what size torsions for a 69 dart for a little better handling?

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upnover

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building a 69 dart for a friend, its a /6 car that will be getting a 6.1 third gem hemi. keeping stock style suspension but wanting it to handle better without beating his brains out. we will be doing f/r sway bars and the full us cartool frame stiffening/minitub/spring relocate, ot sure what diameter torsions to get, what do you guys reccomend? thanks guys!
 
1.03s minimum, for street, with a big sway bar and fancy-schmancy adjustable shocks,lol.
Well as to shocks IDK. I'm running HD Munroes,3-way adjustables,circa 1976. Hard to believe, I know! But they are almost new! They only have about 150,000 miles on. I guess they built stuff to last back then.
Or I just got old along with them, and together we're just waiting to die.

Don't forget tires and tire pressures; very important.
 
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1.03" hard to beat them for the Price PST sells them. You could go bigger but some people find the ride a bit rough especially with a low profile tire.
 
Anything bigger than 340 bars would be good. I've run .890" (383), .990" (MP), and 1.14" (MP) in different cars. Both the .890" and .990" bars were run with a factory 383 sway bar and worked well. We also ran the .990" and 1.14" with a 1.25" front sway bar and .75" rear bar. The two sets of bigger bars were run with KYB shocks (known for being harsh) and the ride was not objectionable, in my opinion.

I've put thousands of miles on the 383 bars (torsion and sway) in both my old Dart hardtop and my son's Dart convertible. Both of those cars had standard modern gas shocks. Great road manners with a good ride in both cars (440/4sp drive train).
 
I like my PST bars. I have a large tubular front sway bar and most the front suspension is poly. I didn't end up putting in offset UCA bushings but I still have enough camber that the car tracks confidently at 95. (don't break a hundred in Oregon they can take your car)
 
1.000" Just Suspension or 1.030" PST for improved handling...
 
In retrospect;
Maybe the .890 bars wouldda been ok with better shocks and a bigger than factory Sbars. I installed the 1.03s at the same time as the big Hitchkiss bar, to go rally-crossing, and our grass-track had a nasty berm in it to slow people down on the finish-run. It was my intent to hit that berm flat out and sail into the sunset, kindof thing. Well I hit it, and I sailed, and when I came down, I buried my oilpan, and that almost stopped the car cold, but I mashed the gas to the floor and crossed the finish line in a blaze of glory, smoke and earthen clods.
They banned me.
Anyway I liked that set-up so much, I never took it off.And that was about 2006ish,I'm guessing.I could probably get away with less T-bar,but........... they're staying!
Yeah so if anyone out there wants to jump their As, be forewarned; the front comes down first, and it comes down really hard,and you need more than a berm, cuz when the back gets to it, it really messes up your flight!lol.

BTW, that berm was tearing the front ends of a lot of strut suspension cars. Almost nothing looks as funny as a fwd 4-banger car sitting on top of one of its front wheels, on top of a berm, and the numskull inside is trying to back off the hill....unless it's a rwd4-banger car sitting on top of both of its tires, on top of a berm, and the numbskull inside is also trying to back off the hill!.....or seeing a rad fall down through bottom of the car, as the car comes to rest on one of it's front wheels, on top of a berm, and the .....well you get it. The carnage that day was awesome.:) I was the only V8 car there that day, and I didn't win :(. But I had a superb time :) with my son, and we drove home :); unlike the vast majority of the other participants.:(
Some details embellished for effect
Some details omitted for brevity
 
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The first set of .890" bars I bought came with some other '67 Barracuda parts. The bars had 900 miles on them and I paid $100 for the bars, complete dash, and a couple of small items. The second set cost a bit more, but I recall it still being less than $100. The two big block sway bars cost me $20 and $40. If I were out buying new parts I would probably go with the PST 1.03 bars.
 
i installed a pair of nos .890 (383 Dart) bars in a '69 dart and to be honest i found them to be no different than the stock 340 bars....oozy!My current '69 Dart has nos .920's in it with bilstein shocks and there is a noticeable improvement and i'm sure the shocks help.It has a more modern feel and you can actually push it's limits...a bit!
I like it, but is not nice on rough roads!Problem is it's such a personal thing and what one likes another might not.
As for the bigger 1"...i've never used them.
 
I found a new set of MP .920 bars and they are about right for my driving.
 
Im running a firm feel 1.06 bar roughly 252 wheel rate, i think if you run somewhere between 200-250 wheel rate with the higher number more race oriented, you'll be pleased. I dont know if anyone ever got the pst 1.03 wheel rate, i dont think its posted on their site.
 
AJ/FormS said:
In retrospect;
Maybe the .890 bars wouldda been ok with better shocks and a bigger than factory Sbars. I installed the 1.03s at the same time as the big Hitchkiss bar, to go rally-crossing, and our grass-track had a nasty berm in it to slow people down on the finish-run. It was my intent to hit that berm flat out and sail into the sunset, kindof thing. Well I hit it, and I sailed, and when I came down, I buried my oilpan, and that almost stopped the car cold, but I mashed the gas to the floor and crossed the finish line in a blaze of glory, smoke and earthen clods.
They banned me.
Anyway I liked that set-up so much, I never took it off.And that was about 2006ish,I'm guessing.I could probably get away with less T-bar,but........... they're staying!
Yeah so if anyone out there wants to jump their As, be forewarned; the front comes down first, and it comes down really hard,and you need more than a berm, cuz when the back gets to it, it really messes up your flight!lol.

BTW, that berm was tearing the front ends of a lot of strut suspension cars. Almost nothing looks as funny as a fwd 4-banger car sitting on top of one of its front wheels, on top of a berm, and the numskull inside is trying to back off the hill....unless it's a rwd4-banger car sitting on top of both of its tires, on top of a berm, and the numbskull inside is also trying to back off the hill!.....or seeing a rad fall down through bottom of the car, as the car comes to rest on one of it's front wheels, on top of a berm, and the .....well you get it. The carnage that day was awesome.:) I was the only V8 car there that day, and I didn't win :(. But I had a superb time :) with my son, and we drove home :); unlike the vast majority of the other participants.:(
Some details embellished for effect
Some details omitted for brevity
Click to expand...

Reading your story put a big smile on my face, i would've loved to have seen that.
 
Thanks for responding. That's why I print it. Just for the entertainment factor.

As to 1.03s, and a big sway bar. Now the tires are the limiting factor in cornering.Whereas before, the front-end rolled over, lifted the inside rear wheel, and WHEEEE, round she went. Now If I come in too hot it just plows across two or three lanes, scrubs off some speed and then it's business as usual. Sometimes I really miss sticky fronts.:(
Mostly, plowing is fun.
Until you run out of room,lol
 
upnover said:
building a 69 dart for a friend, its a /6 car that will be getting a 6.1 third gem hemi. keeping stock style suspension but wanting it to handle better without beating his brains out. we will be doing f/r sway bars and the full us cartool frame stiffening/minitub/spring relocate, ot sure what diameter torsions to get, what do you guys reccomend? thanks guys!
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Well, without knowing exactly what the car will weigh when completed, it is a bit of a guessing game on our part. And We all find different levels of "stiff" acceptable, You did say
"a little better handling" in the heading, but that's not askin' for much w/the stock /6 bars, lol! Certainly no less than the .890" stock BB bars, but guessing at the weight, .920" &
up to your comfort level. If the roads in your area are condition "challenged", You may want to err on the softer side, whatever you choose good shocks are a must.
 
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