L body K frames???

[Juggy]

does anyone know the difference between an 89 omni, and 87 shelby charger K frame???

I was told the 89 had bigger ball joints??? if thats true can you use the 5 lug hub instead of the 4 hub in the steering knuckles?? or am i going to have to bore out my current knuckles?

someone has an 89 one all cleaned up and painted nice, with poly bushing install, was wondering what kind of BS its going to be to get it to work in my 87....

yes i know ill have to add the bobble strut bracket.....just wondering what else is needed....

[rbryant]

The Lbody kframe is 1.5" narrower than the other cars.

The ball joints should be the same size but it doesn't really matter since the project isn't really a starter since the kframes aren't compatible without chopping 1.5 inches out of the summer and rewelding.

-Rich

[nBALLS]

does anyone know the difference between an 89 omni, and 87 shelby charger K frame???

I was told the 89 had bigger ball joints??? if thats true can you use the 5 lug hub instead of the 4 hub in the steering knuckles?? or am i going to have to bore out my current knuckles?

someone has an 89 one all cleaned up and painted nice, with poly bushing install, was wondering what kind of BS its going to be to get it to work in my 87....

yes i know ill have to add the bobble strut bracket.....just wondering what else is needed....

It will bolt in.

IIRC the '82 and older L-bodies had the smaller ball joints.

In fact, you can bolt in '90-down Minivan arms to your '87 if you wanted(just to give you an idea of how Chrysler kept a lot of stuff the same, although the Minivan arms have an extra brace for added rigidity, they still bolt into an L-Body).

The Lbody kframe is 1.5" narrower than the other cars.

The ball joints should be the same size but it doesn't really matter since the project isn't really a starter since the kframes aren't compatible without chopping 1.5 inches out of the summer and rewelding.

-Rich

He is talking about taking an '89 L-Body K-member and bolting it into an '87 L-Body.

[2.216VTurbo]

I had to search 3-4 local J yards for at least 2 months before I found a really nice 89-90 Omni that had a 'perfect' K frame. Lightly used Omni's are getting hard to come by Anyway after a good cleaning I'm gonna seam weld it and maybe add some bracing to the stress areas and use it to replace the bent/worn out frame in the Rampage. As far as I can tell, it looks to be the same frame as the 84 one in the Rampage (minus the bobble strut mount)

[Juggy]

It will bolt in.

IIRC the '82 and older L-bodies had the smaller ball joints.

In fact, you can bolt in '90-down Minivan arms to your '87 if you wanted(just to give you an idea of how Chrysler kept a lot of stuff the same, although the Minivan arms have an extra brace for added rigidity, they still bolt into an L-Body).



He is talking about taking an '89 L-Body K-member and bolting it into an '87 L-Body.

ok shweet....is there any modding required to do up the minivan arms?? or are they a direct swap in??

[Juggy]

I had to search 3-4 local J yards for at least 2 months before I found a really nice 89-90 Omni that had a 'perfect' K frame. Lightly used Omni's are getting hard to come by Anyway after a good cleaning I'm gonna seam weld it and maybe add some bracing to the stress areas and use it to replace the bent/worn out frame in the Rampage. As far as I can tell, it looks to be the same frame as the 84 one in the Rampage (minus the bobble strut mount)

good stuff some stengthening is another thing I had on my mind! get some pics up whenever u get around to that for us please

[nBALLS]

ok shweet....is there any modding required to do up the minivan arms?? or are they a direct swap in??

It's a direct bolt in.

[rbryant]

It will bolt in.

He is talking about taking an '89 L-Body K-member and bolting it into an '87 L-Body.

yea I see that now. I keep saying that I am not going to respond after midnight yet I still do and make such mistakes from time to time.

thanks for covering for me.

-Rich

[rbryant]

Am I still the only one with a narrowed 90+ dual pivot kframe in my lbody?

http://rbryant.freeshell.org/kframe

-Rich

[iTurbo]

Yep, minivan arms are a direct bolt in. Same exact arm, just has two braces welded into the bottom so they are stronger but also a little bit heavier. I run them in my Omni with no issues.

