Best bang for the buck?

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bighammer

bighammer

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I'm interested in making some upgrades to the suspension under my car. The car is a 70 Dart w/ factory 318, 904 tranny, power steering, drum brakes.

I'm going to do this upgrade on somewhat of a limited budget, so unfortunately for me, that limits my options quite a bit. But here is what I was thinking...

Front (and possibly rear) sway bars, MP sub frame connectors, and new shocks. I'm thinking of stopping there. Will I have a noticeable improvement in handling and ride improvement? I know lots of you guys are doing an incredible job of some pretty major builds, but like I said, I'm on a much tighter budget...

I just don't want to keep the 'boat' feel that my car has. I have not driven it hard yet, but I want to have some fun with it after I get the 360 swap done.:burnout:
 
Well, if budget is a concern, I would ditch the MP frame connector idea and make your own. It can be done for around 35 bucks, that's probably a 100 dollar savings right there.

You will notice a big difference with the frame connectors, I know I sure did.
 
If you can build your own frame connectors. Do a search on here and you will find some threads showing you how. Perhaps with your savings there you can pick up a disc brake swap. Or put that money toward something else you want.

You will see a huge improvement with frame connectors.
 
The main thing that will lower the "boat" feel is stiffer torsion bars and/or less weight on the front end. If your car was a factory AC V-8 car, it should have about the thickest factory bars available (0.870" or 0.890"D, I forget). Many like 1"D after-market T-bars ~$200. You can lower front-end weight w/ aluminum (radiator, heads, intake). Switching from power to manual steering might shave 50 lbs. From power to manual brakes maybe 20 lbs.

If you change the T-bars, be prepared to change the lower bushings. Real cheap ($11 ea), but you need a press or rig up pipes and threaded rod to get them out. There is a sticky on that.

I think sway bars and frame rails would mainly be felt on twisty roads, not much in normal freeway driving. Shocks might be a bit over-rated (and over-priced). If you push down on a corner and it springs up once and oscillations damp quickly, the shocks are doing their job. Now if driving off-road or on gravel roads, shocks become critical, but most A's aren't driven like that.
 
I agree that sub frame connectors are the single best thing you can do to a forty year old car to make it ride and handle better. That being said, I would ditch the forty year old drum brakes and upgrade to some later model discs. I had nine inch drums on mine and I never knew what good brakes were until I changed to discs.

That project can be done fairly cheaply and it may save your life!
 
Thanks for the tips guys. I'm looking forward to some of these improvements, I plan on keeping this car for a long time!
 
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