Rear coilovers for C-body

I once punched a '74 Duster pass side air shock into the trunk on launch. That car was not very rusty. The sheetmetal there is not designed for structural load. Metal fatigue will eventually fail it even under light load, over time.
 
I put coil overs on mine. They have served me well. Still want to replace the leaf springs though.


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When Chrysler finally did put a rear sway bar on the B-bodies circa 1974 (Radial Roadability Package on '74 Road Runners, for example), the front bars still looked to be the same size as before. No issues with oversteer as there was already enough understeer built-in to not cause issues . . . at least nobody in the car magazine road tests mentioned "oversteer" per se, but they probably felt more "neutral" than before.

CAR LIFE magazine mentioned, after GM had started to use rear sway bars on their cars (GTOs and the famous F41 suspension package on the larger cars), that Chrysler engineers preferred to use stiffer rear springs to get the rear roll stiffness associated with the addition of a rear sway bar. But when everybody did rear sway bars, Chrysler was right there with them, too. For the first few model years, Cordobas had rear sway bars as standard equipment. By that time it was a "competitive sales issue" more than handling, I suspect.

By about 1978, the Cordoba rear sway bars became optional, for some reason. Which kiind of makes me wonder if their "stiffer rear spring" orientation might not have been driven by the added cost of the rear sway bar assy more than anything else? Less money to add another leaf to the springs than the rear bar and its attaching hardware?

But the innards of the "Police/Taxi" section of the 1970 Chrysler parts book lists a rear sway bar for some cars, with the note "LAPD" in the listing. Hellwig had listings for Chrysler C-bodies back then, too.

FWIW, the upper shock mount crossmember might not be a designated "load bearing area", but each time the shock absorber resists compression and extension, from wheel/axle movement and/or body movement, there will be a force applied to that metal which could probably far exceed, momentarily, any load which an air shock of load-leveler shock might exert upon it. If the upper mount bolts might be loose, even worse. End result? Metal fatigue, either way. Probably even worse if the car had seen salty winter roads rather than dry Spouthwestern climates?

Everybody had their own orientations of what has worked for them, just as I do, which I respect.

Enjoy!
CBODY67
 
I added a rear sway to my 70 polara a few years back. Whoa, what a difference.
 
When Chrysler finally did put a rear sway bar on the B-bodies circa 1974 (Radial Roadability Package on '74 Road Runners, for example), the front bars still looked to be the same size as before. No issues with oversteer as there was already enough understeer built-in to not cause issues . . . at least nobody in the car magazine road tests mentioned "oversteer" per se, but they probably felt more "neutral" than before.

CAR LIFE magazine mentioned, after GM had started to use rear sway bars on their cars (GTOs and the famous F41 suspension package on the larger cars), that Chrysler engineers preferred to use stiffer rear springs to get the rear roll stiffness associated with the addition of a rear sway bar. But when everybody did rear sway bars, Chrysler was right there with them, too. For the first few model years, Cordobas had rear sway bars as standard equipment. By that time it was a "competitive sales issue" more than handling, I suspect.

By about 1978, the Cordoba rear sway bars became optional, for some reason. Which kiind of makes me wonder if their "stiffer rear spring" orientation might not have been driven by the added cost of the rear sway bar assy more than anything else? Less money to add another leaf to the springs than the rear bar and its attaching hardware?

But the innards of the "Police/Taxi" section of the 1970 Chrysler parts book lists a rear sway bar for some cars, with the note "LAPD" in the listing. Hellwig had listings for Chrysler C-bodies back then, too.

Just off the top of my head, you might want to look at the torsion bar diameter of the rear sway bar equipped cars versus the others. I'll bet that while the front sway bar might be the same size, the bar diameter is increased, thus bringing back understeer to the front.

Chrysler was very wise with how they packaged and combined parts. While all the big cars would understeer by design, I don't see Chrysler changing that characteristic handling trait in some of their cars. Then again, as you say, there was enough understeer, especially with a heavy nosed car, that a rear sway bar won't go that far. Of course, then changes in tires started happening....
 
The ACR Neon I had with my son John at the wheel going through the cones. Note the light under the right rear tire. That is roll stiffness from the large, hollow sway bars at both ends of the car.

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I added a rear sway to my 70 polara a few years back. Whoa, what a difference.
I attempted to on my Newport; bought one from PST. I couldn't get it to clear the shock mounts or my dual exhaust. Was disappointed.
 
I attempted to on my Newport; bought one from PST. I couldn't get it to clear the shock mounts or my dual exhaust. Was disappointed.
I think that's the one I got with a parts lot I bought. I guess I'll find out what it will fit in soon enough.
 
I think that's the one I got with a parts lot I bought. I guess I'll find out what it will fit in soon enough.
When it would not fit on my Newport I sold it to my buddy with the 300 Hurst. Figuring his car was factory it would fit. It didn't....
 
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