Frame or chassis options for A bodies
I know your responding to what was said but if you just want to compare a coil over kit like myself or hdk sell the pricing would be nearly the same for the front end parts. Your also quoting the most expensive kit on the market. The GTS or HDK are much cheaper than the alter k. I sell my kit for guys that want the torsion bars out of the way or for drag racers, I'm not here to say which is better or worse. Like everything, there's pros and cons of each.
Right. I also quoted the most expensive parts on the market for the torsion bar/leaf spring example. I put over $1,500 in parts into the torsion bar/leaf spring car example that doesn't
need to be there. Stock UCA's with offset bushings, and boxed stock LCA's with new bushings saves you $700 (and that includes buying all the new bushings). The stock power steering may not feel great, but the ratio is already 16:1, there's $600. You don't need spring sliders on your leafs, there's $200. Now the price for the torsion bar/leaf car is $2470. Heck just call it $2,500.
And you could run Bilsteins instead of Hotchkis shocks, there's another $100. Or proforged ball joints instead of Howe. Even with the torsion bar/leaf car there's places to save a lot of money without seriously changing the handling ability. Yes, the car would feel a little different, but that's true of your set up vs. the RMS unless you can prove otherwise. The RMS kit includes some very nice parts and components. Yes, you can save money with your kit or HDK, but you're not talking about using the same components as RMS either.
If you want to play, post the cost of your kit if you include all of the parts included in the RMS kit, lets see what you get with your kit and where the money is saved.
I have over $3000 in my stock front end car which has a lot of the same type of parts your car runs, and by the time I stick a borgeson steering box in it this summer I will be into it for $ 3500 give or take a few hun.
I believe you can purchase the Hemi Denny front end for around $ 3500 but I have not personally so I am not 100% on the price, maybe he could let us know.
At the time ( 2009 ish) I got my RMS it was $ 3900 for the one with no engine mounts as I was making my own, it looks like Bills prices have gone up but there are also other options now like the Gerst( Sp?) and Hemi Denny.
Old prices don't count, just like the fact that I probably saved well over $500 off the price I posted doesn't count. The prices I posted are new prices as of today, most are even rounded up to make nice even numbers. I didn't even include the FABO discount at PST, you can do it cheaper if you want to do some searching.
As far as the Borgeson, you don't
need it. The Hotchkis Challenger uses the stock power steering and a Howe quickner to get to a 12:1 ratio, it's plenty fast. The borgeson is just a 14:1 box, and its the same basic design as the stock system, ie, its a worm set up. Ratio and feel are the only differences, and both can be addressed for much less money. Heck you can run the 24:1 manual steering and be just as fast, you just have spin the wheel faster/further.
HDK has posted prices in the $3,500 range if I remember right, but those are older numbers. Maybe they're the same, hopefully he'll chime in. This isn't the first time these prices have been discussed. And back to the point on components, the HDK has a lot of options to save or spend more depending on what components are included. If you use the fancy stuff, like I quoted for the torsion/leaf car, your price goes up a lot. And you still have to address the rear suspension.
Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the HDK, quite the opposite. I think what HemiDenny does is awesome, and I'm glad he's out there doing it. He's very knowledgable, makes great parts, and from everything I can tell is a great guy too. :thumbup:
But that's not the point.