I originally set my 69 Satellite up to be more of a drag car, but since then I have decided that I would rather have it handle better since it is mostly a street car. I'm also becoming more interesting in the pro-touring type stuff. I like the idea of an old Mopar that can handle like a modern sports car.

What I have now is no sway bars, 318 t-bars, SS leaf springs, fully rebuilt front suspension, Dana 60 in the rear w/ 4.10 gears, factory manual steering box, and Comp Eng 3-way shocks all the way around. Motor is a 600 HP RB-based stroker w/ aluminum heads and 727 w/ 3500 converter.

Right now it handles like a boat. My funds are kind of limited right now so I'm looking for some upgrades that will make a difference, not break the bank and something I can build on.

I'm thinking a good front sway bar, the Firm Feel stage 3 box, and maybe some 1.03 torsion bars. Possibly some new shocks if the Comps won't work. I am about to order the Dr. Diff rear brake kit to go with my SSBC front kit as well.

Let me know what you guys recommend, all input is welcome!

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/show...e=0#Post7003899

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/show...e=0#Post7075609

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/show...e=0#Post7086464

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/show...e=0#Post7090703



brakes;

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/show...e=0#Post7045539

You're on the right track! My car was in almost the same situation this time last year. My first upgrades were a Hotchkis front bar,replaced drag shocks with just 17$ monroes and even with big'n'littles it was a dramatic improvement accross the board. Then went with 18" wheels and tires and ditch ss springs for ct springs and its a completely different car waaaaay more fun to drive and I'm far from done.

You've got a good plan especially with limited funds.
1. Front Sway Bar
2. Larger torsion bars
3. Firm Feel Stage 3 box. - If you hate the standard Chrysler power steering, then yes this would be next.
I'd skip any changes to the rear brakes, but if the fronts are drums, that might #4 on the list. This depends on how well you've got the drums tuned in, your driving style, and location. It sounds like you may have already bought a front kit, so then its done, go with it.
As far as shocks, see how these work out and what you can do with them.
After those, the next and arguably most important item, is tires for projected uses. BFG T/A and Firestone Indy 500s are Ok on the street and even in snow and on unpaved roads. But there are better options for dry pavement that trade off the versatility.

Also check out Where to Start: A Reading List

Not sure what the budget is, but I'd say do it in this order;

alignment - You may have the DC recommended drag alignment so you'll want to change it a bit. Set it at desired ride height, as much positive caster as possible, 0 to -.5 degrees negative camber, 1/8 to 1/16 total toe in. This may be a bear with manual steering, but will improve the car's cornering manners. The need for power steering after this will be a personal preference.

front sway bar- the need for this is a no brainer. Figure $150 for a solid bar, $300+ for the tubular Hotchkis

shocks - shocks are to the suspension like a cam is to an engine, important to defining operation parameters. Your CE units can be dialed back to 50/50 for now, but then step up to some real good units, like the Bilsteins $300-400

t-bars, step these up if you want to firm things up further after feeling the results above. $200 on sale.

firm feel box - Unless it is really killing you with the alignment, I'd wait until here to install it. The box itself doesn't improve handling, but it does improve your feel. $300+ for box plus you'll need pump, brackets, hoses.

rear springs - SS units have too much camber, plus more rate than you would want with a rear sway bar. You'll need to flatten them out with a more OEM XHD like configuration. Maybe pull a couple of those half leafs out and see how that changes things. free - $200

rear brake kit, skip it altogether. No need to rear discs unless you're road racing it regularly.

I would skip the rear disc brakes, money is better spent elsewhere.

I have run ffi sway bars and other components, you can't go wrong with their stuff.

Thanks for the input guys. I'm still learning a lot about suspension systems. The search function here is terrible too so it's hard to find specific info.

I had power steering on the car and it was stock and had way too much "float" to it. I ditched it for manual steering because I already had what I thought was a good factory box but it's shot. I like the idea of more modern "tight " power steering and I think I'll go that route with the FFI box. I already have a good pump/reservoir to use.

The brakes on my car are terrible right now. I have SSBC 4 piston manual brakes with a 15/16 aluminum master and 10" drums in the rear. Car won't slide the tires on gravel. I have a drum/drum dist block and no prop block. I planned on the rear discs so I wouldn't have to change the dist block and add a prop valve. I may be wrong and I could add those things to my current setup if it will make a difference.

