http://www.xvmotorsports.com/products/d ... cfm?nPID=5 (Its my understanding that they have A-Body kit also)

Was reading in Mopar Enthusiast (June/July 08) about their kit and was giving it some thought for a bit.
My car needs rear springs, their a bit on the saggy side. Also I have no front sway bar yet and was thinking that one would help quite a bit. My torsion bars are original.
Their kit offers alot that I really don't need as most of what I have is of an acceptable level. I am using the KYB Gas-Adjust shocks at four corners and have all new rubber bushing, ball joints and tie rods in the front.
I was thinking that by the time I get rear springs and sway bars, I might be half way there already. (I haven't really priced that stuff yet, just assuming on some of the costs.) Get the kit and have it all.
I don't drive the car alot, but when I do its with my two year old and we're doing highway speeds around 80 MPH. I am not road course racing but would like the car to handle about once a month to avoid the other guy on the cell phone.

Whats your thoughts on this?

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67Cuda,FAST EZEFI,340cu,CR=10.25,RollerCam&Rocker (XR268HR,#20-810-9)(#1622-16)(EddyRPM#60779,#7576), (MSD6AL,#6425) A904, GearVendorsOD, 8 1/4,3.55:1, ClassicAir

.940" torsion bars, front sway bar and new rear springs will make a very large difference. Torsion bars and sway bar from Firm Feel. Rear springs from ESPO. You can go bigger on the torsion bars if you get better shocks, but that starts getting into money. The front sway bar can be had cheaper than Firm Feel, but their hardware is far and away the best going. It's all powder coated too.

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Joshua

I thought their products look interesting, but mostly over priced. You can get there for way less if you shop carefully, and compare quality. An item of real interest is the rear alignment shims. Take them to a 4 wheel alignment shop, and have them align the rear. The car will track better.

Sam

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The biggest improvement I've made was F/R sway bars (Addco) and KYB shocks...........

(still stock torsion bars and rear springs)

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

Dart270 swears that these A body cars handle better in road racing without the rear sway bar. I have mixed feelings about it. I liked the way the car felt in normal driving, with the rear sway bar on, but took it off at Lou's encouraging, when I was complaining of oversteer. Now that I have improved the links on the front, and eliminated some binding that was preventing things from working correctly, I might put it back on. I am going to install the new, lowering spring perch boxes first.

Ems, what is your sense of this? It is a point of some controversy in my mind at least.

Sam

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Bren I hope you get a chance to read this before you buy anything from XV. This has been our personal arrangement, but I think it's a fair testament to warn people.
My uncle has his very favorite '70 Challenger. He was going to buy the $20,000 suspension kit from XV that was suppose to really make the car handle like the new z06. They sent great DVD's and had lot's of information. It was a lot of money, but my uncle could afford it if he wanted to, but I had a bad feeling about it. XV kept getting more and more popular and my uncle was in contact with them about every other day leading up to the time he was going to buy the kit. The primary questions were can he fit a large tire underneath the back, and he can install it in his garage.
So my uncle ended up meeting a friend of a friend and the guy builds outlaw cars and was interested in selling a few XV kits and half reverse engineering them. They were very friendly to the guy and more than happy to work with him. He than continued to ask the same question's my uncle had asked with him standing right there. The answers were the biggest tire they could fit under the car was about %10 smaller than the ones told to my uncle, and that only a professional shop could install it. My uncle than got on the phone and they imediatley knew his voice. They than began to stay firm to their new postion and called my uncle a liar. They had told me the same things to my uncle except the tire issue, which all in all would be pretty small.
The end of the story was XV telling both my uncle and his suspension friend where to go (not very professional) and losing a very big sell. They have no shop they outsource all their parts. They have been a huge marketing business with no major engineering achivements but getting a Mustang II front end to fit the E-bodies and sell a lot of this idea.
Please read this story, I don't mean to put a complete black X on XV but I hate getting lied to and than in turn being called a liar. I got sway bars and torsion bars cheaper from other places, but the webpages didn't quite look as fancy.
http://www.performancesuspension.com/index.php
http://www.justsuspension.com/ - Mopar Specialist

The anti-roll abilities of a suspension are determined by strength (lbs/in motion) of the anti-roll bar and 1/4 the strength (lbs/in motion) of the springs (from an old ADDCO pamphlet, anti-roll bars always resist, but 1 side of the spring is compressing and the other is unloading, thus the 1/4 )

Understeer/Oversteer is from the relative strengths of your anti-roll abilities (anti-roll bar & spring) Front to Rear. Too stiff in front in relation to the rear, you'll get understeer, too stiff in the rear you'll get oversteer.

So you juggle anti-roll bars and springs and get everything where you want (slight under/oversteer or neutral (4-wheel drift) steer).... and it's great on the street.

You go racing, and now you have oversteer, what happened?

You forgot about braking and acceleration. On the street you normally don't do full stops or WOT when you're also in a turn.

Your car was balanced and the rear tires were doing all they can do, and then you ask them to accelerate the car. There's no traction left, so the tire starts to slip and you get oversteer.

