Tim Werner's red 68 Valiant has 1.24" and special selected/spec'd billstein shocks.

It's one of the most formidable stock bodied, torsion bar, leaf spring, stock suspension points street car.

Now I'm running 1.06 yes 17x10 up front might not work yet. I'm running 18x10s square 295s. I'm looking for 315 for rear. I have Tomswheels Purple Valiant. Its dialed in pretty good and ran very well with Tom driving. I'm a rookie driver my background is Drag racing but Ive given that up to drive more and not have to trailer anymore. I have a few different strokers to play with so I'm going to add more power to the car.

My experience with fatty torsion bars is only on a B-Body. I put 1.12 Firmfeel bars on that car and had to completely backoff the adjusters to get a reasonably low ride height. The fact that there was no adjuster preload didn't seem to be too big of an issue. Wish I would have gone for the 1.18s to start though.

For my 318 Dart, I'd like to go with either 1.18s or 1.24s, either Magnumforce or Firmfeel. I'm aware that the a-body length TBs are higher spring rate than the same diameter B or E body bars.

Anyone here run 1.24s on an a-body for a roadrace application? Is it too stiff with good shocks (RCD Bilstein, etc)? Planning on using 275ish tires on some 17x9 or so wheels.

I'm worried that with 1.24s the high spring rate will prevent me from getting the front end low enough even if I uncrank the adjusters all the way. I want the front of the car to be longtube-scraping low. Does anyone do huge TBs indexed for a low ride height with some adjuster preload? Kind of want to avoid 2" drop spindles based on what I've read about increased roll-center height.

Not at all all worried about on-road comfort, just trying to be as competitive as possible handling-wise with a torsion bar sprung mopar. This will in the not too distant future be a fully caged car and I'm going to be running a 1.25 tubular front bar (swaybar is on the way along with geometry corrected non-adjustable tubular UCAs), rear sway bar is TBD. I'll probably also be buying adjustable strut rods at the same time as I order the TBs, which strut rods would y'all recommend?

Any input by those with roadrace a-bodies with mega-fat TBs is appreciated. Thanks.

Now I'm running 1.06 yes 17x10 up front might not work yet. I'm running 18x10s square 295s. I'm looking for 315 for rear. I have Tomswheels Purple Valiant. Its dialed in pretty good and ran very well with Tom driving. I'm a rookie driver my background is Drag racing but Ive given that up to drive more and not have to trailer anymore. I have a few different strokers to play with so I'm going to add more power to the car.

With big t-bars you should step up beyond the RCD's. Like the bilstein adjustable level. 72 Swinger did that jump with a noticeable difference IIRC. And maybe some others.

The one thing about the 1.24" bars is that header clearance is almost nonexistent. I think the headers are touching the bars. Could be an issue if the paint rubs off and they rust?

As for headers, TTI or Dougs generally fit the best.

One thing that has me troubled is once you through in the 1.24 bars the front is going to be pretty stiff but the rear spring rates are going to be really soft. Even the Hotchkis springs at 130 are not going to cut it. That's what is holding me back from the change over.

Wonder why the Doug's longtubes only go up to '72 for Darts per their site, mine's a '73? Do the TTIs or DOugs tuck up into the subframe rails better? I'm thinking about ditching longtubes because all of the (admittedly cheaper) ones I've seen on low a-bodies and b-bodies hang low enough below the subframe to where they scrape pavement pretty easily

A few thoughts:
The Magnum Force dropped spindles give a 2" drop.
Headers with dents in them don't necessarily cost much in power. Hot Rod TV did a dyno test proving this very thing.
The 73-76 A body header fitment differs from the 67-72 because of the intrusive motor mount design of the 73-76 models.
The bigger the Torsion bar, the more critical chassis stiffness is. If the unibody flexes with .83 torsion bars, it will be worse with 1.24s. You also will never get the full advantage/stiffness since the flimsy chassis won't allow it. Subframe connectors, torque boxes, a welded K member, reinforced lower radiator support. etc are highly suggested.

I'm not a fan of the 2 inch drop spindle its a shame no one makes a 1 inch drop.

Autoxcuda, have any more info or p/n's on the Bilstein adjustables you mentioned?

Think I'm gonna go with Firmfeel 1.24s, talked to Dick there today and he says I should be able to get the car to ride on LCA bumpstops by uncranking TB adjusters. We'll see what happens when I get em.

Also think I'll order up the Hotchkis adjustable strut rods and the p-s-t greasable LCA pivot shafts and bushings on Monday.



lilcuda, which brand headers are you referring to when you say theres no clearance with 1.24 TBs? I'm about to swap in a less-crushed set of no-name longtubes for the very-crushed set of hedman longtubes on the car currently and I may just dent 'em a lil to clear the TB although I'll probably be going with a set of hedman shorties eventually.

Never done a set of longtubes on an a-body, looks freakin tight, does that job require lifting the motor or disconnecting brake booster/master cylinder?

Funny you should bring this up I have a set of Firm Feel 1.24 Bars but haven't used them yet. I don't know what will happen or how it will sit. The Bars I'm running know have the adjusters completely backed out. and it sits low. I'm running 18 inch wheels its set up for autox now but I will also be running some track days. By the way I have a pair of 17x10 Bullet wheels for sale. I'm in Redwood city.

Just got in my set of FFI 1.24s, huuuuge >:)

One of my cars has 1.14s in it and you can lower the car down to the bump stops or all the way up to stock ride height, it really depends on the bar clocking. I was going to put 1.20s in it but they hit the headers on both sides and I didn't feel it was worth denting and bending them to fit the bigger bars.

Yeah, you may have to re-clock the bars. With zero offset bars your adjuster screw may not be in the center of its travel.
I haven't had any problems on my Challenger, but it doesn't look right with the screw in so far. On the race kit cars the hex on the crossmember was a bolt-in piece with a hex you'd weld after ride height was set and with the screw in the center of travel.

which spring pack are you currently running?

If you had a heavy duty OEM set on there and the arch is what you want, you could take aonther main leaf and cut off the eye from each end and add it to your pack. That would get you pretty close.

What are your plans for rear springs?

Need to figure out how to translate wheel rates and leaf locations to spring rates.

Custom, hahaha. Going to aim for a high spring rate to match the stiff front and a 3" inward relocation of the leafs. Haven't decided on whether to go with steel springs or composite yet. I'd imagine a custom set of composites are more pricey than steel leafs, but I'd need to confirm that. Need to figure out how to translate wheel rates and leaf locations to spring rates. Also need to try and figure out the proper amount of free arch for a car that will end up with a heavy 1.75x.12 cage.

How big of a tire are you planning on running? If it was me I would try and use the 3/4inch offset shackle kit and flair out the 1/4s before I would move the springs in the full 3inches

On Leaf springs, you are talking roll rate rather them motion rate?

OR you could oval the hexes just enough to get them in, we're talking .010", you could probably use a half moon file and get it done. Then you will KNOW FOR A FACT you have the biggest A-body torsion bars ever. Wouldn't hurt a thing.