Setting up a Mopar for corner carving

[TheMoparKid]

Hey, I made my way over here from www.moparts.com

I've got a 1968 Plymouth Roadrunner that I am taking a distinctly different approach on. I am straying about as far away from a drag race oriented set up as possible. I would like to be able to do some auto-x on the weekends and do the twisty back roads of central Texas with ease.

The car will weigh way less than 3500 lbs. without me in it, it is pretty much a stripper model with Power Steering being the only true luxury. Like I noted below, the biggest pitfall will be the 15" steelies with Yokohama Avids. I plan on going with a set of Anarchite Torq-thrusts in 17" next year once I wear through the current tires.

Here is a shot of my Junk..



I copied and pasted this from Moparts...tell me what you all think.

The front suspension is falling into place on my car and I think it should perform well.

The suspension is looking to be set up like this so far..

-Energy Suspension polyurethane LCA, sway bar and strut rod bushings
-Moog LBJ's
-CAP Adjustable Tubular UCA's
-Moog 11/16" Tie rod ends
-Firm Feel Stage 3 box
-Moog Late B-pitman and idler arms
-1.22" Torsion bars
-Koni Adjustable shocks
-MP/Adcco 1.125" front sway bar

The torsion bars are a little bit bigger than I wanted, but the shocks should help alot in keeping them under control. I am a little excited to be a guinea pig for these bars, not alot of people have tried them. The alignment will be critical, I have still not yet figured that one out.

I can't decide what to do for the rear though.

I guess there are a few options, but all have their faults.

-MP XHD springs with a 7/8" rear sway bar.

My ride height remains the same, I can get a set for under $200 and they use my existing hangers. I don't know if the spring rate will be too tame in comparison to the front. This seems to make me the most comfortable.

-De-arched SS springs with the same sway bar.

E-berg used them on his Green Brick, and they worked very well. The MP chassis manual says that they can't be used for a turning application due to side loading, but the rebound of the spring (side to side motion) should be eliminated with the de-arch since it will be near flat like stock springs. Cost for the spring is the same and I have to get a set of different hangers. No biggie. I feel the spring rate on these will be fairly well matched to the front.

-Cal-tracs and the custom mono leaf springs

The most untested of the bunch. John Calvert thinks they would work well, and the springs would be custom matched to the car for the spring # and ride height. In his experience the bars them selves do about 75% of the work that the sway bar does. This is the most expensive option, but it is tailored to the car and offers a slight weight reduction.

I am trying to make the most of the cars handling abilities with the use of mostly stock components. IE; No tubular K-member with coilovers and no 4-link rear. Just over the counter stuff for the most part with some attention to detail. I think the biggest limiting factor in all of this will be the 15" wheel and tire combination, but I can live with that.

These are just my basic thought out ideas, please point out any faults or input any of your own ideas.

THANKS !

Any questions and comments are welcome, let me know what you all think...

[Bowtieracing]

Good looking car!! When i started this "hobby" about 15 years ago there were not much aftermarket suspension high performance parts availble. Some urethane bushings and swaybars and only for Gm cars. So my choise was gm. But nowdays if i could choose again - thanks to companys like xvmotorsports -my choise would be cuda. I think you have good change to make your mopar hit the corners faster than ever!

[Mean 69]

We offer a highly functional rear setup for the B-Body cars. The downfalls as most Mopar folks view it is that it requires some cutting of the car, and the real kicker is that it uses a Ford based 9" rear housing. Lastly, it's not cheap, but it rocks and wil seriously set your car apart in terms of exclusivity, and (if tuned correctly, which is pretty easy depending upon the front setup) overall performance/ride quality, etc. We aren't currently trying to hit the Mopar segment too hard, the majority of Mopar folks still haven't gotten bit by the bug of modifying for overall/road handling performance.

Good luck though, these are truly awesome cars, they have a certain character that can't be matched by the GM of blue oval cars.

Mark

www.lateral-dynamics.com

[californiacuda]

After having spent mucho time and $ on the stock suspension on my 70 Cuda, I was never satisfied. The car wouldn't track well, would jump 1/2 lane on freeway when hit bump. I'm not expert, but I didn't feel secure and comfortable at higher speeds. I tried a couple of different sway bars, the firm feel different ratio power steering box, tubular upper control arms, Koni shocks, everything that seemed to be available. I finally went to an alterkation and I don't have the car running yet. MY 02c.

Oh yea, lot of potential weight savings in different K member and torsion bar delete.

[DRJDVM's '69]

Its really hard to get a Mopar to handle with the stock configuration even if you do alot of suspension "upgrades" The whole design just doesnt work that well for handling. Mopars were always built with the plan of going fast in a straight line.

If you want to go all stock "over the counter" I would go with the Level I XV motorsports. They have a ton of research into doing a complete package for the car rather than piecing things together from different companies etc.

I'm going with the Alterkations and Air Ride set-up for my 70 Barracuda currently.

[Vince@Meanstreets]

Originally Posted by Mean 69

We offer a highly functional rear setup for the B-Body cars. The downfalls as most Mopar folks view it is that it requires some cutting of the car, and the real kicker is that it uses a Ford based 9" rear housing. Lastly, it's not cheap, but it rocks and wil seriously set your car apart in terms of exclusivity, and (if tuned correctly, which is pretty easy depending upon the front setup) overall performance/ride quality, etc. We aren't currently trying to hit the Mopar segment too hard, the majority of Mopar folks still haven't gotten bit by the bug of modifying for overall/road handling performance.

Good luck though, these are truly awesome cars, they have a certain character that can't be matched by the GM of blue oval cars.

Mark

www.lateral-dynamics.com

FROD 9" ewwwww LOL My Mopar is a drop out...can't we do anything with that????

Nice MOPAR Kid, welcome to the site...does this make you a traitor with the moparts guys?