[iTurbo]

Am I still the only one with a narrowed 90+ dual pivot kframe in my lbody?

http://rbryant.freeshell.org/kframe

-Rich

Very cool Rich! Are you running this now and does it change the caster or wheelbase compared to stock?

[nBALLS]

yea I see that now. I keep saying that I am not going to respond after midnight yet I still do and make such mistakes from time to time.

thanks for covering for me.

-Rich

[GLHNSLHT2]

Am I still the only one with a narrowed 90+ dual pivot kframe in my lbody?

http://rbryant.freeshell.org/kframe

-Rich

i have that page bookmarked. Do you have any more pics and some more comments??

[rbryant]

Very cool Rich! Are you running this now and does it change the caster or wheelbase compared to stock?

It is on the car now and uses the late style gbody spindles and 11" brakes.

I am running daytona coilovers. I haven't taken it to an alignment shop since I just did a ghetto alignment for now.

It does bring the wheels forward slightly so it probably adds about 1 degree of positive caster. I am pretty sure that ChryCo added the extra caster to the daytona when they put in the cast arms so it all transfers over.

I think it probably does limit the tire size since it is really close to the front ground effects when I turn now. but other than that it seems good.

It needs 1.5" cut out of the center and a reinforcement added. Then 3 out of 4 of the bolts line up. The front passenger side is the one that has to be modified as you can see in the picture. I am not sure why but the daytona is asymetrical compared to the lbody on that kframe attachment.

-Rich

[TurbododgePirate]

It is on the car now and uses the late style gbody spindles and 11" brakes.

I am running daytona coilovers. I haven't taken it to an alignment shop since I just did a ghetto alignment for now.

It does bring the wheels forward slightly so it probably adds about 1 degree of positive caster. I am pretty sure that ChryCo added the extra caster to the daytona when they put in the cast arms so it all transfers over.

I think it probably does limit the tire size since it is really close to the front ground effects when I turn now. but other than that it seems good.

It needs 1.5" cut out of the center and a reinforcement added. Then 3 out of 4 of the bolts line up. The front passenger side is the one that has to be modified as you can see in the picture. I am not sure why but the daytona is asymetrical compared to the lbody on that kframe attachment.

-Rich

Thats absolutely awesome.

[Juggy]

I am running daytona coilovers. I haven't taken it to an alignment shop since I just did a ghetto alignment for now.

I think it probably does limit the tire size since it is really close to the front ground effects when I turn now. but other than that it seems good.
-Rich

Crap...just sold my P body koni's! my L already has koni coilovers. Could this swap be done using the L body knuckles and daytona K frame?

Rich, do u think u can fit a 24.5 x 8.5 slick in there?

[rbryant]

Crap...just sold my P body koni's! my L already has koni coilovers. Could this swap be done using the L body knuckles and daytona K frame?

Rich, do u think u can fit a 24.5 x 8.5 slick in there?

I am not sure about the slicks. My 205/45/16s are a fairly tight fit on the SC if you turn tightly. The side ground effects are the limiting factor though.

The lbody knuckles won't work quite right because the cast arms move the ball joints forward almost an inch. The newer knuckles then move them back about .75" and leave you with another 1 degree of caster.

If you used the lbody knuckles then you would just be forward an inch and probalby would have lots of clearance issues.

-Rich

[1985ShlbyChrger]

If you use the 89/90 stamped arm K frame and chop it up I think you could probably use the L body knuckles as I don't think the stamped arm k frames move the ball joint location. I'm not sure on this but I guess it could work.

[rbryant]

If you use the 89/90 stamped arm K frame and chop it up I think you could probably use the L body knuckles as I don't think the stamped arm k frames move the ball joint location. I'm not sure on this but I guess it could work.

Hmm are the kframes any different between the dual pivot stamped and dual pivot cast or is it just the arms?

I very rarely see a dual pivot stamped in the yards.

The other option would be to use neon Knuckles/Konis or some combo of Neon parts since the Kbased Konis are no longer available. I would have to look into the details on them to see what arms they should be used with.

-Rich