help with suspension set up

[Landon]

Hey guys I need some help on making a decision on what parts to get to finish up my suspension. What I'm looking for is a good handling street car that will handle curvey roads with minimum body roll but still have the comfort a softer suspension. I already have a slightly beaded up k frame and lower control arms, and factory upper control arms that I will be using. I have installed all new ball joints and bushings with the moog proublem solver which are supposedly harder than rubber but softer than Polly and also offset control arm bushings for extra caster. I will be using the original front sway bar with new bushings, the stock torsion bars, and stock rear leaf springs (for now). What I was thinking of getting to finish up my suspension package is a full set of the kyb gas adjust shocks due to the reasonal price and from what I read they seem like a good street/performance shock that several people seem to like. I also will be adding a rear sway bar and I was thinking of an addco but not sure which size to get. All opions and advice are welcome

 

[C130 Chief]

The KYB's are a day and night improvement over a typical parts house OEM type replacement shock. They tend to be valved a little on the stiff side, (some would say harsh) but if you are running stock .870 torsion bars the aggressive shock will probably be helpful. My 72 had a factory sway bar, .870 T-bars and 6-leaf rear springs (from a wrecked 340 car) with polygraphite bushings and KYB's all around. This way my daily driver for years and it was a thoroughly pleasant car which handled quite nicely. No, it wasn't a 911 or Vette but it didn't need to be.

If you can swing the cost, Bilstein shocks would be even better still. I've used KYB and Bilstein on other non-Mopar cars and while more than twice as expensive, the Bilstein is more than twice as good.

If you plan to use the Factory front sway bar, then I'd suggest the smallest rear bar you can find. Try driving it before you buy the rear bar and then decide how bad you really need it. I would spend the money on new HD rear springs with poly bushings (front eye especially) before a rear sway bar.

Depending on what the front end weighs, you can go bigger on the front T-bars without hurting ride quality. If you have power steering, A/C and an iron manifolds .920's wouldn't be overkill.

 

[JLP]

I would do frame rail connectors before putting a rear bar on a car with factory front bar.

 

[Landon]

I have heard many good things about bilstein and qa1 shocks but I don't think the improvement would be worth the price when compared to the kyb it would probably suit my need just as well. I have also installed frame connectors. I figure the small addco sway bar would be all that I need. And once I get the car on the road I might would try different torsion bar and leaf spring combinations if its not stiff enough.

 

[Woods74]

Just suspension has 1" torsion bars on sale, enter 'shopalizer' for discount.