I'm looking for some help making a list of bolt-on replacements to improve the handling of my '74 Swinger. It's all stock with 14" steel wheels, 9" drum brakes (which in 1974 meant 10" drums in front), and power steering, and I want it to be a decent-driving daily driver in town and on the highway in all weather. I'd like it to handle a little more like a modern car, but I want to keep the comfortable ride. Right now the ride is very comfortable, but I don't feel completely in control as the driver. Here are some specifics, in no particular order.

- The steering is not so great. I'm not a pro driver, but I'd say it wanders. Not badly, but it doesn't feel what I would call tight. Also, there is almost no feel (feedback) in the steering. This might be normal with power steering?

- Going around corners, the car does what you would expect a 1974 car to do: it tilts to the outside of the turn, and feels like it's skipping sideways.

- Stopping, there is sometimes a slight pull to one side. It's not bad, but I think it could be hazardous in low-traction conditions like snow.

- Going over bumps or dips, there is a fair amount of squeaking from the front.

I asked here whether it's worth swapping to front disk brakes. I think part of the reason I'm questioning the need is that there are so many other issues with the handling, that I feel like the brakes are only part of the problem, and maybe not the biggest part. That being said, I do want to do the swap (would prefer to use 1976 stock parts, but am intimidated by the idea of having to swap to an 8 1/4 rear to get the large bolt pattern in back--I'm also considering a kit that keeps the SBP).

So what are some replacements or upgrades that I and my 16 year old son can make using our basic tool skills? We do have access to an auto hobby shop where we can put the car on a lift. This shop even has tools to do things like press in ball joints etc.

New tires? New wheels to support better tires? I'm currently limited by having small bolt pattern.
New rear springs?
New (or adjusted) torsion bars?
New shocks?
Anti-sway bar?
Disk brake swap? This can conflict with sway bars.

Some combo of the above is probably best.

The minimum to make it a safe driver will be Disc brakes, and front end rebuild/alignment, wheels and tires. After that hit the springs/torsion bars.

If you are looking for an all-in-one bolt-on package, Firm Feel has several options:

disc barkes:

http://www.firmfeel.com/a_body_mopar_disc_brakes.html

Suspension upgrade packages:

"Police Suspension"

http://www.firmfeel.com/a_body_mopar_su ... age_1.html

Package II:

http://www.firmfeel.com/a_body_mopar_su ... age_2.html

Package III:

http://www.firmfeel.com/a_body_mopar_su ... age_3.html

Reinforced K frame:
http://www.firmfeel.com/a_body_mopar_k_ ... ement.html

those pieces are nice and you get complete kits with shiny new parts and a customer service route if you need help. The prices aren't cheap, but you get most of everything you ned to upgrade the suspension. Probably the best thing you can use those packages for is to see all the known areas where the A body suspension can be improved and what items are out there.

If I were setting up a 73-76 A body that had front drum brakes for the purpose of safer and better handling daily driver, I would do the following:

Disc brakes up front for sure. This is a no brainer. Just do it. There are several routes to go. you can track down factory parts or go with aftermarket parts. Cost and quality will vary.

Upgrade the rear leaf springs. Factory "five-leaf" is a good compromise between comfort and handling n the street.

Upgrade the front torsion bars. People like the 1 inch and thicker for serious handling, but I think that my be too thick. If you are worried about traction on wet roads I would try a .91 or .94 inch thick bar.

Rebuilt steering box from redhead gears in Seattle. They can make it fast ratio if you want, but will do a quality rebuild regardless.

Sway bar in front, maybe in rear.

Definitely upgrade the wheels and tires. I suggest at least a 15 inch rim. 15x6 or 15x7 is about as big as you can go. You have to be careful with the backspacing to get clearance in the front. You want to have about 4 inches of backspacing.

Subframe connectors/chassis stiffening. I want to get this kit someday: http://store.uscartool.com/70-75-a-body ... g-kit.html

GOOD shocks. KYBs are about the entry-level decent shock. QA1 and Edelbrock shocks have good reputations, but I think the Edelbrocks are no longer available.

Use the above links to give you an idea of your options, then search around for good prices. Lots of companies offer the same products (disc brake conversion kits, shocks, sway bars, leaf springs, torsion bars, etc...), so you can look around and try and find the best prices. Almost all of this stuff is bolt on. The only welding would be the chassis stiffening kit with the gussets.

The size of your wallet is the limit when it comes to suspension upgrades. But you can put together a very good handling car for reasonably cheap.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Thanks, Reed!

I forgot to mention I have had the front end looked at by a couple of shops, and got new upper ball joints installed by one of them. The same shop did an alignment, which solved a pull that was there when I brought the car home. Anyway, I don't think I have any problems with worn-out bushings or anything like that.

You have a car that was made in 1974, replace the bushings. They were worn out 20 years ago.

Huge can of worms. How much can you budget for this? Disc brakes (w/BBP) and more modern wheels+tires are the first thing I would do. Nice shocks would be next. If you don't have a front (only) sway bar, get one. Those things will make more difference than anything else in safety and handling capability. Your ride will not suffer hardly at all. Stock Mopar power steering is very hard to get to a good "state of feel", no matter what you do, but it can be improved (Firm Feel).