I will definitely do the sway bar, what brand do you guys recommend? Size? Do I need a rear bar as well?

The torsion bars, from what I've read so far is that 1.03 is a good size that will give good handling and not be too stiff. What is your guys experience with them? Am I on the right track?

Thanks again guys!

Thanks for the help Matt.

I think I will go with the FF power steering, seems like everyone loves it. I do prefer power steering, but the box I had on there before was so over-assisted that it was almost scary at highway speeds. At the time I had no idea about the FF box so I just ditched it for the manual box.

I was thinking about just buying a re-pop 69 distribution block and the factory prop block for a disc/drum car from Inline Tube. Does that have the residual valve built in? I did get a prop valve from SSBC but I didnt use it and now I can't find it. As far as the power brakes go, I have too much cam, so that's not an option. I tried it before, b/c the SSBC came with a booster but it didn't work very well. I do have a set of 11" brakes that I can rob off my Duster project if it would help. I can use the disc/drum dist block from it as well.

From reading the thread about the sway bars, it looks like there isn't much difference between them. I looked at the bars from Summit and they look good, price is right too. The instructions looked pretty straight forward, I may go that route. Should I get the rear bar as well?

I was looking at the Just Suspension and the PST torsion bars, the price looks good on both. All my front end parts are from PST so I may just get the bars from them. I've had good luck with them so far.

The gravel in the picture is at my father-in-laws shop. He has about 20+ Mopars in that building there. The ride height is about is low as I can go with the SS springs. I have 2" lowering blocks on it right now. The tires are also very tall at 29". I would rather do away with the block and throw some flatter springs under there but that's what I have right now. I was also looking at some shorter tires, maybe a 275/60 15. Right now I have 295/65 15's. Again, thanks for the help.

What valve covers are those?

Generally residual valve would be inside the front fitting on the master cylinder but I really don't know. Could be in the prop block. I don't know the specifics of the '69 B. Someone else might and the remanufacturers ought to.

There's some good factory technical service information at the imperial club. Scroll down to 1969 and check out '1969 Service Hightlights' for the brake changes instituted that year. Then check out the other brake specific bulletins.

Let me get this right, the car has the 10 x 1.75" brake drums on the rear or the wider ones?
In either case, they should be stopping the car at low speed. The wider ones would be better but whether 11s are worth the wieght is questionable. Bigger brakes will help dissapate the heat but there is no heat being generated so that's not the issue. Most lining materials work better as they get hotter but they all have optimum ranges. Street linings work from dead cold (even in the arctic) to at least a few hundred degrees. Race only compounds work from from a few hundred degrees to glowing hot. So those are the extremes. In the repeated high speed braking that occurs on a road course (or an oval) a lot of heat is generated and needs to be removed.

No rear bar at this time. Unless you've shifted a lot of weight to the rear, this car needs more front roll resistance. Adding a sway bar to the rear will increase the rear roll resistance that already is relatively high compared to the front. As a result you're getting into the possibility of oversteer situations developing at high speed. There was a discussion on oversteer not long ago in this forum - search function should turn it up.

Well I know tires (and wheels) are not cheap, but you can play with ride height that way for sure. I use a a 'tall' 70 series tire on the street (actually close to stock diameter), and a short 50 series tire on bigger rims for autocrossing. For the time I did a rallycross, I cranked up the t-bars a bit and used the street tires. One advantage of smaller diameter tires is you may save weight.

Matt- I'll have to find out about the residual valve in the MC. It's a Strange aluminum 15/16 that I got from Dr. Diff, so he probably knows.

The car does have the bigger 10" brakes, I think 2 or 2.5" wide. Are you referring to the linings of the pad/shoe materials? If so, the rears are stock replacement and the fronts are whatever comes with the SSBC kit. I don't know a whole lot about it. The 11" brakes would be a free upgrade so I may just do it. I have big drag radials on the back and I've kinda been wanting to go to more of a regular tire in a smaller size. I'd like for the car to be safe if I do happen to get caught in some rain. I've thought about going to a better tire but it looks like I would have to go to 17" plus weels, which I'm not opposed to but there's more cash. I could sell my 15's to help though.

I'll hold off on the rear bar for now. All the information I'm seeing on sway bar brands is pretty vague. It looks like I would be fine using a cheaper one like the one Summit offers. I would go with the one from FF or Hotchkis but it looks like it will be overkill.

