Hello,

I have a 1978 Plymouth Volare, with a 225 Super Six. She was my faithful dd for over 3 years, and now that I have another car, I'm trying to fix all the little problems here and there before I do engine work.

About 2 years ago I put a nice rear suspension setup on the car - 5-leaf springs, kyb gas-a-just shocks, and poly bushings.

Lately I've noticed that the front suspension seems very weak. I can bounce the driver side of the car with my bare hands so far down that I hear a weird clicking sound. Driving on the highway, the back is stiff but the front has that floaty cadillac feeling. Also, the front sags so bad into a turn that I feel like I'm going to scrape the bumper when it's a downhill turn. Also, sometimes right around the apex of a turn, I'll hear a loud spring-popping sound. Originally I thought it may be something in the rear brakes, but it sounds like a more extreme version of the sound I make when I "bounce" the front drivers side of the car. I think the drivers side sags more, because it appears to sag on the driver's side in the back too.

The only thing I've done to the front was put some economy shocks on it way back when I first got the car.

Now I've been told that tighening up the torsion bars will raise the front of the car...and it might stiffen them up...but the problem is I like the way the car looks being raised up in the back and lower in the front. It's not too extreme, but it has a great stance with this configuration.

What should I do here? I basically want to stiffen up the front suspension, but not raise it. I can deal with a slightly higher front end, but not levelling the car out.

Sorry for the lengthy introductory post, and thanks to those who take the time to listen and respond. I have big plans for the car, so I intend to become more active on this forum.

wow, is this a tough question, or do I need to elaborate on something?

You're up a creek. With torsion bars you have you cannot change the spring rate without changing the torsion bars unless you add a supplemental spring. You should certainly replace the bad shocks though. The noise needs to be investigated and corrected. Carefully check the upper control arm to subframe mounts among other things. Check your sway bar mounts and bushings too. The sway bar will help keep the outside front up in a turn.

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Joshua

Was a big block ever offered in an F body? Are V8 T bars bigger then /6 bars? What you are looking for is a larger diameter T bar, it will have a stiffer spring rate then a smaller diameter bar.

Your noise could be a bad ball joint, upper control arm mount, upper control arm bushing, or something else.

TopHat

Big block was never offered in a F, M, or J Body (although such swaps have been made). According to my parts book, there were 2 different torsions bars were used - one size for the slant 6 AND V8 and a slightly larger for police pursuit applications. Same with a sway bar. Best bet to locate the larger TBar/Sway Bar would be from an M Body police car (like a Diplomat)