When braking, the cars weight shifts forward (this helps the front tire), but unloads the rear outside tire while you're asking it to turn and brake, again the tire slips and you get oversteer.

So a bandaid is to remove the rear bar to avoid the oversteer.

Where the ideal solution would be to rebalance the car for track conditions (less rear bar, maybe more front bar)........

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

I ask XV about A body parts a while back and they didn't seem interested in making anything for our "lowly" cars, only B and E bodys. Overpriced junk as far as I'm concerned, I'm sure the B-J croud loves it though, it's nice and shiney.

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There are 3 things that will live forever, cockroaches, Keith Richards, and Slant Six Dusters !!!

http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y128/slantasaurus/

take a look around

Run as far away from XV Motorsports as fast as you can.
1. They do not have their own fabercation shop. Everything is farmed out to the lowest bidder. LOWEST BIDDER IS A BAD THING.
2. They told me I could fit a 335 tire no problems on the rear of my Challenger. In realilty a 295 takes major rolling of the inside fender.
3. I ordered their chassis stiffen kit for about $650. They stock nothing but charged me for the entire order on day one. 11 weeks later I finially recieved all my parts. None of them had instuctions. They fit poorly and the sub frame connectors were 3/8" to wide to weld to the Challenger's frame. How can you miss that?
4. They also told me I could do all the modification myself with basic skills and a welder. They told the shop I was hiring to install the kit that "there is no way someone could do this in their garage"
5. For the money they want you are being robbed. For more infor check out the Pro and con page at restochallenger.com.

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restomodchallenger.com

Thanks for the explanation EMS.

Sam

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$2000-$20,000? That does it, I need a career.

The kit referenced in the first post of this thread is a complete E body kit for $2400. It is a nice kit and that is a fair price for those parts since they are using a really high quality shock. As far as I know, XV doesn't offer an A body kit at the moment so I think the whole thread is somewhat moot.

You can certainly buy some leaf springs and torsion bars for a lot less money but you can't buy really good shocks without spending some serious bucks. Of course, if you're driving around on dinky 14 inch rims with bias ply 78 series tires then there is no reason to buy $250 shocks.

It is a complete system so you have to plan it out so everything makes sense working together. I'd think the first step would be a good 15x7 wheel and tire combination for street use. For higher performance driving a good 17x8 wheel and tire combination would be the place to start. Once the wheels and tires are on the car then start in with the torsion bars and leaf springs. All new ball joints and suspension bushings is also something that should go on anything that hasn't been rebuilt recently.

I usually don't argue or get stern with people on this forum, but this is a touchy subject and I simply want people to get warned about XV. AndyF I respect your opinion, but that is NOT a nice kit for the money. It is nothing more than getting a Mustand II front end for your challenger, they don't even remachine the parts. There is nothing custom about there stuff, they don't even build there stuff. The restomodchallenger will make many of these things as not only his opinion but that of Belfab racing. They are simply a very good marketed company that plays on the expensive cars that people will throw money away into. If your one of those people, you don't own a slant six.
I talked to the owner of Alterkation which would be a fair kit to buy for your a-body or any car for that matter. The only reason one isn't on order for the Challenger is my uncle wanted something more custom built to handle the autocross stuff. The Alterkation person who I believe is a major contributor to BigBlockDart is very honest and a mopar fan, not a business man who thought he found a niche. I walk away from the XV discussion now, but there stuff is over glorified and they lied to my uncle, our engine builder, and I (I don't like that) so there is more stuff you can buy that isn't advertised through the roof but will do a great job for less money.

New leafs, KYB shocks and swaybars should be fine for speeds up to 100 mph. The biggest problem I have found at higher speed is the steering boxes are just loose. I would recommend putting some time into steering upgrades. My challenger is just scary over 100 mph.

I work on a SMA (Super Modified) car so I know a little bit about suspension.

don't be fouled by XV's two page color adds. Even if they offered a suspension kit for your car. I would say keep researching. I have purchased some of their products and was very disappointed with the product, time of deliver, and embellishing sales staff.

High quality shocks would be re-buildable and tunable and cost about $350 to $900 apiece. I am guessing XV isn't using this kind of shock in their $2,200.00 kit but they want you to think they are.

You can purchase quality parts for about 50% less than XV if your willing to do some research. XV's shocks are none- adjustable. You can purchase none-adjustable racing shocks like "Steel Body Pro Shocks" from companies like Colemanracing.com for about $120 apiece. They look very simular to XV's shocks and would work great, but probably over kill for your applications. KYB shocks are a good bang for the buck

Next time you take the car out take notice if the steering isn't what is making the car feel unstable at speed.

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restomodchallenger.com

runvs- what the heck are you blathering about? XV doesn't sell Mustang II parts. That kit that the original post linked to was torsion bars, leaf springs and shocks. No Mustang II parts in the kit and not a single Mustang II part in any of the XV kits. You've gotten your facts really mixed up in your anger.