9" drums and 13" or 14" tires are basically not compatible with modern driving around modern cars, unless you are on full alert and don't even think about tailgating (<100ft) anyone.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

@kesteb,
Good point.

@Dart270,
I see the advantages of bigger wheels, but what's the advantage of the 4.5" bolt pattern? If I go to 15" wheels, I'd want to stick with the basic steelies or rallyes, both of which are available in the SBP. Plus, as I mentioned in the original post, I'm not too excited about trying to figure out how to change my rear wheels to LBP. In short, I wouldn't want to bother with the bolt pattern swap unless it was going to make a big difference in drivability.

Overall, I'm hearing a consensus that the first things to do are swap to disk brakes and rebuild the front end. I'm hearing varying opinions on the next step.

Anyone else have a recommendation on a brake swap kit or a front-end kit?

For suspension, Firmfeel has a stock rebuild kit for $395. PST has this one for $219. ESPO also has one, but their kit is not described or priced online. Is it advisable to replace all those parts, or can I just buy some individual parts from RockAuto?

For the brake kits:
- TheRamMan has this kit, with no price quoted. (It comes in a SBP or a LBP version.)
- Master Power has this for a whopping $1339.
- Performance Online has this, which is only $399 but doesn't inspire me with confidence that it would actually fit my car.
- I've seen Scarebird mentioned, but their kits seem to cover only 1965-1972. (I guess the only difference is I wouldn't need to use the included upper control arms?)

There isn't really an advantage in the LBP per se, but it is the only bolt pattern the late model factory disc brakes came in. If you are bound an determined to keep the small bolt pattern, then Scarebird or the somewhat rare and definitely expensive factory Kelsey-Hayes small bolt pattern disc brake system are your options.

A rear axle swap is actually pretty easy compared to all the work necessary to change the front from drums to discs.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Actually there are some SBP disk swap kits out there; I'm not sure how they do it, but TheRamMan definitely has both SBP and LBP kits using mostly 1976 components.

I wouldn't necessarily mind swapping rear ends, but to me that's a whole new major project that I have to learn how to do. Unfortunately I don't have a local mentor, or else I'd be all over it. Unless there's a compelling benefit to LBP, I'll be happy to keep SBP.

True. It looks like the Ram Man now offers specialty rotors that use the late model 73-76 single piston caliper hardware and a rotor drilled for the small bolt pattern. If you want to keep the SBP then those custom rotors are the way to go. $32 a pair isn't bad at all.

http://www.theramman.com/index.php?opti ... gory_id=24
Totally easy. Unbolt the old one, bolt the new one in, bleed the brakes, instal the shortened driveshaft. The best benefit to the LBP is a much larger selection of wheels, including late style 16 inch wheels and bigger. But if you get the Ram Man SBP rotors you don;t need to change the rear axle.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

OK, that does sound easy. But where do I get the shortened driveshaft?

A driveshaft shop. Got to a junkyard and get a driveshaft, preferable from a Mopar so it has the 904 front yoke, then take it to a driveshaft shop and have them shorten it to fit the new rear axle. You can search around to find exactly how much the driveshaft needs to be shortened when installing a 8.25 or 8.75 rear axle in place of the 7.25.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

There are many advantages of BBP susp/brakes. See my post just now: http://slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=58779

If you are not going to drive very fast or aggressively, then SBP will be fine. The parts availability and quality for SBP will become more of an issue as time goes on and everyone on the planet continues to switch over to BBP. Show cars, drag cars, and trailer queens do not need suspension parts that last, so there will be no demand for such parts. A good number of people are autoXing, road racing, and long distance driving these cars (including BBP on B, E, bodies, etc.), so there is demand for good BBP parts. There is much much less demand for SBP parts and this will get worse and the cheap junk they are making will only last a few 1000 miles at a time.

Best,
Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

One thing you may want to keep in mind while rebuilding and or improving your car's suspension is to look at the whole and how all the various components interact. In other words if you stiffing up the front with higher spring rates (bigger bars) and anti sway bar you need to match with similar rated rear springs. I'm not going to comment on anti swaybar sizing to spring rate, except to say one makes a big difference; read more on this in archives and various suspension/handling books if interested.

I would try to rebuild both ends of the car at the same time so that proper ride height is achieved at both ends, this makes alignment easer, and suspension movement the same. A nice tight stiffer front rebuild coupled to fifty year old sagging weak rear with worn bushings will make the car drive as it was two different vehicles connected behind the front seat by a sloppy hinge producing disappointing results.

I went through this same rebuild several years ago not addressing all moving steering components at the same time (read cheep bastard here) and spent several seasons sorting through replacing piecemeal various joints and rebuilding steering box. Also use good quality parts; one set of lower ball joints lasted 2000 miles of sunny summer driving.

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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

@Dart270: I would need to get my engine running a lot better before I could think about driving fast. :-) In all seriousness, I don't intend to race or anything; I just want to feel like I have some control over the car.

@WJA Jr: This was one of the reasons I asked the question--to get ideas about how to build a suspension that works, rather than just adding components here and there without a plan. I appreciate your input.