In trying to figure out how to upgrade both the suspension and brakes on the Road Runner I've spent countless hours cruising Lat-G, Pro-Touring and Moparts searching for anything I could find on what'd been done before. What I found is that what is cool to me about this car.......that it's not something common that's been done before.........is also the frustrating issue. Namely.....finding what parts fit and work well together.
In terms of the suspension I looked at just about anything that could be done.......completely replacing the K-member with one of RMS' Alter-Kation setups, replacing the existing setup with an Air-Ride or simply picking specific components to upgrade the Mopar torsion-bar setup.
What I finally decided is that I'd like to keep the cars front suspension "stock" looking but with upgraded components. I purchased a set of 1.10" diameter torsion bars, tubular UCAs, aluminum strut rods, thicker 11/16" tie-rod ends, idler arms, 1-1/8" front and 3/4" rear sway bar from Firm Feel incorporated. I also purchased new LCAs from Cap Auto products to replace the stock ones that were clearly bent.
Here's a pic of the new components installed. The only piece that remains stock is the spindle. I also decided that while I had everything apart I'd apply a coat or two of new flat black paint to the wheel wells to make it look better.
A better pic of the new tubular LCA.
Rear view of the setup.
What I soon discovered is that I think the torsion bar setup is truly unique in it's design but it's also a complete pain to install. As I'm sure is the case with everyone else......now that I've done it several times (a few due to my screw ups) I'm actually pretty good at it. Not that I want to do it again.
At this point it was time to decide what to do in terms of brakes. Obviously I didn't want to keep the stock drums since I'd be upgrading the wheels as well, plus I wanted something that could bring a big B-body to a stop safely. As such, I called Frank at Prodigy and purchased a complete Wilwood setup consisting of 12.2" 6-piston fronts and 12.2" 4-piston rears with drilled and slotted rotors.
Here's a pic of the new hubs and rotors installed. I think the black rotor looks killer with the color scheme of the car (more on that later).
Close up of the new rotor & hub.