I'm thinking of buying their suspension kit for my 70 Barracuda and just wondering if anyone on here has pulled the trigger on this yet? Does it work as advertised?
Thanks

I've already had LOTS of suspension mods done to my car over the last 16 years (since 1994). With those mods I've driven it 70,000 miles, daily commuted 80 mile through Los Angeles for 4 years, driving it from L.A. to Iowa and back 4 times, snow/salt/rain/sleet, been to 14 different states, autocrosses, and road course tracks days etc, etc.

My Cuda has had lots of combinations of tires, rims, shocks, swaybars. Like I've run no less than 4 different rims sizes, 4 tires sizes, 4 different brands of shocks (Herb Adams, Koni, KYB, QA1), 4 Swaybars (early stock, late stock, 1 1/8, 1 1/4). This is not the first suspension setup on my Cuda. Not hardly.

Well, I'm totally impressed at all the improvements that the Hotchkis TVS made that I added about a month ago. After all that fiddling around for 16 years this is hands down the best system and combination of parts. A game changer for me.

For all those 16 years, my car had .99" torsion bars. Those are 65% more spring rate than stock. It's a stiffer ride, but not like you might think. BUT the shocks didn't seem to control things. When I hit long dips or pavement separation the seat belt would pull me down and stuff like that.

Now with the TVS shocks and their system, I don't feel that.

The kicker is I just installed 1.14" torsion bars with the TVS system. !! Ok, those are BIG bars. Those are THREE TIMES stock rate and 57% more rate than the .99" t-bars. Those are way bigger than I would expect most to run on their car...

You know, with the TVS system the big T-bars are nicer riding than the smaller .99 T-bars. I was sort of shocked. With .99 bars it would be even better.

I really notice how good it tracks on long soft freeway/interstate curves. I've taken it hard on some tight freeway on ramps and it just bites and grips. Problem now I'm comming out of the seat on fast tight turn like that. I'm bracing my knee against the center console. I already have a decent side bolster seat, but I need bigger bolster and a 3 point seat belt.

It tracks really nice and stable up to 100 mph or so on the freeway. But I have a bad water pump bearing in this temporary motor so I'm taking it easy.

This is what some of the rear Hotchkis stuff looks like installed.

The rear sway bar is three way adjustable to dial in the balance of the car. It is also hollow so it doesn't add much unsprung weight at all. The dogbone type rear sway bar end links allow the rear to move up and down bind free.

The doughnut type rear sway bar bushings will add resistance if they are not absolutely perfectly installed to the right height and placement fore and aft.

I am a novice, but the 4 Hotchkis/Bilstein shocks I just put on the R/T made an amazing transformation. I recently put about 1300 miles on the car and the ride and handling is much improved. Rear Sway is next.

check out firmfeel.com

their stuff is awesome.

I don't know about a 70 Mopar but I had their stuff on my 99 Dakota R/T and ...it was OK in the front but sucked in the back. Their springs made the truck ride so poorly I was slowing down on the highway just to avoid the jarring when a slight seam appeared in the road. I had Honda Accords flying by me.

I haven't had to slow down for anything on the highway. I've had a lot of other stuff on it. Ride is better and I have 57% stiffer front springs than previous.

I don't think the Hotckis rear springs are that stiff. The thing that makes them special are the big leaves under the main one for anti wrap up under acceleration AND the big leaf on top of the main one to prevent axle hopping under deacceration (braking). Most of the guys running Mopars hard on autox or road course have problems with wheel hop under braking until they have special springs and good shocks.

I've yet to actually phone anyone up and ask this, but i wonder if any ov these complete suspension systems could be ordered with a custom ride-height. Or for that matter, if they'd even work with more ride-height. I've been saving for a big kit for a long while now, first it was the XV stage I kit, now this comes along. I'm sure there are others. But they all involve lowering my Challenger.

I dont want to lower my Challenger. In fact, i'd like to actually retain the stock T/A ride height, with the slightly raked rear.

I realize why cars are lowered, and all the science involved, as well as i understand that there would be an obvious compromise with a higher car (likely transition from side to side at speed would suffer the most), but i wonder if these companies would even touch a request for a stock or higher ride height.... . . .

Also, would anyone here have any idea how much total weight one ov these full systems would add to an otherwise bone stock car? Say, a car with the R/T level stock suspension?

I'm thinking there is an overall weight penalty for all this wonderful handling, but how much...??? Bad enough that mounting some REAL wheels and tires and stiffening the chassis bumps the scale a bunch...

They are a TON of money. It would seem to me you could put something together cheaper, I guess it depends on what you want it for. If you are building a road course car then it might be worth the $4k plus, if you just want a better handling car you could probably get away with some junk yard parts, good shocks, all new Poly front end and a disc brake upgrade.

More from the novice: I have a Firm Feel steering box-top notch. USCartool subframe connectors too. The Hotchkis anti-sway bars are advertised to be hollow and a stronger technology than the old bars.

Steve -

It's great to hear that you are enjoying the Hotchkis parts. It means a lot for us to hear that, as we know how long you've been interested in handling and performance driving.

Dennis, Pale Roader and all -

The weight difference of the TVS is minimal, and on our resident drag racer Elana's car, she saw no difference in E.T. but reported a noticeable improvement in street handling and even on-strip tracking. She said it requires less correction in a straight line.



The ride height is set on the leaf springs, the lowering is an important part of improving handling. That said, it is still adjustable through torsion bar settings, and we haven't had clearance problems on our R&D cars.

You can watch the full install to see how well our parts fit when compared to many competitors. The car in the video is a good example of the difference the Hotchkis suspension makes, even compared to junkyard and bushing upgrades. This car had full poly bushings, Mopar Performance rear springs, large torsion bars, heavy duty shocks and a factory sway bar. The Hotchkis components made for a dramatic difference in lap and slalom times.

I don't know this vendor or if they are legtimate, but They are advertising a B Body TVS system for $2,666 with shipping on EBAY.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/66-69-Mop...sQ5fAccessories

Maybe Hotchkis needs more test cars, or Group Buy?

Hotchis-Do you have a kit for a 71 B-Body?

it just sucks that the challenger is still the slowest through everything even after the mods. are there any additional improvements to be had? was the engine underpowered? trans slipping? subframe connectors need to be welded in? that could have helped shave a few more seconds and a few MPH.