Shocks and double sway?

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johnnyusa

johnnyusa

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When I got my 65 Valiant Signet convertible in 1991, I began the wonderful journey of updating and rebuilding any and everything that would make this car great. I have succeded and it is truly performing now lovely.

My questions are these: In 1993 I put in KYB shocks and have driven the car EASILY over 100,000 miles. Would it be silly to update these and would it make a noticeable difference in driving? Note that I don't push the Signet very hard and only drive it for seven summer months.

My second question is about a rear sway bar. In 1998 I had a front sway bar installed and it makes such a difference. Does the additional rear take it to a level of extraordinary or is a front enough?

I love to improve my car when I can.
 
Good for you driving that much! I wish I could drive mine more. If the shocks are weak yea time for new ones. I added the rear sway bar to my Scamp and I could tell the difference right away. So my vote is Yes to the sway bar. Shocks if needed. Have fun :)
 
Murray said:
Depending on existing torsion bars, you might consider upgrading one step.
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IDK I did that and I still think my car rides harsh. It does handle better but on a rough road I'm not a happy camper. For a driver I would stay with what he has already.
 
I like 1”+ T bars for a driver feels like a much more modern car once you go through the rest of the suspension

My 66 has either 1.03” or 1.08” I don’t remember what they were when I did them. But also full poly bushings and LCA stiffing plates
 
Adding the rear bar really depends on what kind of driving you do, weight bias, etc. It can turn a balanced car into a fishtailing bastard, if you're not careful. People more knowledgeable than me will be along shortly who can tell you more than I can.

I think @Mattax might have some good input. I can't recall some of the other suspension guys on here.
 
Front and rear Helwigs on both my cars . Makes a huge difference!
I run KYBs on a 93 Mazda B2600 I restored . Meh…. Not real good at wheel control. Not enough rebound .
 
I'm thinking Bilsteins if I renew the shocks. And the Helwig rear would be my go to. I agree with the possibility that I could create a fishtailing monster if too stiff but that's why I put this out there to hear from you folk.
 
My cars are both super stable . No fishtailing .
They also launch super straight!
Bilstiens would be the way to go but spendy .
 
Can you fit tires on that Signet to take advantage of these upgrades? Jus asking.

my 68 Barracuda 100% Street driver, has 295/50-15 BFG T/As on the back, on 10" wheels, @24 psi. Shocks are HD Munroe 3-ways set on #2, lol, and no rear sway bar. All 4 shocks are from the 70s and are on the third car. My guess is that they have over a quarter million miles on them.
On the street, she slides flat, and I steer the back around, with the throttle. Bin like that since 1999. I quite enjoy it.
Yeah she does, have a big S-bar on the front, and 1.03 T-bars. IIRC the rear bias is ~48%, or thereabouts. I could easily make it 50% by moving 100pounds off the front to the rear. But I'm happy as it is.

As to your question,
You said
johnnyusa said:
it is truly performing now lovely.
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Therefore I say; leave it alone. That's my opinion.
 
I'm running 215/70 R14 on standard MOPAR 5.5 rims. I'd love a wider rim but haven't found an option yet.
 
johnnyusa said:
I'm thinking Bilsteins if I renew the shocks. And the Helwig rear would be my go to. I agree with the possibility that I could create a fishtailing monster if too stiff but that's why I put this out there to hear from you folk.
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I would be careful about putting bigger torsion bars on a convertible. They tend to be rattle boxes cause they have no roof structure.

The Bilstein's my actually take some harshness out of the car.

How thick is you current front sway bar?
 
It is not only the thickness of the sway bar. Depending on the design & how it is mounted affects the leverage it exerts on the chassis.
I would check this out carefully before buying....
A sway bar also increases the spring rate [ ride is more harsh ] when only one wheel on that axle hits a bump....
 
johnnyusa said:
ADDCO 1 & 1/8" back in 1998
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What leaf springs are out back? Like mentioned above, convertibles shake twist & flex more, & to that end a rear bar may actually help with the twist part. That's a pretty good sized bar up front, I imagine that car is tight, & I'll plant a little caution here. I knew brothers who did a lot of Solo I/Solo II stuff in the late '80's/early '90's in a couple of Triumphs, they were telling of another racer who put too much spring & stabilizer bar in His ride(all topless sportscars), the sheetmetal was doing most of the absorbing of the bumps & loads. It fatigued around the spot/pinchwelds, & started coming apart, just an FYI. It doesn't sound like You have enough grip for corning forces to be the main concern, but road conditions/impacts certainly can be over time.
 
