Yes
I have the KYB Gas-adjusts too, I heard thru a friend who had them on his Duster 340. I love seeing these commuters bouncing from left to right on every big dip trying to do 80 while my old Scamp stays nice and smooth. They give a nice racey feel.

Where did you find the front and rear sway bar and KYB's?

KYB for sure. Had them on many cars in the past, mostly Valiants.
The gas ones are great, although at the moment I have the KYB stock replacement oil filled shocks, which are surprisingly good.
I bought the shocks to throw in an old valiant I was selling, and never got around to it, so that's why I bought the stockers.
Valiants seem to like a shock with less bump damping and more rebound damping on the front if that helps. Maybe it's a torsion bar thing?

Regards, Andrew.

Shocks are such a debateable arena... so i'll throw my .02 here as well. On a race car, shocks are used as tuning aids (just as a sway bar) and selecting the **right** shock and tuning them is something of a black art. At any rate, taking the same idea you can tailor your street car accordingly. Just be sure to choose a shock that fits your application properly-- extended height, compressed height and the dampening rates. So basically, know how low your car is and what your spring rates are.
Here's just a few observances that i've come to from many years of highly scientific testing (running them on my cars).
KYB- best bang for the buck on stock suspension.
Monroe HD units- Okay shock, decent price, poor fit and finish
Monroe Sensatracks- better over all quality, nice ride with .92 bars and still cheap
HD pepboz brand- a little harsh on the compression, and not nearly enuff rebound for the .89 bars
Edelbrock IAS- great shock, a little spendy but high quality. also they're a little too tall to run on a lowered car and you run the risk of bottoming one out and ruining it.

Now into the R&D arena-
Rancho shocks, after changing the bottom bushing and wrestling them into place, the performance was rather remarkable. Overall price was pleasing, however i would not suggest them for street use.

Toyota 4WD shocks on a severely lowered early a-body. Able to control .990 t-bars, and had the right comression to get rid of the push on my dart. A cheap alternative to KYBs

Bronco 2 rear shocks, yeah nasty ford products on a mopar... but sometimes ya gotta use what ever works! After combing the gaberiel catalog with my specs in hand, autozone supplied the terrain tamers that worked well with the formula S springs.

Exotics:
Koni will make you a double adjustable for any application you want. only problem about 490 a corner. Their single adjustable is something ridiculous like 250, and they don't make a front application for A-bodies
HAL/QA1 is an externally double adjustable (compression and rebound) shock that can be had from Summit for about 600bux for a set of four. Use the Chevy Caprice application and change the bushings.
Spax- made in australia. the cheapest double adjustable on the market. about 80bux each, and the only mods you need is to enlarge the hole of the lower front bushing and they're a b*tch to get on the top rear mount.
Penske- got 5K hanging around? then you can have the absolute top of the line for your mopar. Fully independent rebound and compression dampening for both high speed and low speed. Rest assured, you do get the polished stainless steel remote reserviors for that price tag.

reporting from the bleeding edge of the A-body development neitherworld
-JYH

Here's a dilema. I need to replace the front shocks this weekend. I will have the money tomorrow. I am glad I read this thread before purchasing the shocks. Here's the problem, noone in town carries KYB shocks. I would really like to use the highly recommended KYB's. Does anyone have any experience with Summit's overnight shipping? Do the parts actually arrive the next day? If they do, I have no problem spending the extra $20. If they don't, I need another option.

Does anyone have any experience with Bilstien shocks. The are available at AutoZone. Not sure of price, but if they are no good I won't bother checking. Are there any large chains that offer an acceptable shock? I am converting to front disc brakes this weekend. I am using the 11.75 rotors, tubular UCA's, I don't want to use a poor quality shock. Thanks for any advice.

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'71 Dart Swinger

what are we using for a stock front end?........

Don't know. Can't read the label anymore for all the rust.

Sorry. Had to be done

_________________
My truck is a Frankenstein creation
Built from the dead carcasses of others
And brought BACK TO LIFE!

Jimluw, Summit is usually really good about overnite shipping. If you paid for it they durn well better get it to you! However, if you're ordering friday for sat. delivery it's a whole different story. "overnite" friday means monday. call up their customer svc. department and see if you can swing sat. delivery. it'll be a little more but ya always pay more for instant gratification!
Bilstien makes a good shock in their upper end, but i'm not sure about their entry level. be careful, it might just be a rebadged jobber.
try calling mancini, firmfeel or one of the big MP Dealers, they both could probably help you out as well.
Best of luck brother!

-JYH
runnin' silent, runnin' deep
(ping, ping)

Thanks Junkyardhero. I ordered the KYB's from Summit. They were in stock and should be at my house today. Hopefully I'll get some KYB's for the back of the car in a few weeks.

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'71 Dart Swinger

No problem J-man. If you're feeling particularly adventureous hit up autozone and get some 80's bronco 2 rear shocks. I was really pleased with my terrain tamers. they were cheaper than the KYB's and had a lifetime warranty!
do it to it home slice!

-JYH

After two different shocks on the front the konis are the best i have used but they are a little pricy. Thanks Ron Parker

JYH, Bronco II shocks in the back... might go well with the Ford rear end I am going to use!

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'71 Dart Swinger

Hey Jim, nuthin' wrong with a ford rear end under a mopar.
especially if it's cambered, gussetted and has speedway snouts on it.


-JYH
....first of all, allegedly
....second of all, i have no idea what you're talking about

Hey JYH

Not that this has anything to do with your posts, but MAN, you make me laugh every time I read one of your posts...like your sig in the last post!

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'68 Dodge Dart 4dr Sedan

Thanks Senior Superbeater, i try to keep it light and at the very least interesting while occasionally offering small tidbits of useful information. Why babble on about shizz that you can read in the FSM or in any old magazine.
Most people just write me off because of either my eccentric nature, wacky writing style or age. Thier loss... GAWD i love ME!
*manical laughter ensues*
Actually all kidding aside, i've got a rep on other boards for being a maniac who builds race cars from the aisles of home depot and trips to the junkyard. I've always been one of those who couldn't color inside the lines...
Two summers ago i drove my 69 Cuda to meet up with my friends just outside of DC and then caravaned into the MoparNats. I put over 6500 miles on my car in eight travel days. I left on a Wed. morning, i had rebuilt my suspension that weekend, had it aligned on sat. drove 100mi. on a shake down to a friends house on Sunday before putting over 700mi on it the first day. New Mexico in August in a dark car without AC now THAT builds character! Of course, i can't wait to do it again!

BTW, how's that flaming river box treating you? Inquiring minds want to know!

-JYH
69 Fastback, road trippin machine
64 Dart, terrorizing the local villagers
66 D100, and you thought your GMC yukon was big!? BWA-HAHAHAHA!
SoCal, all up in it!

JYH: The Flaming River box was treating me right. It bolted right in no problem. With the quicker ratio, I can take turns at higher speed and the steering feels safer in general. I also have .920" t-bars up front and 5 leaf rear springs. I haven't been driving the car lately, though, because I've been waiting on parts and good weather (to fix the bent front right spindle).

As to the shocks: I've been using Pep Boys heavy duty gas shocks for the past few years at all 4 corners (I think they might be Gabriel gas ryder? I don't remember) They've been doing the job for me, but I might try something a little better in the future.

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'68 Dodge Dart 4dr Sedan