I have to "rebuild" the suspension on two cars, 1973 dodge dart swinger, and a 1966 dodge dart 270.

I found a company called "Energy Suspension" and it appears that they make some good suspension bushing and seal kits for my cars at a reasonable price. Anyone have any experience with their products?

Also most of my brakes parts are original and the hoses are hard and showing some signs of cracking. I used to ride sport bikes and I remember when I changed my brake lines from neoprene to steek braided hose i noticed a good amount of positive increase in braking perforance. What are your thoughts on steel braided brake lines for our dodges? How does the cost/benefit stand up as far as performance and price? Also if just doing a stock replacement of brake lines and associated parts (need to upgrade my 1966 dart to a 73 front end with disc brakes) what companies and distributors offer some products I should take a look at?


Caesar

PS.
For other such personal inquiries into this matter, should I just check the latest of Mopar Action, or Mopar Muscle for the ads?

I have had good luck with http://www.espo.com/ and
http://www.rockauto.com/

Rock sells genuine Moog stuff, which I am hoping lasts longer than the cheapo stuff. ESPO is good for springs, hangers, hardware, etc.

Good luck, I have finished my suspension, and now just gotta bleed my brakes,

Greg

if you buy rear leafs from PST junk the bolts and get some decent ones. when I was tightening the rear shackle both sides snapped off.

I've used Energy Suspension's bushings on my '66. I have no complaints, although I haven't tried to take the Dart to a road race or autocross to see how it handles when completely pushed to its limits. At least not yet.

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"Mad Scientist" Matt Cramer
'66 Dart - turbocharged 225
My blog - Mad Scientist Matt's Lair

I bought a set of UCA's from bill reilly that used energy suspension poly bushings and they squuuuueak alot.

My rebuild/disk swap used parts from junkyards, ebay http://www.ebay.com/,
(calipers, hoses, master cylinder, and MOOG balljoints and bushings) from Rock Auto http://www.rockauto.com
, and a few pieces (proportioning valve, KYB shocks) from Summit http://www.summitracing.com/

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"When you find a big kettle of crazy, it's best not to stir it." - Pointy-haired Boss

1964 Valiant V200, 225/Pushbutton 904
BBD, CAI, HEI, LBP, AC, AM/FM/USB, EIEIO

I'm currently rebuilding the front end on my 73 with parts from Just Suspension (going rubber on it though). I replaced the bushings on my 70 with with Energy suspension poly bushings. It really tightend up the front end and feels really solid. However, it does squeek a lot and transmits a lot of road noise.

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70 Dart, 360, 727

Between rubber and poly bushings which would you all choose?

From what you are saying the poly bushings squeak alot. Is there anyway to prevent the squeakage?

any other pros and cons of rubber vs. poly?

Caesar

The rubber vs. poly debate is as old as...

I can tell you all that so far I have never used poly on the front ends of either of my Darts (including my road racer 64 featured in Popular Hot Rodding) or my present road racecar 66 Valiant (Project V). With good new rubber bushings, they handle VERY well. I imagine gains can be had with poly, but they are not necessary for very good handling.

I do have poly in all my rear leaf springs, and those do firm things up quite a bit and don't squeak much when grease is used on assembly. I also use poly in my front swaybar mounts. The Valiant, however, has rod ends on the sway bar endlinks and in place of the strut rod bushings.

For a front end, going from old worn out junk to new rubber bushings makes a huge improvement.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Energy Suspension makes bushings that are resold by Performance Suspension Technologies (PST), Performance Suspension Components, and other re-sellers. Get their Polygraphite bushings, not the plain polyeurethane bushings which will squeak when the lubricant dries out. The quality is very good- better than I find that you can get in OEM rubber bushings these days.

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AAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHH!!! NO!!! (to either!)

D/W

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If it ain't broke, fix it!