Conversion - Strengthening and Reinforcement

One of my concerns from talking to many folks is "frame spreading" over time, due to increased weight and lack of re-enforcement. This pushes the car out of alignment and prevents re-aligning it unless you swap upper A-arms, go to modified bushings, or get the frame straightened. Tim McCabe came up with a neat fix—remove the two- piece lower K-brace under the crank balancer, re-enforce it by welding steel bar in the channels, weld it into one solid piece, and weld washers into the slotted bolt holes to make them round, so there can be no movement. I had my K-brace modified and beefed up like this, so I hope to prevent the dreaded spread over time. If your car has already experienced this, Tim recommends dropping the center link, wrapping a chain around the right sub-frame rail, connecting it to the pitman arm, and cranking the steering hard left to draw the frame rails together. Then install the modified K-brace with the washers welded in the most restrictive (inside) position of the slots. Butch Davis did this on his ’73 wagon and says it works. E-mail Tim or Butch if you need more information.

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