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When I was replacing my suspension components 5-6 years back, I was in the middle of urgently trying to get the car back on the road partially out of frustration/impatience and partially because I needed to be able to move the car to access the garage. This kind of desperation is usually what...

My car has stock front spindles/single piston disk brakes. The rotors (along with the wheel bearings) were replaced ~5k miles ago when I first got my Dart back on the road. A that time, I recall looking up and following some recommendations about adjusting the tension on the wheel bearing nut...

Let me start by saying that I'm not a small nor weak guy. I have no interest in bragging about my physical strength here. I'm no elite athlete or anything like that but it is relevant to note (before anyone suggests that weak arms are to blame) that I'm in good shape and exercise regularly...

I don’t have any other modded mopars around to reference so I’m hoping for a quick sanity check. Is the sway bar supposed to be sticking down this far? The Hellwig hollow sway bar was installed a couple years back, seems to be doing its job. Possibly relevant, the car is also running a bit...

When setting up a car for drag racing, the conventional spot to mount the battery is as far back and to the right/passenger side as possible in the trunk to optimize traction. This definitely has some handling benefits too. This location improves weight distribution significantly...but can guys...

This guide seems to be generally accepted by folks on the forum. What was the intent for setting up your car? How did you decide where you wanted to fall in these ranges? Did you go back and change anything after deciding that you didn’t like the performance/feel/tire wear? Folks with 16:1...

This might be a good resource to collaborate on for this particular forum...but I'll need your help because I don't have enough first hand experience to say for sure what is needed. My guesses could end up wasting peoples' money. :) This is what I'm thinking: For each application, which...

So I've replaced the whole rear end of the car on my own at this point. There aren't a lot of mysteries or variables going on back there which is why this is a bit perplexing. So most often I'll hear this clunk when reversing and hitting the brakes to stop. It seems to emanate from the rear of...

Now that all of my suspension has been swapped out, ride height has been established, I'm finally about to get my Dart aligned with an emphasis on handling performance on radials...and I'm very hesitant to let just anyone do the job. No, I don't plan on doing the job myself for a myriad of...

I have been focusing on handling parts for my Dart. This virtually always means a serious ride penalty but that roughness can also improve the sense of connection with the car in addition to better handling manners and predictable limits. I have done complete suspension setups in several cars...

I just installed the first QA1 dynamic strut rod on the driver’s side. This of course requires disassembling the entire suspension. Currently only the strut rod is connected to the arm. When indexing the strut rod and checking for binding (with everything loose), it all moves smoothly for the...

Has anyone ever put their A-Body on corner weight scales? How did it come out? How do the various incarnations of the A-Body stack up? I have always heard that the coupe version of the A-body platform (Duster, Demon, Sport) had relatively good weight distribution and that all of the versions...

Well I've gotten a lot of work done (by my standards) over the past three years on my Dart with the goal of trying to make it drive and handle a bit better. After basically a full suspension overhaul (with performance oriented components), it wasn't until I installed the 1.5" lowering blocks...

When swapping leaf springs out, I gather that it's standard practice to snug up all of the bolts (but not torque them down), put weight on the suspension with the car on the ground, bounce it a few times, then tighten up the bolts on the mounts and the shackles. This is basically the procedure...

The car is mobile again after new shocks/springs (front and rear), QA1 tubular upper/lower control arms, new torsion bars, Mancini Racing camber spacers, new lower ball joints, new (last summer but not yet sorted-out) manual steering box. I owe this forum in particular a colossal thank you for...

The two 15/16 nuts holding the lower ball joint to the spindle are the subject of my current problem. While these are torqued pretty heavily (110 ft/lb I believe) they’re significantly more difficult to remove when the stud turns right along with the nut. There’s no obvious way (to me) to...

Looking at doing these things in steps... Without the torque boxes in hand, it's hard to picture but does the order of installation matter when installing United Car Tool Torque boxes and welded-in subframe connectors? Thanks!

Clearly, I'm doing something wrong here. I turned the adjuster bolts in to where they seemed to make contact, turned them in 4 turns, thinking that would be too low. Well, I'll be damned if it doesn't look like it's pulling a wheelie. I'm not sure if I should back it out much more than that...

I struggled a bit getting the old torsion bars out of my '73 318 car...but eventually, they yielded after coughing up a few bucks for the torsion bar removal tool that I didn't want to buy. :D So now I'm in the process of putting the new 1.08" Sway Away bars (yeah, I probably should have gone...

Edit: title should read “snubber...” So I installed my new rear axle/suspension with Hotchkis lowering springs. While the car isn’t even sitting as low as it did with the old 7.25” and old/sagging(?) stock springs, it looks like it’s still low enough that my Mancini Bump stop ain’t gonna work...

Consensus around here seems to be that the stock LCAs have enough flex to introduce some slop into the handling, particularly when stiffer torsion bars are part of the equation. It seems like a lot of you guys upgrade the stock arms with welded-on plates, upgraded bushings. etc. ad it seems...

Adding bigger sway bars obviously reduces body roll but (and please correct me if I'm wrong), also reduces the grip on which ever end of the car that you're attaching them. Add a heavier rear bar and the tail will come around. Add a heavier front bar and it will plow like a wrong wheel drive...

I’m probably going to need this tool for one job. I’d like to find an option that’s not $40+... Any suggestions welcome!

Another rookie question or two- these might be obvious to everyone but I just realized that I don't know. The story of my life! :D As many times as I've had the rear end of the Dart off the ground, I've always blocked the front wheels, jacked it up by the differential and put the jackstands...

I just noticed that Flaming River (and possibly others) advertise their manual steering box as being stronger than the stock one. That sounds fine...but what the hell kind of gorilla would it take to break a stock one? Or...am I underestimating the strength of some component here? Have you...

Which torsion bars did you swap i to your A-Body? What were your goals? How did you make out? What would you have done differently? How did you match a set of shocks? What considerations did you make for the rear shock/spring to keep the suspension working in harmony? As always, any...

As detailed elsewhere in this forum, I swapped in some QA1 upper control arms. Per the instructions (and common sense) I marked the positions of the camber bolts and attempted to get them back in the same orientation when installing the new arms but they still ended up off a bit, noticeable in...

I spent a few hours getting the QA1 UCAs installed. The driver's side seems ok but on the passenger side, there's a piece of sheet metal that interferes with the travel of the control arm. I can't see how I could have screwed up the installation so is this just a case of "extra" sheet metal...

This forum is full of suggestions for turning Abody Mopars into more modern driving and even great handling cars. Based on what I've read here, putting together a basic list of suspension and steering parts, it looks like $2500 would go a long way towards huge upgrades...but even this relatively...

My father has had his share of A-bodies including two Dusters that he loved but it has been 35 years since he has had one of his own. Whenever I mention my interest in upgrading the suspension and tires, he reminds me that as soon as I start hammering my Dart around corners, components are...