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With that said, I have no idea what the "relocating boxes" are or how these were installed.

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I'm still trying to get my Cuda' done for Mopars in the Park June 5th. I have it mobile now, and brought it down to a old school alignment guy. I didn't want some 19 YO tech working on my car. So I bring it in to this guy who's been doing alignments for 40 years. He looks it over for a couple hours, and tells me to come get it out of his shop. He feels that what I've done as far as adding the Hotchkiss uppers, has made my car dangerous! He claims that the way they've used the relocating boxes, without being welded in, will allow them to move around, and not hold an alignment, as well as putting too much pressure on the sheet metal, and the inner fender, andthat the frame will fail. This he feels is due also to the heim joints vs. the rubber bushed originals. He is an old school dude, and may have felt he just didn't want to deal with it- but he knows his stuff too-so he's making me nervous. He also said that to properly align it would require the removal and adjustment of the uppers so many times, that it would take forever. What are your thoughts? Anyone have these in? Any thoughts would be appreciated. I'm calling Hotchkiss once their open. I'm going crazy trying to get it done in time-----

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my car was alined last month at a shop that all they do is alighnments and they race a bush north car he sad he worked on it most of the day and it was alot of work but its all set . cost me 260.00 dollars . so far so good still working on all the little stuff but the car handles as good as my daily 2007 magnum just alot louder time for hush thrush mufflers .

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Are there any other people here who would benefit from a "performance clinic" event or service, where your car could be assessed and the correct parts recommended? Maybe if we got enough people, with money in hand & interested, it would be worthwhile for the manufacturer(s) to host.

Jim

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Hotchkis had a Mopar open house last summer: http://www.hotchkis.net/press_release.html?ID=25

Man I never read that, I got noted for asking so many questions.

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Are there any other people here who would benefit from a "performance clinic" event or service, where your car could be assessed and the correct parts recommended? Maybe if we got enough people, with money in hand & interested, it would be worthwhile for the manufacturer(s) to host.

Jim

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Are there any other people here who would benefit from a "performance clinic" event or service, where your car could be assessed and the correct parts recommended? Maybe if we got enough people, with money in hand & interested, it would be worthwhile for the manufacturer(s) to host.

Jim

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Interesting concept though. But at Spring Fling we try to get all those manufactures and services out there.

Is it you are looking for a one to one hands on analysis? You are asking the questions while you are doing a walk through with your car? Or maybe a test drive is involved?

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So how does this affect our suspension geometry, and how does it help handling? I believe the angle of the upper control arm attach points is to increase anti-dive. It's not a big deal to reduce that? It looks like there is still some there, so perhaps the original engineers were concerned about other factors, which I could totally understand, since they made undersprung cars for people that didn't want to drop their cigarette ashes when they hit a pot hole. As one enters a turn, the outside wheel moves up, the upper control arm moves up, and back, increasing caster. That causes that wheel to camber negatively more than if it kept the same camber. Problem is that the exact opposite is happening to the inside wheel. That wheel is moving down, the caster is changing towards the negative, and that causes the camber to move towards the positive. Perhaps it would be better if the static positive caster was greater, and the dynamic caster change less. I'd rather do this by modifying the attach points themselves, but that would change the angle of the upper ball joint in relationship to the spindle, but since the upper control arm isn't moving back as much, the angle would still be in the normal range.

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Yes, it's a bump steer issue. Because the upper control arm has so much anti dive it creates caster change while traveling up and down. That caster change moves the tie rod position relative to the car and as a final result make bump steer.

Tough to explain, but here is a video that shows what is going on with measurements. Hotchkis Bump Steer Video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzxPWrdPlt0&feature=player_embedded

Also they have a real good Mopar FAQ located on their web page here I just spotted: http://www.hotchkis.net//mopar_b_e_body_faq.html

That anti dive isn't a total bad thing. We run some in our circle track race cars. And most racing sedans do. The factory runs so much because that same geometry is used in some heavy 71 Satelite Custom Station Wagon that runs a soft suspension that can run loaded with 9 passengers, a car top carrier, and towing a camper.

Read: Brady Bunch Grand Canyon Trip!. When that wagon full of Brady's slams on the brake that front end is going to go from sky high to the k-member almost kissing the pavement. The factory is trying to keep wagon from pitching forward so fast it tosses Cindy Brady out the back window!

Does this look like your Challenger/Cuda/Road Runner? It's got the same front end geometry though...



Would you agree that Satelite Wagon is being used a little different manner than this Challenger?

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Are there any other people here who would benefit from a "performance clinic" event or service, where your car could be assessed and the correct parts recommended? Maybe if we got enough people, with money in hand & interested, it would be worthwhile for the manufacturer(s) to host.

Jim

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Interesting concept though. But at Spring Fling we try to get all those manufactures and services out there.

Is it you are looking for a one to one hands on analysis? You are asking the questions while you are doing a walk through with your car? Or maybe a test drive is involved?

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I remember hearing about the Hotchkis event last year. I was hoping they'd do another this year.

What would be ideal (for me) would be I bring my car to the manufacturer. They examine it and/or test drive it, and then provide an educated assessment of the parts/mods the car would benefit from. If it was not an event, but a service, I'd be happy to pay for the service.

I have some specific issues I'm trying to hammer out on my car, but throwing parts at it is a little bit like shooting in the dark. If a knowledgeable person were to drive my car and give me their opinion, that would be extremely valuable.

I had assumed (incorrectly) that Hotchkis would have a big warehouse/garage where you could pull a car in and have them work it over with all their parts, ala XV. I even asked XV if they had partnered with anyone in the LA area where I could drop off my car, write a check, and have a new Level II suspension installed. The answer was no.

I'm in a (fortunate) position right now of having cash to spend and a need for work, but I can't seem to find the right service provider.

Jim

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Any competent performance shop should be able to install the XV, an AlterKtion, or the Hotchkiss stuff. None of it is rocket science and the engineering is already done (if you were closer I'd do it and I don't have a shop, but I am confident enough in my abilities to get it done and done right). The thing about the three systems I mentioned is that, unlike their other competition, their stuff has the reputation of fitting right the first time.

What are you trying to accomplish?

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