The AZ dart has got the usual handling maladies from years of neglect; steering wheel has 4-6" of dead area, front end bottoms out on "not so bad" road humps and dips, etc, etc.

Plans are to make it a safe and reliable daily driver with a little extra punch. I found the steering box adjustment procedure in my FSM and noticed an abbreviated method posted a few years ago, which looks doable in my driveway working alone.

Shock absorbers - of course! Anyone have favorites for "street performance" shocks that aren't horribly expensive??

What I want beyond that is a nice tight front end, that can be adjusted and disk front brakes (I think).

It's a "base" model Dart 170, with a 225 /6. I assume (yeah, I know..) that "base" model means 9" brakes but the car has 14" wheels & I thought "base" models had 13 inchers. It's hard to find disk brake kits that do not specify 10" brakes. I understand that to mean bigger/tougher spindles. What do I measure to be sure of the brake size, outside diameter of the brake drum??

I like the looks and features of the PST front end kits. Do the Polygraphite ones ride a lot harder than the rubber ones? They also have kits for drum or disk brakes, creating a chance to choose in an area I'm pretty darn ignorant. Keeping the drum brakes and servicing them with the best linings available would hold the cost down. Disk brakes seem to require changing spindles and upper A arms. More costly, but ultimately safer I think.

Well, that's the general outline. Your experience in these areas is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

ATB

BC

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'64 Dart GT convertible, 64 Dart 170 2-door post sedan in faded blue and rust (the Az Dart) & a sixty THREE Dart 170 2-door post sedan in faded blue and rust. (future project)
Early Dart Disorder (EDD) is real, and I've got it!

Bang-for-the-buck shock absorbers are the

KYB gas-a-just

I'd look into front and rear anti-roll bars.


Easy way to determine a 170 vs 225 is the length of the water hose from the water pump to the head.

Under 2" it's a 170. 2.5-3 it's a 225 (that's from memory, might be slightly different)

Brakes are measured inside of drum, outside of disk.

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

I would never put poly bushings on a street car. Harsh ride, squeaky bushings.

Reliability isn't tough to achieve. Safety is a much bigger question. A '64 Dart is not a safe car and never will be. That is a basic and unpleasant fact. Some of the car's safety hazards cannot be fixed -- the solid steering column, the weak door latches, the lack of crush zones, side impact protection, fuel system impact protection, or any other basic crashworthiness engineering, design, or construction.

We do not drive these cars because they're better than today's cars, or even because they're just as good. They're not. They're objectively completely inferior in every possible way. We drive them because we like them, and if we're honest with ourselves we acknowledge their substantial inferiority to modern cars.

Some of the safety deficiencies can be made better: the marginal brakes, the wandery steering, the weak lights, the useless seat belts. See here.

As for steering/suspension: excellent-condition front end, through and through, with rubber bushings, not polyurethane. Excellent tires, excellent shock absorbers, bigger torsion bars. Bigger/disc brakes go without saying. 9" and 13" were the only brake and wheel sizes available on A-bodies in '64 (respectively). 10" drums and 14" wheels became available in '65 -- somebody swapped on your 14" wheels before you got the car.

See this thread for discussion of steering repairs and upgrades.

Once all the above is looked after (and spent on), then consider secondary upgrades like sway bars.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Thanks for the responses, y'all. The "restification is taking shape in my mind and your input is much appreciated. I like the idea of poly front end stuff, but have heard they're noisy (squeaky). PST uses "polygraphite" which, I guess is to imply no squeaks. If that material has cured the noise issue I would lean that way, thinking they would be stiffer, more precise and longer lasting than the rubber ones. Does anyone here know if the PST product is an improvement over rubber.

I definitely want disk front brakes, but several of the disk kits I've seen have specified 10" brakes. I seem to remember from time immemorial that the small brakes had smaller (weaker?) spindles & ball joints. If that's the case, replacing A arms gets added to the list, and introduces new questions (of course). Adjustable upper A arms or the bolt and eccentric washer MOOG setup? I won't put better brakes on weaker chassis parts - that's a recipe for disaster!

I think I'm getting close to a well thought out plan and I truly appreciate the input. Thanks to all, and to all a good night!

ATB

BC

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'64 Dart GT convertible, 64 Dart 170 2-door post sedan in faded blue and rust (the Az Dart) & a sixty THREE Dart 170 2-door post sedan in faded blue and rust. (future project)
Early Dart Disorder (EDD) is real, and I've got it!

It's a nifty marketing term. It does not mean their stuff is squeak-free. Use rubber.
True.
Not if you use '66-'72 small-bolt discs, which use the same A-arms as you presently have.
Not cost-effective -- and neither are heim joint (so called "dynamic") strut rods.
That's the stock setup. It'll be fine.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

I went the whole route with V8 torsion bars, new rear springs, firm feel box, Mopar big bolt pattern disk brakes, dual master cylinder, 8-3/4 rear, 14" wheels, and all-rubber North American made suspension and steering parts. Handling and ride are better than new and braking is amazing.

