This duster I picked up has a 716 bar on the drivers side and an 894R on the passenger side. It appears the previous owner only swapped the passenger side when they did the /6 to 318 conversion. Anyone know what number I should be looking for to match the 894R or should I find another /6 bar and crank them up a little bit to firm up the front end. Car will be a street / strip car for my wife. Not looking to make this thing run 5.80's and yank the wheels 6', just a good running / driving car that will work at the dragstrip...
Torsion bar numbers???
- Thread starter tnts72
- Start date
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nm9stheham
Well-Known Member
895 would be the match to the 894. But I would carefully measure the diameter of both with a caliper first to see if they are both .89". And see if the 716 has markings on the other end. /6 bars would be 888 and 889 from the factory. See here:
ftp://rohan.sdsu.edu/pub/mml/archive/Suspension&Tires/t-bar-application.txt
The /6's are the 'ideal' for drag racing as they store up more energy at ride height that can be released to push the front end up at launch. But for street driving, it'll be pretty poor IMO, tending to yaw over pretty badly. And raising the adjusters won't 'stiffen' it up at all; it will just raise the ride height with the same stiffness.
How large to go depends on your roads and how you drive it and how flat you want it and to some degree your rear spring rates. For rough road use with a lot of undulations, or a softer ride, I would stay with the .89's and invest in shocks. For smooth roads and a flat race car like feel, go larger. (You'll get a variety of views on this.)
ftp://rohan.sdsu.edu/pub/mml/archive/Suspension&Tires/t-bar-application.txt
The /6's are the 'ideal' for drag racing as they store up more energy at ride height that can be released to push the front end up at launch. But for street driving, it'll be pretty poor IMO, tending to yaw over pretty badly. And raising the adjusters won't 'stiffen' it up at all; it will just raise the ride height with the same stiffness.
How large to go depends on your roads and how you drive it and how flat you want it and to some degree your rear spring rates. For rough road use with a lot of undulations, or a softer ride, I would stay with the .89's and invest in shocks. For smooth roads and a flat race car like feel, go larger. (You'll get a variety of views on this.)
tarvin890
tarvin890
maybe a FSM would help
What is that ??
Flying Spaghetti Machine or Factory Service Manual.
Woods74
Broke Senior
Time for new bars! PST has the 1.03 coming out soon; don't fear big bars! Original bars were floppy c**ks!
716? Probably just a light 8 on an 891L
tarvin890
tarvin890
891 left side... they are R and L specific.
As i understand it.. The 890/891 bars are correct factory size for /6 with AC or 318 no AC. Thats what I have in my 75, slant, AC
This car is a no AC original /6 car. It may be that the bars are correct for the now 318 no AC setup... I can tell the drivers side seems softer than the passenger and both adjusters are backed almost all the way off.
cudaracer
Well-Known Member
Would a 1.03" give you a decent ride in an E-body? I currently have 0.8X" in mine and was thinking of going 0.96", but the over 1" sounds like I might be happier. But if the ride is too firm, wife will kill me. It's her car.
Small block car? Or /6? The only B/E body torsion bars that are in the .8x range are the .840 drag race only bar and the .86" /6 bar. Wheel rate on those are 80 lb/in and 90/lb in, respectively. If that's the case, those are ridiculously soft.
The biggest thing about upgrading the torsion bars is also upgrading the shocks to match. Stock replacement shocks aren't designed to handle the wheel rates that larger bars provide, so they don't work properly and the ride suffers.
I have 1.12" torsion bars on my 318 Challenger. Those have a 270 lb/in wheel rate. I ran them with KYB's for a long time, and recently upgraded to Bilstein RCD's. Talk about a huge difference! I think my Challenger rides great with the 1.12" bars, Bilsteins, and 17" rims. But it doesn't ride like an old musclecar, it rides a lot more like a modern car. It also handles a lot better, which was the point. Same with the 1.12" bars on my Duster, they have a 300 lb/in wheel rate and I run them with Hotchkis Fox shocks. I set the Duster up with AutoX in mind, but I use it as my daily driver, and still don't think the suspension is "too stiff". And it also has Helwig sway bars and 18" rims.
The PST 1.03" bars for the B/E bodies have a 209 lb/in wheel rate. That's more than double the wheel rate from what you've got now. It will be a big change, there's no doubt about that. IMHO it will be a big change for the better, but ride quality is very subjective and a lot of people will probably disagree. I ran 1" bars on my Duster and found them too soft for me still, and they're usually in the 190 lb/in range, so, not that different from the 1.03's. They did improve handing quite a bit from stock, and I thought the ride quality was still on the soft side. Obviously stiffer than factory, but the factory bars are so soft I think they hurt the ride quality because you often hit the bumpstops, and the body roll when cornering, heck even just turning the wheel a little, is ridiculous.
cudaracer
Well-Known Member
Awesome. I treasure information like this where you actually had experienced similar.
So a bit more on my e-body, it was originally a 318 and still is. I will stroke it long before I put a BB in it. The rear springs are newer and stiffer, although I have no way of knowing how to rate them. The factory original 0.8X front TB's are coming out this month, and I am leaning now toward the 0.96" bars from summit because they are so much cheaper than PST. I wonder if I will be dissapointed. Oh, and I want bilsteins eventually, cuz I hate those KYB's.
cudaracer
Well-Known Member
cudaracer
Well-Known Member
How do I get the discount at PST?
That's what PST's site says. Their 1.03" bars have been in the $220-230 range for at least a year or two.
Firm Feel's bars are more expensive, but they also offer sizes like 1.06", 1.12" and 1.18". My Challenger has a 318 with an aluminum intake, headers, power steering, no A/C, and I still don't think it's too stiff with 1.12's. They're like $360 though.
Call them and tell them you're a member here
Woods74
Broke Senior
Good thread.
tarvin890
tarvin890
great info... i want 1.03s!
Kernel Sanders
eating chicken wings and drinking beer
Here is a chart of common stock torsion bar numbers for everyone's info
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