Coil Over vs Torsion Bar

70chall440 said
My bad, it should have said "can require considerable amount of fabrication". Yes I understand there are bolt in systems and to be very clear, I was/am not arguing about one system or another, just trying to lay out some of the pro's and con's. You have to admit that the cost of a complete bolt in system is not commensurate with any benefits of the change, not hating on it just saying that the cost is not equal to what you get back except in the intangible of the "cool" factor. Again, my point is not to pit one system against the other, merely to point out that each has it's benefits and drawbacks.

The way I have always looked at cars is probably similar to the way many people do; if I can make it better I always try and do that, the cost is relative to the benefit in most cases. Point in case, I will spend more for a modern 120 amp alternator because I know it is directly beneficial to the amount of power I need to run the car, however I will not pay more for a factory looking one because I do not care about that (obviously some people do which is why the factory looking ones exist). That said, I have (and undoubtedly will) added things to a car "just because" I wanted them and I thought they were cool, neat, sexy and the cost was not prohibitive (for me). As an example, I have 2 EFI 6 pack systems, one SB and one BB. I could have opted for a vastly less expensive 4BBL design EFI but I "wanted" the 6 pack look. It wasn't because it was necessarily better performance wise (probably a big argument in that on one side or the other), it was purely because I like the 6 pack look.

I would argue that coil over front end is essentially the same issue, it is cool but it not necessarily "better" one way or another. If someone feels a need to justify the change, then they are probably only fooling themselves because the Mopar designed system will obviously work just as well and cost probably way less (depending on how it is done), this is of course discounting the requirement to free up the room due to the installation of say a Hemi in an A body or something where space is at a premium.

There comes a time in every car build where the answer to why something is being done/added/altered is just "because", no other reason is needed or required, if you can afford it and want it that is enough.

Not saying your wrong, but in regards to the price point, that is subjective. When I bought my gerst, I was originally looking at a complete Hotchkiss suspension kit, wilwood brakes front and rear. All told, the Gerst kit actually came in cheaper in the end. Not by much. But the deciding points became weight savings, adjustability and lastly, header room. Now, even over a stock kit, the Gerst kit at the time was just a couple hundred more. It is hard to get an apples to apples comparison between coil over bs torsion-bar setups speaking generally. Gonna have to compare side by side. Don’t forget, a good borgeson steering box alone runs over 600 bucks, that’s 1/5 of the Gerst cost right there. Throw in wilwood brakes, and torsion bars and without anything else, youre at close to 2 grand and still need all the rest of it plus the rear.
In a nutshell, cost more argument doesn’t hold much water when you get away from the cheap, rockauto parts suspension rebuild and start looking at quality aftermarket handling upgrades to the torsion bar setup.