I cut off the torsion bars from the kit. I
used a cross member with upper and lower control arms from
a Testor's Boyd Hot
Rod (there are 3 Testors Boyd kits, all have the same
suspension, so anyone of them will do). I did have to cut
the cross member to make it work. This cross member had
the spindles molded in as well, one of the reasons I chose
it. I also cut and used coil-over springs (from my parts
box) between the control arms (to small to see, but they
are there).
I
used a rack and pinion off a Revell
2005 Mustang. The stock K member was retained, without
the torsion bars, and I had to cut / modify the front sway
bar. I made new connections for the outer tie rod ends on
the rack.
The
important thing here to remember is to get it all lined
up. Try and get the spindles to be just where the stock
ones would have been. Same distance apart (width) and same
height. You want to make sure your wheels will fit (whichever
you choose) and that the car sits right (hopefully level).
Here
below I have primered it all to see how it looks and make
it all one shade of color.
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