Video: AMD Inst. Center & Classic Muscle Metal Equip a ’68 Charger With A US Car Tool Stage 3 Kit


For those Cup and NASCAR racers, as well as the few sponsored drag racers running Dodge’s then-new ’68 B-body unibody cars, it became clear (rather quickly) that these cars were prone to twisting. In fact, a wheel-lifting Hemi Charger once twisted so badly from the starting line of one famous drag strip that the back glass literally blew out of its sill, shattering across the track. While excellent at shaving weight from an otherwise large vehicle, the unibody design of the B-body Mopars did leave much to be desired in the way of chassis stiffening.

According to US Car Tool, “the factory engineers added stiffening to some ares of the A-Bodies, so they recognized the benefits of the bracing 40-plus years ago. We’ve just got the benefit of seeing how these react to the added chassis stiffening. Any car will benefit from the additional chassis (unibody) stiffening, especially if you are increasing the horsepower or just want you car to feel more “solid” going down the road.”

US Car Tool’s Level 3 Chassis Stiffening Kit is described, “Frame Connectors add strength to the middle portion of the unibody, our design maximizes the strength of these via cantilever beam engineering to increase the Section Modulus of Elasticity. This is twice as strong at half the thickness!

“Torque Boxes distribute the brute forces placed on the Unibody at active suspension mounting locations; think front leaf spring hangers pushing the car forward on a 600hp launch! Inner Fender Braces add stiffening to a front frame rail system that was prone to twisting. The front Lower Core Support brace connects the extreme front ends of the front frame rails to help make them stronger and less prone to twisting.

“When you remove the flex from your chassis (Unibody) you allow the suspension to work as it is designed. Now you can adjust spring rate, roll resistance (sway bars) and shocks and actually see and feel the difference! The Level 3 kits goes further by moving your leaf springs inboard 3″ per side and adding 4″ of wheelhouse tire area for Maximum Tire size and width.”

This entire package might sound like voodoo and far beyond that of what Ma Mopar ever intended for your vintage B-body, but as this video shows, it all fits like a glove. Of course, a large bit of credit goes to the AMD Installation Center and the crew at Classic Muscle Metal who performed the installation on this ’68 Dodge Charger for us to look at:

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Kevin Shaw

Editor-in-Chief – kevin.shaw@shawgroupmedia.com Kevin Shaw is a decade-long powersports and automotive journalist whose love for things that go too fast has led him to launching Mopar Connection Magazine. Almost always found with stained hands and dirt under his fingernails, Kevin has an eye for the technical while keeping a eye out for beautiful photography and a great story. He's also the co-author of "The Chrysler B-Body Restoration Guide."

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