XR Vs. Scorpio Front Sub-frame / K-member

[john keefe]

Those two circular washers/plates get welded on? Or, the hole in the frame/cross-member is a smaller diameter and the clamping force creates enough friction to keep the plates in place?

You don't find that used on many track cars, or road cars with sharp handling because rotating the bolt in a circular pattern changes the car's roll-center. Probably never notice the difference on a big truck with wide track, but you would with one of our cars. e.g., IIRC, the RS500 hubs were slightly longer from wheel centerline to the TCA pocket so that the roll center would come back to "ideal" (parallel to the road) when you dropped the ride height. Just a 1/2" difference made for a "twitchy" response at stock height (one of the writers' common complaints vs. the RS).

Y'all know this, but old school, semi-permanent solution would be to slot the hole in the cross-member, install a couple fat washers on the bolt ends, and then tack-weld the washers into place when you get the right camber. Two tack points are enough to keep it in place, but easy to grind off if you have to re-adjust later.

Don't recall if it was Pegasus Racing, or just some solution I saw long ago, but there used be a mini, two-piece toothed camber plates kit for adjustments. Both pieces were rectangular, with one side of each plate having teeth. One plate had a bolt hole, the other an elongated hole of the same hole "diameter." You slot the stock TCA hole horizontally, weld the one slotted plate onto the cross-member so it aligns with your new slot, teeth facing out. You bolt through the other plate, teeth facing inward, and install the TCA normally. Camber alignment by loosening the bolt and engaging different teeth inboard or outboard of the welded plate.

I guess you could do roughly the same by sourcing a washer with one sharply knurled side (or sharp diamond pattern for gripping), make your slot, and when you crank down the bolt it would make the knurled side grip the cross-member sheetmetal. Don't know if that sheetmetal would be rigid enough to resist flexing and not bind the inner TCA end, or too "soft" and tear/gall under the knurling.

[milehighXR]

You slot the holes in the cross member, weld 2 pieces of flat steel stock to the cross member so the washers have something to push/pull against depending on desired camber. Ive seen it done before, injust havent gotten to doing mine yet, if I need it. I'm at -1.5° on the front right now iirc.

[DPDISXR4Ti]

Y'all know this, but old school, semi-permanent solution would be to slot the hole in the cross-member, install a couple fat washers on the bolt ends, and then tack-weld the washers into place when you get the right camber. Two tack points are enough to keep it in place, but easy to grind off if you have to re-adjust later.

If I take another run at using the Scorpio TCA, this ^^ could be a solution. For the front side I'd probably need to cut off a portion of the thick fender washer where it would otherwise interfere with the 90-degree turn of the reinforcing flange of the X-member. This is only an issue on the front; on the rear-facing side of the X-member that flange is much further inboard and wouldn't interfere.

Note, if this ^^ doesn't make sense, just crawl under the car and look at both sides of the X-member where the TCA attaches.

[my8950]

I guess I have a question.
Do the front sway bar bushing and brackets that hold these bushings for the Scorpio the same as the XR ones?
I've got a Scorpio front bar, but somewhere in time I think one of the bushing brackets has gone missing.

[DPDISXR4Ti]

Do the front sway bar bushing and brackets that hold these bushings for the Scorpio the same as the XR ones?
I've got a Scorpio front bar, but somewhere in time I think one of the bushing brackets has gone missing.

The bushings and brackets are different between XR and Scorpio. The bolt spacing for the bushing bracket is a little tighter for the XR. What I did was used a Scorpio bracket and enlarged the holes inward with a round file, ovalizing the holes - I'd guess about 1/8" on each side, but maybe more - I did a few trial fitments. Switching to Allen-head bolts (with washers) was required since you won't be able to get a socket on the original bolt-heads due to conflict with the bracket.

For the bushings I used the blue ones from Rapido. I happened to have a pair of yellow Powerflex(?) ones around, but they didn't work. Their depth was too high and the bracket would have deformed trying to snug them down all the way.