Let's tear down!!!

I went with Super Stocks, but that's because I had an M-body--they don't handle worth a damn no matter what you do because the torsion bars are also the strut rods. I decided to take more of a straight-line approach with that car.

The Green Brick, as I recall, used two Super Stock springs of the same part number--meaning from the same intended side (I think they were both LH springs). I think the torsion bars were .920s, the front swaybar was a '76 A-body cop piece, and I know for sure there was no rear swaybar at all. I'd have to look everything to be sure, but I'm pretty close. I can also tell you from first-hand experience that car was stiff as a wedding dick. I don't mean "firm", but actually harsh (remember, A-car torsion bars are shorter). If you want the car to be all-out race, that's one thing. If you want family members to ride with you, that's another thing entirely.

I would probably recommend the .920s, the oversize front sway, a stock-size rear bar (I know, it has to be custom, and making it shorter will only stiffen it), and perhaps two RH XHDs. Don't order anything until I can dig a little deeper, though. The bitch of trying to do this is getting weight measurements without the damn thing assembled! Tail-happy sounds like a lot of fun, but it's really not... besides, if you want tail happy, you'll have "power oversteer" directly under your right foot!
 
I meant HD sliders.

I don't mind if the ride is firm, it'll be their choice if they want to ride with me :D

I think I still have stock '72 Charger SE with a 400 T-bars, I think they're .90", I'll have to dig through the trailer to check. I know they didn't sell, just need to make sure they didn't get tossed.
 
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I have the HD sliders, with roller bearings rather than the Teflon blocks. Buttah, I tell you... absolute buttah. Speedway's store brand were the least expensive I could find.

I'd probably go with the .920s even if you have the .900s. If the rear is too stiff in relation to the front, you're back to looking at where you've already been. Mild oversteer is one thing, but when you're really pitching it on a canyon road it's a lot more fun to have mild understeer you can correct with the throttle. You don't have to go crazy with spring rates to make the car handle. With a stone-stock suspension (in good shape), front and rear swaybars, a set of good monotube shocks, and sticky tires you'd be shocked at the corners you can pull in that car. The front suspension geometry on a B-body is still state-of-the-art 50+ years after its design. Besides, more than anything (at least in my book) knowing your car is the most important part of handling. I've scared the hell out of a lot of people in various B-cars over the years. I'm thinking the guy in the brand-new Probe GT will not forget the ass-whoopin' he got from a stone-stock '77 Cordoba on curvy roads back in late 1993... and I mean stock right down to H78-15 tires. That's another one for The Jass Hole. He ended up in jail that night. :D
 
I haven't really looked at springs other than what's pushed; XHD & S/S, so stock HD springs should be ok then? I'll start searching the local JY for rear sway bars now that it's gotten a little cooler out. Should I stay in the 3/4" range? Solid or tubular?
 
XHD springs are factory equipment on 440, Six Pack, and Hemi cars... so "factory HD springs" would technically be the same thing.

If made from the same material, it doesn't matter if the swaybar is tubular or solid--it will have the same spring rate. On anything that flexes torsionally, the entire load is carried by the outside surface of the steel. That's why the slightest nick in a torsion bar can cause it to fail. You could take the 1.00" torsion bars and have them gun-drilled their entire length with a 7/8" bit, and it would not change their strength or spring rate one iota. This makes no sense, but it's physics and it's 100% true. If you gun-drilled the wire before forming a coil spring, it would still have the same rate and strength. In reality, a swaybar is nothing more than a bent torsion bar. Drag racers have been using gun-drilled axle shafts for decades; if the axle shaft as a Mark Williams or Strange or whatever decal on the end, it's most-likely drilled. That decal is to keep dirt out. Most circle-burners in the upper classes have tubular swaybars as well, but they're arrow-straight with splined, bolt-on ends.

Now, the problem you run into with a normal swaybar is that somewhere along its length, it's going to encounter a shear load as well as a torsional load. A tubular structure cannot hand a shear load like a solid one. In the case of many Mopar factory rear bars, the shear load is in between the leaf springs, and the load at the frame is purely torsional. But, in that setup, what you'd normally think of as "end links" are actually in the middle and the U-bracket bushings are on the frame. It's actually a pretty-wise design, since the points at which the shear load occurs likely wouldn't break the bar were it tubular (it's not). On the other hand, when the shear load is at the end of a tubular swaybar (such as GM's disastrous front-bar design of a decade or so ago), it's not hard to snap the end off the bar. The bolt-on ends of circle-track cars prevent this, as all the shear load is carried by the arms, not the bar itself.

Have I lost you yet?

All that being said, I'd think it would be difficult for you to find a tubular bar of any kind that would work in your application. For the sake of simplicity, you should probably make sure you use lower spring/shock-mounting plates with provisions for a swaybar. If I could find my freakin' camera, I'd post a picture. In the boneyard, '72 seems to be the best B-body to scavenge these; take a peek under '73-'74 cars as well as not all of them were iso-clamp (my '73 Charger Rallye was not; Stretch's is :wtf: ). You're pretty-much golden with the E-bodies; later A-body plates will work as well if you can find them. Obviously, you want to check what's under your car already. It may have them.
 
I had to read it a few times to get full comprehension, but I got it :D

I didn't think of it when I pulled the rear bar off the 'Doba but I let the axle mounts get scrapped :doh:

I'll have go yardin and hopefully one of the A bodies has them, how about F bodies or even Diplomat/ 5th Ave, would they work? Modified slightly I'm sure. Most of the old stuff, Mopar especially is either crushed or sent to specialized yards where every bent, rusty piece of crap is treated like HemiCuda specific NOS parts.
 
You wouldn't have been able to use the Cordoba mounts anyhow... they all had iso-clamp rear spring mounts. The same problem exists with the F/M/J setup, and worse yet, they're all designed for stud-type lower shock mounts which are prone to breakage. You might be able to get away with an F/M/J bar, but you need the shock plates from the applications I listed.
 
I was searching eBay last night, there is a bunch of used NASCAR/ARCA front (up to 2 1/16") and rear (down to 1/2") sway bars. It's always an option. :hmmm:
 
Ordered my headers! :nanna::banana::nanna:


As soon as I find out what I'm doing with this other '71 occupying my garage I'll be able to get mine back in so I can stab the motor! Can't wait!
 
I uh, fit my new seats, from the Intrepid, and realized that they uh, DON'T FOLD! :doh:So, looks like I'm looking for another set of seats. :( Dammit! I really like these seats too, really comfortable and in really good shape.


I think I'm going to weld up a frame and keep them in the garage. At least I'll get to enjoy them that way. :giggedy:
 
I'm thinking about these, to hell with digging around to find something to fit. A friend of mine had them in his '85 Capri McClaren and they were comfortable!
 
69 has a set of seats out of a BMW of some kind for my Barracuda. Wish I knew what year and model but, they are comfortable! Adjustable lumbar support, racing bucket style, a few other luxuries... I'll have to take some pics some day and post up what I'm talking about.
 
I have a pair of buckets that might interest you... black glove-leather seats from my '87 Conquest TSi. Condition-wise, I would rate them near showroom. No rips, no unravelling seams, softer than a lamb's ass and already black. I'll get pics if you'd like. They're very, very comfortable and supportive. I also have a pair of buckets from an '84 BMW 5-series, but I'm actually not sure if they fold or not.
 
Dusty but in excellent shape... anything you see that might appear to be a blemish wipes right off.

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Both seats have the same levers on either side, including leg-bolster adjustment.

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The "scuffs" on the back are just dirt... I wiped off a few before I took the picture, which you'll see in the second picture.

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