ANY AUTOCROSS RACERS
Question.....Would dropped spindles be a help or a hinderence in this situation?
I have a '64 Valiant (V8/4spd) I'm collecting parts for right now. I have offset bushings, new ball joints, tie rod ends, etc., I want the car to set low but still be a decent ride. It's a semi DD/weekend autocross car. 17in wheel/tires for now. What are good shocks for this type of setup? Would the 1.03's TB's be a good choice for this one?
If you're building a car to handle well, drop spindles are a waste of time. You need larger torsion bars to handle well, and larger torsion bars will result in less suspension travel. Which means you can lower the car with the torsion bar adjusters because you don't need as much available suspension travel. How much you can lower the car will depend on how big you go for torsion bars, but if you are planning doing some autoX than you should be going large enough on the torsion bars to be able to lower the car close to 2" without drop spindles. The drop spindles also change suspension geometry for the worse compared to just lowering the car with the adjusters- more bump steer, higher roll center, less camber gain, etc. There's more details on the drop spindle drawbacks in this thread
Magnum Force 2" Drop Spindle
The 1.03" torsion bars from PST are a good place to start for a street car, but if you're planning on autoX'ing you will probably want a stiffer torsion bar IMO. The 1.03" bars are listed as a 230 lb/in wheel rate (finally they listed the wheel rate!!!). By comparison, on my Duster I run 1.12" torsion bars from Firm Feel which have a 300 lb/in rate. With those bars I'm lowered about 2" from stock, maybe a little more, and with some changes to the bump stops I have plenty of travel. They're definitely stiff, but with the Hotchkis Fox shocks I think they're fine for a daily driver. I use my Duster as my daily driver, year round, and don't have an issue with how it rides on the street. I don't know that I'd go any bigger than that though for a car that sees a lot of street time.
Firm Feel also makes a 1.06" torsion bar that has a 252 lb/in rate, which would also be a good choice. Stiffer than the 1.03's, but not quite a stiff as the 1.12's. And there's also SwayAway, they make a 1.08" bar that works out to be about 265 lb/in. I think the 1.06 and 1.08" bars would be fine for a street car with some occasional autoX'ing. Some of that also depends on tire choice, sway bars, ride height, etc., how the rest of the car is set up will determine what you need for wheel rate. Especially the tires.