Suspension
Get out your options and starting point checklists. Does the suspension need rebuilding? If so this is the time to do it, first. Before you even order one part look on the options list, are you going to upgrade the brakes? If so, are they 9 inch or 10 inch drums to start with? If they are 9 inch drums, and you wish to upgrade them, you will need to acquire a set of upper and lower control arms off a DB equipped A body (See Chapter Three). If they are 10 inch drums then your ok for now. Now do you want a handler first with comfort secondary, a cruiser with comfort first and handling above stock or a drag only car? This will determine the course of your suspension build up. We will start with the easiest first, a drag type suspension.
Drag Race Suspension
A drag race suspension, at this point requires nothing more than a stock type rebuild with no handling add ons. Do not add swaybars or stiffer torsion bars, in fact slant six torsion bars are preferred. MP's Super Stock rear springs, pinion snubber, subframe connectors and drag shocks all around will suffice till deep in the 12's. After that your in serious drag race suspension set up and beyond this write-up. See the specification section for alignment parameters.
Cruiser suspension
This is for the person that wants a smooth ride with better than stock handling. First off, rebuild the suspension with stock type parts as necessary. Rubber bushings are fine here. Then add front and rear swaybars and step up the torsion bar to stock 340 specifications. A good gas charged shock is fine. No need for Carreras, yet. See the specification section for alignment parameters.
Canyon carving suspension
Now we get into the real meat of the suspension. First off, regardless of the condition of your existing suspension you will need to replace all the rubber bushings in it. This will include the leaf spring bushings. Use graphite impregnated polyurethane bushings, they will squeak for a while but when they break in the noise goes away. You will need 383 spec torsion bars, minimum. Front and rear swaybars, 1 1/16 and 3/4 respectively. Excellent shocks, such as KYB's or Carreras. Big tires, P225's front and rear, on 15 x 8 rims, work with slight modification, at least on 67 and up.
You need to check clearances front and rear. Your best bet for sway bars is an aftermarket setup, especially for the beefier ones. Rear springs to use are the MP Super Stock ones. Add an adjustable pinion snubber, weld in subframe connectors and you're set. This will result in a stiff ride with handling first and comfort second. The ride won't be super harsh unless you go beefier than recommended. To lower the stock ride height you can unwind the torsion bars and in the rear either go with rear lowering blocks or flip the front spring hangers and reverse them side for side, this will result in an approximately 2 inch drop. This will require that you elongate the mounting holes for the spring hanger in the unibody. I am working on a bolt in adjustable front spring hanger.
Suspension tricks
These are tested tricks in rebuilding the suspension. To remove old bushings without a press use a propane torch to burn out the rubber. You need to pop the end plates off the bushing first. Be careful as the rubber will drip out and could burn you or start a fire, do this over a bucket of water. Do this outdoors as the stink is amazing. Once the rubber burns out the inner sleeve will fall out. All that is left is the outer sleeve. This can be removed by grabbing the protruding end of the sleeve, with Vice grips and twisting it so that it collapses on itself, you may need to use a chisel and hammer on the exposed portion of the sleeve to aid in the start of the collapse.
This works well with the upper control arm bushings. It doesn't work too well with the lower control arm as the Vice grips can't grab the outer sleeve. If you choose to go this route with the lower control arm bushing you will need to chisel the sleeve out. Use caution here as you don't want to booger up the control arm. It might be worth the cash to have this one pressed out and the new one pressed in. Before installing the bushings, use emery cloth or fine steel wool to clean up any corrosion in the areas in which the bushings are pressed. To install the new bushings in the upper control arm you can use a vice and either sockets or pieces of cast iron pipe cut to length and of the right diameter. Be careful here you don't want to twist, crush or otherwise mutilate the bushing or control arm. Polyurethane bushings have there own requirements and they should be included in the kit you get. If they aren't then contact your supplier for help. Balljoints, unless you have the correct socket, I've seen them in tool stores for about $15, this is something you want a pro to do. You might get them out with a pipewrench but I don't recommend it and I definitely don't want to ride in your car if that is what you use to install them. Do the pro a favor, clean them up real good, soak them down with a good penetrating oil and let them soak for a couple of days. Rear leafs are pretty much a cake walk. If you get new springs they will come with a new front bushing already pressed in. Unfortunately, if you want polyurethane instead it needs to come out and the poly bushing pressed in. The burn out trick works here and you can use the vice trick to install the poly bushings. The rear bushings should come out by hand. Again clean up the area before you install the new bushings. If you need to remove the rear leaf springs clean the threads on the u bolts with a die and soak the nuts with a penetrating oil and life will be a whole lot easier. Air tools will save you considerable time if they are available to you.
Wheels and tires
Selecting the correct wheel and tire can be tricky. Every car is different and even same year, same model vehicles can vary in wheelwell clearances. The only advice I can give is to stuff the tallest, widest tire on the correct and lightest rim that will fit without rubbing. Short side wall tires handle better but ride comfort decreases. A Pxxx/45R14 will handle better than a Pxxx75R14 due to sidewall flex. It is easy to see that the wider the tire the bigger the footprint or patch of rubber contacting the ground. What is not so obvious is that the TALLER the tire the bigger the footprint as well. So we want a tall, wide tire with a short sidewall for optimum handling. For optimum comfort we want a tall, wide tire with a tall sidewall.
Unsprung weight
Unsprung weight is all the components that are on the road side of the suspension. Some examples are the rear axle and the tires and rims. Lightening these components will show a greater effect on handling per pound than lightening sprung weight. Limit your lightening to sane levels. Run the lightest street legal rims you can afford. Carrera shocks have the benefit of being able to be mounted upside down so the bulk of the shock weight is sprung. That's about the limit as far as cost effective modifications. Your could get a set of custom fiberglass springs and there are a few magnesium center sections for the 8.75 inch rear axle, both of these are big dollar items if available.
Sprung weight
Sprung weight is everything suspended by the suspension. For best performance you want a car as light as possible. With all possible weight as low and near the center as possible. Most A bodies have a majority of their weight on the front axle. You want to shift as much weight as you can to the rear of the car. Relocating the battery to the right rear of the trunk will improve balance dramatically. Anything that can be lightened do so. Scrape off all undercoating, fiberglass body parts, delete the AC and heater, scrap the radio, remove the stock seats and substitute a racing bucket, you get the idea. Some of these ideas are radical but you get the point.
Specifications Suspension settings Drag race
Caster: Camber:
Toe in:
Ride height:
Pinion snubber:
Cruiser
Caster: 3 degrees positive
Camber: 1 degree negative
Toe in: 3/32 inch in
Ride height: stock
Pinion snubber: use stock snubber
Canyon carver:
Caster: 4 degrees positive
Camber: 1 degree negative
Toe in: 3/32 inch in
Ride height: stock less 3 inches Pinion snubber:
Wheelbases
1960-62 Valiant, '61-'62 Lancer--all body styles-- 106.5" 1963-66 Valiant all body styles, 1963-66 Dart Wagon, 1964-66 Barracuda--106"
1963-66 Dart (all exc. wagon)--111"
1967-73 Valiant--108"
1967-76 Dart (exc. Demon, Dart Sport), 1974-76 Valiant (exc. Duster)--111" 1971-72 Dart Sport, 1973-76 Demon, 1970-76 Duster--108"
Also note that the 111" wheelbase on the '63-'66 Dart is different from the 111" wheelbase on the '67-'76 Dart. The wheelbase may be the same, but it may have been measured differently. In any event, component location is different. A driveshaft from a '66 Dart with the 225/904/7.25 combo will NOT fit a '70 Dart with the same power team.