There seems to be alot going on suspension wise. On my 70 Duster last week I just went from KYB to Bilsteins. I had Hellwig front swaybar that needed some adjusting to make it more efficient. I also added a 7/8" G Max sway bar to the rear. These made a quite a difference in the ride quality and seem to be worth the effort. I'm running some stock worn out rear leaf springs and 1" lowering blocks which are probably another detriment to ride quality. That said, I just ordered some Hotchkis 24385 leaf springs which have lowering built-in so I can loose the blocks and with the 130lb as opposed to110lbs which should make my ride even better. I had 1.03 tbars which before this the ride was pretty harsh. I also have stock type front suspension parts from Mopar, Moog, PST, Hellwig, QA1and BAC, not to mention a 8.75 B body rear and DoctorDiff 1/2" rear offset kit to accommodate 18x10 wheels and 265 Gmax tires, with the relocation kit and deeper backset wheel's, I can go even bigger. I have 18×9 and 255's up front which are close to hitting the stock UCA's. adding tubular UCA's I could probably move the 265's up. While I'm at it, I'm thinking of fabbing up some frame connectors to bolt on for good measure.
All this in a car with stock manual steering which actually works pretty good with this combo at speed and even in a parallel parking situation. The only thing it could need after all this is a Borgeson
power steering system and it may handle like my 2013 Challenger. I did shop around to maybe save some money, but If I had to do it again I would go with a complete suspension package and actually save money.
I got a good deal, with free shipping and 10% off on the shocks and swaybar from PST which is actually Kanter now. The rear shocks did come with 5/8 upper bushings which might fit your car, but not my 70, which need 11/16". I called them to send the right bushings and they will, but got a new 11/16 drill bit as recommended by a couple guys here and fixed it so I could use them without waiting.
 
Mojoe9955 said:
There seems to be alot going on suspension wise. On my 70 Duster last week I just went from KYB to Bilsteins. I had Hellwig front swaybar that needed some adjusting to make it more efficient. I also added a 7/8" G Max sway bar to the rear. These made a quite a difference in the ride quality and seem to be worth the effort. I'm running some stock worn out rear leaf springs and 1" lowering blocks which are probably another detriment to ride quality. That said, I just ordered some Hotchkis 24385 leaf springs which have lowering built-in so I can loose the blocks and with the 130lb as opposed to110lbs which should make my ride even better. I had 1.03 tbars which before this the ride was pretty harsh. I also have stock type front suspension parts from Mopar, Moog, PST, Hellwig, QA1and BAC, not to mention a 8.75 B body rear and DoctorDiff 1/2" rear offset kit to accommodate 18x10 wheels and 265 Gmax tires, with the relocation kit and deeper backset wheel's, I can go even bigger. I have 18×9 and 255's up front which are close to hitting the stock UCA's. adding tubular UCA's I could probably move the 265's up. While I'm at it, I'm thinking of fabbing up some frame connectors to bolt on for good measure.
All this in a car with stock manual steering which actually works pretty good with this combo at speed and even in a parallel parking situation. The only thing it could need after all this is a Borgeson
power steering system and it may handle like my 2013 Challenger. I did shop around to maybe save some money, but If I had to do it again I would go with a complete suspension package and actually save money.
I got a good deal, with free shipping and 10% off on the shocks and swaybar from PST which is actually Kanter now. The rear shocks did come with 5/8 upper bushings which might fit your car, but not my 70, which need 11/16". I called them to send the right bushings and they will, but got a new 11/16 drill bit as recommended by a couple guys here and fixed it so I could use them without waiting.
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Careful with the hochkis rear springs they really lower the car. I had to remove the supplied dropped front hangers.
 
johnnyusa said:
ADDCO 1 & 1/8" back in 1998
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I would just run that, rear sway bar and new shocks. I have a 68 Dart convertible and that’s what I’m going to run and partially ran in past.
 
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autoxcuda said:
I would just run that, rear sway bar and new shocks.
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I have 1" lowering blocks now. In lieu of the DoctorDiff kit which was out of stock I made my own by modifying the stock front hangers and using sliders in the back. After I got done it was riding high, so I added the blocks. I picked up the DoctorDiff kit now that it is back in stock, hopefully using that and the new springs it will work better. The sliders work OK but are noisy.
 
johnnyusa said:
I'm thinking Bilsteins if I renew the shocks. And the Helwig rear would be my go to. I agree with the possibility that I could create a fishtailing monster if too stiff but that's why I put this out there to hear from you folk.
Click to expand...
Ive done the full meal deal on my Dart. Front & rear Hellwig swaybars, Bilstein front shocks, Calvert 9 way adjustable rear, PST strut rods with 1.03 Torsion bars & 6 leaf rear springs.

WOW!! What a difference...
 
I put the Addco 1 1/8" (or whatever it is, it's over 1") front bar and their 7/8" rear bar on my 64 Valiant, Vixen. She has stock Monroe gasmatic shocks with the original slant 6 torsion bars. She handles very good for ME. I do plan to upgrade the shocks and torsion bars in the future when I rebuild the suspension and add my disc brakes, but for now, she does fine.
 
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