Thinking about buying a 52 dodge Kingsway and would like to put in a volare k frame with a 340 o/d and 8.75 Thanks, Barry
I've done a couple dozen Volare swaps. I'm sure the Dodge frame is a regular deal and would be no problem at all. The steering box is huge and usually in the way. The Volare is sort of obsolete these days, but is still an easy swap. I used to do an F-100 in half a day if the engine and front clip was off.
I have owned cars with that suspension. It is not very good. I wouldn't swap it into anything if I had a choice. Besides the newest one you will find would be 25 years old (88 5th Avenue). I would be looking for something better. In fact the original 52 Dodge suspension is better than a Volare. It would be better and easier to rebuild the old suspension.
Gosh, here I thought my 53 F100 with Volare front suspension drives great. Guess I must be wrong. I agree that it would not be my choice today for several reasons, none of which are that it is a poor suspension. It was a good, inexpensive choice when I did it, and has served me well for a long time.
Thanks for the replies, I'm driving a 54 Plaza wagon, stock other than eci disc and overdrive. It rides fine so maybe the stock suspension is the way to go and as stated easy to rebuild. Anybody got a dual carb setup for a 25 in engine. Headers would be nice too.
Every one I ever drove had weird steering. It was as if the wheel was not connected to anything. Turn the wheel and nothing happens for a second then the steering catches up. Maybe there is too much rubber in the suspension. You do get used to it after a few days and don't notice it anymore. But I always felt the steering was too numb and vague.
That was the Volare. The old Dodges are a little vague but that is mostly because of the hula hoop steering wheel. Let me put it this way. The 52 Dodge suspension is good for what it is, and can be improved with a few changes. The Volare suspension is not much better, and in some ways not as good. If I was going to do a swap I wouldn't waste my time, I would get something better than that, like a Jaguar.
Fine is relative. I have cut out and replaced 4 now, with 1 Jag, and 3 MII setups, due to customer complaints of poor handling, and vague steering.
By the very nature of the way the cross torsion arms connect to the control arms, every time the suspension compresses it takes a load of caster out the geometry. Couple that with the fact that ANY I have seen in the last twenty years or so that have actually run under their own power have the bar bushings so worn out that they slop around a bunch, and directional stability goes out the window. That in itself is the reason for Rusty O'Toole's comment about them feeling much like they are connected to nothing. I too put tons of them in back in the day when they were popular, and I have to tell you that this being the only deal out there in the early nineties was the main reason ElPolacko came up with his Dakota kits. The bar bushings were unobtainium for a long time, but lately I have noticed a company called Firm Feel that advertises in the back pages of the Mopar specific mags is advertising stuff to improve the handling and bushings. Sorry, but even with that ray of sunshine it's still gonna be too wide for a '49-'54 Dodge front end. Hub to hub on that car is right about 58", hub to hub on a Volare checks in at about 61 1/2"...
Oh crap, I forgot to mention the complete and total lack of a camber curve! Yep, watch one of these treasures corner hard and as it rolls you can see the inner wheel drop way down and roll inward at the top. Cornering is always sooooo much more fun when it's done on 1 1/8 front tire contact patch. As Gimpy said above, Fine is relative...
Greetings! Did this swap on my '50 Wayfairer using infor from the spring 1993 "Custom Rodder", saw the light and replaced it with a Dakota stub. Yes, the Volari was the swap of choice for F-100 trucks a decade ago, but there are several issues that keep it from being a good idea for your car. (1) It's old, and as far as I know some parts, like the busing for the torsion bar is unavailable. (2) In Volari's and F-100 trucks the motor is right on top of the "K" member, in my car I ended up moving the motor back almost a foot, this changes the front to rear weight bias which requires lighter spring rate torsion bars that nobody makes. (3) Those damned torsion bars reqired major sheetmetal butchery to the front apron and occupied the same space as the radiator, I never did figure out how on earth I was going to mount the front bumper. My advice is to rebuild and update the stock suspension or use a Mus II or Dakota clip.
As far as the Volare suspension being better than a Ford pickup, the pickup had a beam axle and leaf springs and if it was worn out anything would be an improvement.
I have some parts for that front end, like dropped spindle supports, shock kit, king pin and bushing kit, rack and pinion instal kit and maybe some other stuff. I'm just up the road in Cobourg.
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