torsion & sway bar question

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vitamindart

vitamindart

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what are you guys and gals running for torsion bars?
same for sway bars?

our valiant seems a little mushy especially around corners.
we have the stock 273 bars in it. trying to decide how much larger to go.
and probably add a sway bar.

Thanks,
Dominic
 
Just suspension 1" bar will fix it. Firm not harsh. I've shopped around, they are the most inexpensive.

$188 shipped, discount code 'shopalizer'.
 
I put the larger V-8 bars (for AC cars) in my 65 Dart (one size bigger). A guy was selling pairs of bars for just $10 at a swap meet. I put the original 273 bars in my 64 slant car. I haven't driven either car enough to tell, but I can adjust the ride height to factory with plenty left. If too mushy, I would look at lightening the front end first, like aluminum radiator & heads. That would yield other benefits in acceleration and mileage. Saving $200 on new T-bars would go towards that.
 
I may swap the radiator for an aluminum one down the road. the engine is a 318 magnum with only a few thousand on a fresh rebuild. so I doubt I will be swapping the heads any time soon. I agree some weight could be lost up front but, a set of T bars are much cheaper. That and they are springs after all and these are 40+ years old.
 
Add the 1" bars and a front sway bar, replace the rear springs with stronger and get some good shocks. The difference in how it drives will surprise you. For what it's worth, I would do the exact same thing with a slant...don't forget the disc brakes.
 
stock 340 were .870 and the 383 A body bars were .890.i used new .890 in my last Dart
and there no noticeable change from the 340 bars.
.920 are available and should firm up the ride a bit but i have not used them.
...Most say go to the 1 inch but i have no experience with them either
 
I really liked the .990 MP bars in my son's Barracuda and did not find the ride objectionable with the 1.14" torsion bars (but I never drove it with the BIG bars). I don't think I'd go bigger than .920 in one of our convertibles (my younger son's Dart convertible has .890" bars with a factory big block sway bar - I like it so much that's what I have for my Barracuda convertible).
 
I won't go smaller than 1" on any of my V8 A-bodies. I put 1" Just Suspension bars in my Duster for a bit. Big difference compared to the stock /6 bars, and still rode very nice. So nice, in fact, that I pulled them and replaced them with 1.12" Firm Feel bars. :D

Granted, I'm a bit of a masochist and will sacrifice ride for handling every day of the week, so I wouldn't recommend 1.12" bars for most folks. But the 1" bars are a great compromise. With decent sized sway bars and a good set of shocks (Bilsteins, Fox's, etc), you will be surprised how well your car will handle, AND how well it will ride.

And absolutely upgrade to disks if you haven't already. I run the 11.75" B/R body mopar rotors on 73+ spindles, figure if I'm going to run 73+ spindles I should get the most out of them. They do require 15" rims though. Not a problem for me, but if you want to keep 14's you'll have to stay with the 10.98" rotors.
 
Firm Feel's 1.06" T bars, sway bars and Bilstein shocks work great for street, strip, autocross and the road course.
 
yeah, I guess a little more information would have been helpful. it is a 1966 valiant
the fronts are 11.75 discs up front already and b body rear drums out back.
new ss springs in the rear with the front hanger modified and flipped ( so the car isn't sky high ). brand new KYB shocks all around. I would have loved to go Bilstein's but they were not in the budget. any suggestions on who's sway bar to go with??
 
Sway bars, plural. You should have them up front and in the back. With SS springs out back you won't need a lot of sway bar rate, but I'd still plan on using one unless it ended up being in oversteer already. Best idea would be to get an adjustable rear bar, so you could adjust it to your needs.

The problem with the SS springs isn't just that they put the car up too high, they also have different rates from one side to the other. Flipping the hangers helps with the center of gravity issues, but it doesn't level the car, or correct the differing rates since they don't have the same number of leafs side to side.

Hellwig makes really nice sway bars, as does Hotchkis. Hellwig's pieces are a bit more affordable than Hotchkis though.
 
the ss springs wouldn't have been my first choice but I had a new set here
so they went on the car. I was figuring on front and rear sway bars. are the addico bars any good?
 
I'm going to go with a min of 1" torsion bars and I'm running the hellwig 1.125" sway bar in the front and will go with the .75" in the rear when I put the 8.75 in. I have the SS springs in the rear with the AR engineering 1" drop brackets. I'm happy with the ride and height.
 
SS springs were never designed for street/ corner handling.
 
I have 1" Firm Feel t-bars and a 1 1/8" front sway bar with KYB shocks. The ride is OK. I need to replace the KYBs with Bilsteins.
 
Adco sway bars are good quality. It's there mounting hardware I was always disappointed with. Otherwise good advice I thought from most other posters. There is no right or wrong combo to speak of. It's about your preference.
 
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