Torsion bars for better handling; your experience?

ir3333 said

i have built A bodies w/new .870 ( stock 340) bars and thought they were a bit "oozy" but adequate.
Then i built a Dart with .890 bars and really didn't see much change.The .920 were nos from Mopar way back when and actually mic'd close to .940 but there never was a .940?? so i assumed they were .920's?
The bilsteins i took off came from Firm Feel and have the same stroke as stock B body shocks so i wonder how they would perform on a heavier B body?
But as you say ride is so subjective and what is acceptable to one person may be too stiff for another.

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I thought the Bilsteins did a good job on both my Duster with 1" and 1.12" bars and my Challenger with 1.12" bars. The Hotchkis shocks work a little better on the Duster than the Bilsteins did. On the Challenger I'm still running the Bilsteins, I really like them. But that is a heavier car, and the 1.12" torsion bars on it aren't as stiff (B/E body bars are longer). The 1.12's on the Challenger are 270 lb/in, the 1.12's on the Duster are 300 lb/in because of the length change between them.

But I really think most of it for ride quality is personal preference. If you're used to a muscle car type feel, the larger bars and better shocks will feel stiff. If you're used to more modern cars which have higher wheel rates than the old 70's era cars, the larger bars and improved shocks will feel normal. I can't stand the floaty, totally insulated feel you get from the 70's cars. I want to know what my car is doing, and steering with my pinky finger while floating and swaying down the road doesn't cut it. But that's just me.