sport fury guy
New Member
If I wanted to modernize the front suspension on my 67 sport fury plymouth what should I look at using?
Replace front suspension
- Thread starter sport fury guy
- Start date
twostick
Senior Member
The only things the original suspension needs is a bigger sway bar, good shocks ie Bilstiens and new bushings with offset uppers so you can get enough positive caster. Depending on what you are planning to do with the car, bigger torsion bars might be considered.
Kevin
Kevin
Firm Feel makes upper control arms for our cars which improve the geometry.
Firmfeel Mopar Suspension and Steering
A complete rebuild/replace all of your old bushings should be your starting point, then I would do in this order: better shocks, sway bars, then upper arms, then different spring rates. Obviously stopping where you are happy.
Firmfeel Mopar Suspension and Steering
A complete rebuild/replace all of your old bushings should be your starting point, then I would do in this order: better shocks, sway bars, then upper arms, then different spring rates. Obviously stopping where you are happy.
What the cars intent?
saylor
Senior Member
do it all now, don't just do the uppers and leave the lowers, etc. change it all out tip to tip.
I replaced everything on my driver with all aftermarket stock front suspension parts Moot and NOS.
Rear spring were replaced to 7 leaf , 1 inch over stock height. Added the firm feel rear seat bar and tied it all together with Bilstein shocks all around .
She holds the road very well and level. She is stiff because of the Bilsteins but nice. I didn't replace the torsion bars , the advice was simply " not required" .
Rear spring were replaced to 7 leaf , 1 inch over stock height. Added the firm feel rear seat bar and tied it all together with Bilstein shocks all around .
She holds the road very well and level. She is stiff because of the Bilsteins but nice. I didn't replace the torsion bars , the advice was simply " not required" .
Considering the "design" geometry, what do the replacement upper control arms change to make the existing geometry allegedly better?
If the car has factory a/c, I believe the FSM states it already has the "HD" front torsion bars (defined by bar diameter), as a part of the factory a/c equipment.
My recommendations? Start with ALL new rubber. Moog is a good place to look. I'd recommend against NOS as that rubber is quite aged by this time in its life. Do NOT do the final torque on the bushings (just barely snug the bolts to ensure they are placed and seated correctly) until the car is sitting at ride height on the ground. Do NOT forget about the lower control arm pivot bushing! Check and/or replace the rear torsion bar seals, repack as necessary.
Then a good HD shock at all corners. Some like KYBs, others like the higher-pressure Bilsteins. It's also been stated that the current valving is not the earlier C-body valving, that B-body valving is what's in the newer shocks. Not sure about that, just repeating what I've seen online. I'm not really sure that it matters as the piston diameter might have more affect than particular valving specs. Due to the architecture of where the shocks "clear" the front structure, the largest shock piston dia. is 1", but the rear shocks should be 1.375" pistons.
New sway bar rubbers, too. All of them (see thread on this). Possibly upgrade the rear springs to factory "HD" specs. Then the rear sway bar.
Also run the front tires at "+2psi" over the rear pressure. A little sharper steering response and a little more neutral handling, from my own observations . . . at your discretion.
From what I remember from when the cars were new, the B/RB engine cars were the best place to start, suspension-wise. Add the factory a/c option to get the stiffer front torsion bars. Front sway bar diameter was "a given". With 55front/45rear weight distribution, plus their better front end geometry, they cornered very good "as is" with nothing but elevated tire pressures. There was a reason the law enforcement people liked them so much! Add some good Monroe Super 500s (also used as the factory HD replacement shocks) and it was about as good as you could get anywhere. Even with the stock bias-ply tires. On our '66 Newport, when you turned the car into a corner, it was as if the car said "NO, I'm NOT going to lean!", resisting the normal physical forces in the process by cornering flat and responsive. NO other car, back then, felt that way to me.
The front sway bar was an option on the Slant 6 and 318 cars, but standard on the B/RB cars.
CBODY67
If the car has factory a/c, I believe the FSM states it already has the "HD" front torsion bars (defined by bar diameter), as a part of the factory a/c equipment.
My recommendations? Start with ALL new rubber. Moog is a good place to look. I'd recommend against NOS as that rubber is quite aged by this time in its life. Do NOT do the final torque on the bushings (just barely snug the bolts to ensure they are placed and seated correctly) until the car is sitting at ride height on the ground. Do NOT forget about the lower control arm pivot bushing! Check and/or replace the rear torsion bar seals, repack as necessary.
Then a good HD shock at all corners. Some like KYBs, others like the higher-pressure Bilsteins. It's also been stated that the current valving is not the earlier C-body valving, that B-body valving is what's in the newer shocks. Not sure about that, just repeating what I've seen online. I'm not really sure that it matters as the piston diameter might have more affect than particular valving specs. Due to the architecture of where the shocks "clear" the front structure, the largest shock piston dia. is 1", but the rear shocks should be 1.375" pistons.
New sway bar rubbers, too. All of them (see thread on this). Possibly upgrade the rear springs to factory "HD" specs. Then the rear sway bar.
Also run the front tires at "+2psi" over the rear pressure. A little sharper steering response and a little more neutral handling, from my own observations . . . at your discretion.
From what I remember from when the cars were new, the B/RB engine cars were the best place to start, suspension-wise. Add the factory a/c option to get the stiffer front torsion bars. Front sway bar diameter was "a given". With 55front/45rear weight distribution, plus their better front end geometry, they cornered very good "as is" with nothing but elevated tire pressures. There was a reason the law enforcement people liked them so much! Add some good Monroe Super 500s (also used as the factory HD replacement shocks) and it was about as good as you could get anywhere. Even with the stock bias-ply tires. On our '66 Newport, when you turned the car into a corner, it was as if the car said "NO, I'm NOT going to lean!", resisting the normal physical forces in the process by cornering flat and responsive. NO other car, back then, felt that way to me.
The front sway bar was an option on the Slant 6 and 318 cars, but standard on the B/RB cars.
CBODY67
twostick
Senior Member
The adjustable control arms will allow you to adjust the +caster to your liking. The stock ones are adjusted to maximum +caster first and hope you still have some when you are finished adjusting camber and toe. The offset bushings will generally get you a few degrees but no fear of too much. They also have to be clocked differently to achieve this as they are actually made to gain camber if installed per the instructions.
There is a post in the tech archive on Moparts that explains the clocking installation difference. IIRC they are clocked at 9 and 3 o'clock instead of 12 and 6 but I forget which is front and back.
Moparts on the Web - Main Index
Kevin
There is a post in the tech archive on Moparts that explains the clocking installation difference. IIRC they are clocked at 9 and 3 o'clock instead of 12 and 6 but I forget which is front and back.
Moparts on the Web - Main Index
Kevin
I guess I misspoke, I used some NORS. The lower ball joints and Pitman arms are two instances
The first time I found out about "offset upper control arm bushings" was about '55 Chevrolets, to compensate for "crossmember sag". Then I found out that '70 big block Chevelles were prone to the same thing! The offset bushings were the "compensating" item to allow for normal alignment specs to be achieved. I figured this was a GM problem due to obviously weaker designs.
To date, none of the control arm bushings in my C-body cars have been changed, most with over 150K miles on them. No issues with getting factory specs on the alignments. Be that as it may. When I do get them done, might need the spec bushings.
CBODY67
To date, none of the control arm bushings in my C-body cars have been changed, most with over 150K miles on them. No issues with getting factory specs on the alignments. Be that as it may. When I do get them done, might need the spec bushings.
CBODY67
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