Last thing to do is a shock upgrade, if I can ever decide on which ones to buy. I might also install a front sway bar, though it isn't needed for normal driving.

After talking to many who used poly parts, there is no way I would use them unless I was building a race car.

Yes, it was expensive, but it will never have to be done again in my lifetime, and it's a joy to drive.

I like to use poly bushings on the sway bars, but thats just me.

It's not just you...............

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

Sway bars are the only places I use poly bushings.

I went with a PST kit (rubber) for my 68 Dart. I was very pleased with the results. It's a good place to start your suspension rebuild / upgrade.

I installed tubular upper control arms to correct a bad castor problem that eccentric bushings couldn’t. They only came with poly bushings, and although the great handling with improved castor angles and stiffer bushings is wonderful, the constant squeaking with the slightest suspension movement drives me nuts. Just leaning on a front fender brings forth squeaks & groans from the damn things.

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

What condition are the drums brakes in? Do they need wheel cylinders, shoes, and/or hardware? Do the drums need to be turned or need bearings? If you can get away with just throwing some shoes and a hardware kit on and go, I would keep the drums. I've been daily driving on 9" drums for 10 years now and they aren't nearly as bad as everyone makes them out to be. Do I have the worst brakes on the road? Probably, but it's not by much. If a guy with disc's was riding someones ass and the guy in front slammed on his brakes, he could possibly avoid hitting him. I would possibly hit him if I was riding his ass but it would be at 5mph or so. It's not like they are so bad that you'd slam into someone at 40mph and wipe out your car. You just have to realize that your brakes are slightly worse than everyone else's and give them the appropriate room. IMO the difference in drums and discs is not life saving like some people make it out to be.

With that said, if you are dead set on changing to discs, then you can either go with the 72 on down kelsey hayes discs or the 73+ BBP discs. The 73+ ones require an upper control arm with the bigger ball joint and wheels with a bigger bolt pattern. The 72 on down discs are for the smaller ball joint and smaller bolt pattern but they are more expensive to maintain and harder to find.

I've heard the Bilstein (sp?) shocks are the best but they are about 4x more expensive than your normal KYB shocks. I would bet most people use KYB.

If you have that big of a dead spot in your wheel, I would venture to say that the steering box adjustment wont do much. You may need to rebuild your steering coupler. The good news is rebuild kits only cost about $10. Hopefully that along with the adjustment will tighten up your steering.

Like everyone said, go with rubber. I think even PST uses rubber lower control arm bushings in their poly kits because they squeak so bad. Just remember that the upper ball joints thread in and aren't pressed. Also remember to lower the car on the ground before tightening the upper and lower control arm bushings.

There's no real easy way or simple kit to turn your Dart into a good handling car. I put a suspension kit similar to PST in my Duster, did the steering box adjustment, bought KYB shocks and had it all aligned. I'm happy with the way my car feels considering I only had to spend a few hundred. I got lucky and my drums were in good shape, so I just needed shoes and hardware and I was off and running.

ESP47's opinion of 9" drum brakes is more or less applicable if the brakes are kept in perfect condition and adjustment and if the driver is constantly hypervigilant in traffic. Problem is, mostly the brakes aren't in perfect condition or adjustment, and mostly the driver isn't constantly hypervigilant in traffic. The first condition requires a frequency of inspection and adjustment that is just not realistic, and the second condition is grinding to the nerves of the driver (and that's where it's even adequate; often today's traffic leaves no margin for putting hypervigilance into practice by leaving ample room to the car ahead).

"Not a lifesaving difference" between 9" drums and discs is a thoughtless statement and it is just plain wrong. That's a matter of fact — not opinion.

Read an opinion like "they aren't nearly as bad as everyone makes them out to be" very carefully, and you'll see what's structurally the matter with it. Think: what's the most logical reason why pretty much everyone agrees 9" brakes are as bad as pretty much everyone makes them out to be? Is it:

1. A vast conspiracy by people who don't have any real stake in what brakes are on your car, or

2. The fact that the 9" drums were adequate for stopping a lightweight '60 Valiant in 1960 traffic, and weren't upgraded for the much bigger and heavier '63-up Darts, coupled with the fact that we don't have the luxury of driving in the sparse, relaxed traffic of 53 years ago any more.

Can you get by in today's traffic with 9" drums (without real seatbelts, with useless lights, with tiny tires, etc.)? Yes. Should you, if you have any option about it? No.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

If you can lock up your brakes, bigger brakes don't mean much........

If you're going down mountain roads, bigger brakes are better because it's harder to overheat them (this is where you won't be able to lock up the 9" brakes)

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