I was thinking about suspension items for a drag car. My main items of intrest were torsion bars and shock selection. I want to run mopar super stock leaf springs as well.

Im assuming most people that are drag racing an a body kept the original style torsion bar suspension setup. Did you upgrade to bigger bars or stay with the small /6 bars? I heard the smaller bars work better because they will transfer weight quicker/better- pretty common to see /6 t-bars
in big block a body drag cars for sure.

What shock absorbers are you using?? I heard the koni (?) 90/10's are great for drag use. If anybody has better suggestions (or cheaper)-
Im all ears...

/6 bars, cal trac springs and the oldest most wornout p.o.s front shocks you can find.

Stock /6 bars, Calvert front shocks, stock rear shocks, Slide-a-link rear w/ stock 6 leaf springs. I've tried POS shocks, comp eng shocks and found the Calverts to be the best down low and the top end.

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10.74 @ 127.47 mph 1320 ft
6.65 @ 107.80 mph 660 ft

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Race tip. I was running stock front shocks wit a hole drilled in them and all of the oil drained out. The plus side is weight transfer ithe front end would come up fast. but stay there. Bad if you race over 100 mph. I installed koni 90/10 drag shocks and my car gained almost a 1/10 and went 3 mph faster in thw 1/4 mile. Still on the car today. Thanks Ron Parker
PS my brother Bruce give me these shocks for a birthday present. Im sure he is still smiling today imn heaven.






Bee Good Or Bee Gone

How do 90/10 shocks go on the street? Or is that a big "NO NO"

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62 Valiant, 225cid Slant 6/PB 904 with lots of good bits

http://www.moparmarket.com/readersrides ... user=SV162

I've been in my brothers drag car (muskrat) and it's interesting in the metro area for sure. If you can poke around "cruising" it isn't so bad.

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Chris'
Autobody
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Super Stock springs??? C'mon you guys come to the dark side of four link

Actually I am about to abandon the idea of a leaf spring rear altogether.

The reasoning is because my barracuda does not any rear suspension under it at all. No rear unibody rails, the body is sitting up on four jack stacks and the front frame rails have been tied in with supports.

It' would be about the same amount of work or more to add rear unibody rails, leaf springs, etc,etc.

Basically this is a home built tube chassis '66 b'cuda.

Problem is that a four link setup is $$$$$$$...I cant swing it as Im dirt poor. Maybe we could fabricate it???

Im guessing the 4 link would be a lighter/better setup??

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Michael Glass. Mopar stuff and some rusty Mopar stuff!
1965 Dodge Dart with 66 Valiant front clip. Other stuff...

ladder bars are cheaper and easier to tune.

If you go with any type of leaf spring, keep them soft and flat for a drag car.
IMO, Super Stock springs are too much for most A-Body drag cars, they stick the rear way-up in the air and they do not weight transfer well. (too much arch for good "body rise")
DD

If using leaf springs, what would you reccomend? Monoleafs??

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Michael Glass. Mopar stuff and some rusty Mopar stuff!
1965 Dodge Dart with 66 Valiant front clip. Other stuff...

Depends on what you have, we have a lathe and welder. I built my four link for dirt cheap, the only real expense was the coilover shocks and that can be had for the price of super stock springs. Also, don't they have kits for fairly cheap? Easier to tune? I can adjust for ride height, pinion angle, and turn the knob on my shocks so pretty easy to me, I never played with ladder bars though.

Do you have any pics of this setup? and can you tell me what kind of steel you used when building it?? The 4 link kits I have seen are not anywhere near cheap....

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Michael Glass. Mopar stuff and some rusty Mopar stuff!
1965 Dodge Dart with 66 Valiant front clip. Other stuff...

Here's where I'm at. This can go either way so far. It had a hacked up mess of a rear suspension. Now it's time to do it right! But the best, most affordable way hasnt been thought of yet.

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Michael Glass. Mopar stuff and some rusty Mopar stuff!
1965 Dodge Dart with 66 Valiant front clip. Other stuff...

Actually I have watched a couple of idiots change that wonderful mopar suspension from leafs to four link. Neither have ever gained anything in ET. It takes a pretty powerful engine before the leafs can no longer handle it , usually 700 to 800 hp. Stocker run regularily absolutely remarkable times with a properly set up mopar SS leaf set up and those who can't do the figuring and chassis tuning do fairly well with Calverts. Personaly I think they are a crutch but certtaily a better alternative than the four link mega buck shiny crap everyone wants so they can look like the chevy boys.
I ran my charger 74 for over nine years. My SS leaf set up which i did myself ran 1.52 short times on an average track. Normally 60 footers were from 1.52 to 1.56 depending on bite and weather etc. Car weighed 4150 with my nephew driving . Another hundred with me at my 306 pound weight. My buddy who did the four link thing and all the superduper tricky crap has still to run a 1.52 short time and he even uses 14 X 32 tires and his car only weighs 3450. I ran mine n 10,5 MTs . In fact his short time have not improved since he went 4 link. His wallet however is much lighter.
Front end :I machine the six cyl torsion bars down a further .030" I use the drilled shock but drill them at the top through both chambers then reseal the outer hole. If this is too much work for you then 90/10s are the next best thing. Work to get the snubber hieghts right on the front end . I spent a lot of time shimming the upper A frame rubber bumpers to get the car to have good front end action but to pick the wheel up before the suspension geometery went to far out of wack There is a bunch of ET here. As to rear shock . You must use longer then stock otherwise the shocks will hit the end of their travel before the end of the launch . You can see this on cars launching. You will see the car hook hard and then about 2 to 3 feet out the tire will spin about i revolution . That is because the shock has hit full extension and it is jerking the tire up although not off the ground. A longer shock will cure that. Competition engineering has an excellant set for Mopars. Pinion snubber should be 5/8th of an inch from the floor at rest.
Becareful not to spring the car too stiff. That can kill an otheriwse good suspension. I know i gave the Charger as an example but I have run and done many A bodys successfully too. Particular 67 to 71 A body cars.
Mopar suspension is probably one of the best in the world. Why not take advantage of that?
Oh yes . I have to tell you . What happened to my buddys old leaf spring set up? A local racer who runs a late 60s Comet Caliante bought the SS springs since he figured out the ones we made for my pal were exactly the length and front section distance of his Comet. So now he drives around and races his Comet on Mopar SS suspension. Is he happy?
He laughs about it when he tell folks how he bought these SS springs for a song and how perfectly they work in his Ford product.
Don

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Don