Didn't mean to be confusing.
10 x 2.5" drum is stock for the '68 Bendix equiped disk brake cars. That's fine.
A larger drum adds unsprung weight and more rotating mass but might be worth it if you were repeatedly braking from 120 mph to 60 mph or even 80 to 40mph.

When I was describing temperature ranges this was in reference to lining on the pads and shoes. A stock type lining is fine unless you start doing road courses. Obviously there are different qualities in lining material as well as backing plates so later on you can try different ones if you want.

Anyway, whether or not you change to larger rear brakes, it sounds like the system is not working well and needs to be dealt with. That's my main point. Without a proportioning valve, the back drums should lock up when you hit the pedal hard at low speed on gravel.

Locking up the rear first is not good, especially in the rain. Therefore, you got to get the proportioning valve. If you stay with the stock rear brakes, a stock valve should work fine. think Andy F has a new book on B-body upgrades, and it may be helpful in these matters. I haven't seen it so that's all I can say. There were also some magazine projects involving b-bpdies if I remember correctly. You can check the Where to start reading thread for those.

Drag radials. Well think about a pair of tires and rims that match the front. Then put the drag radials on just when you're going to the drag strip. See how things feel with the changes. Save a major tire and wheel change for later when the tires are worn or getting hard.

Not sure what you're looking for in sway bar info. Biggest variables are diameter and attachment methods. Next is how thoroughly they tested fit on different combos. Finally, you may find some bars are hollow which saves weight.

Andy's book or maybe Tom Condran's old book may have some specific combinations they recommend. Otherwise, the best we can say is you're in the right ballpark with your plan. Then you can get more into tuning and adjusting it, if you want.

At this time I don't plan on doing any road racing, just looking for a good driving and handling car. Looking for a more modern feel out of it. I'll probably stick with the brakes I have and I plan on calling up Inline Tube and getting the factory distribution block and rear "hold-off valve" as they call it. Also plan on getting the Helwig 1 1/8 sway bar from Summit. Probably also do the 1.03 torsion bars from PST and the FFI stage 3 power steering. I'm also going to get some street tires , 275/60 15's, for the rear. I'm also going to set my Comp Eng shocks to 50/50. Hopefully this will get me on track.

I've also been meaning to order AndyF's B-body book, I have his Big Block book and I really liked it.

It takes a few minutes to look through them all, but check out the following threads on THIS very forum:
* What suspension mods are in your B body... I started that one.
* The suspension mod register at the top of this page.
* Anything on sway bars, also on this forum.
The stuff that you have outlined sounds pretty good. The rear discs can wait. I put them on my car at first because the 10" drums were out of round and needed new shoes as well. The disc rotors looked better through my wheel spokes too.
Some newbies can appreciate the "package" approach when setting their cars up for handling, because it takes the guesswork out of the job. It also takes a large bite out of your wallet. Those kits often include a full front end rebuild kit, shocks, sway bars front and rear, leaf springs and hardware. Others also include frame connectors. I started out with a custom 1 1/4" front sway bar, 1" torsion bars and KYB shocks in front with Mopar Performance leafs, 7/8" rear sway bar and KYB shocks. My Charger kicked the tail out too easily and felt too squirrelly, so I pulled the rear sway bar off. It rolls and leans a little more, but it also handles predictably.
Keep us informed as you make improvements. I think that you will like the Firm Feel steering box. If your exhaust system allows, consider adding the fast ratio idler and pitman arms. Those make the steering react quicker, add stiffness to the feel of the steering and reduce your stering wheel turns from 3 1/2 turns to about 2 3/4 lock to lock.

Thanks Frankenduster. I've been doing a lot of research lately and I think I have a pretty good plan so far. Will probably order the parts next week. I may go ahead and put the 11" brakes on just for the heck of it.
I probably should have just done the package deal, but it was a big chunk of money at the time and I have basically done a 180 with the plans for my car. I originally wanted more of a drag car but it will probably never see the strip. So now I want something that will be fun on the street.
I've heard nothing but great things about the FF box. I don't know if I can get away with the pitman and idler arms with my headers. I will look at it though. Thanks for the advice. Great looking Charger too.

THOSE THREADS WERE LINKED TO BY ME VERY EARLY IN THIS THREAD, READ IT.

Charger? That old turd? Heh heh heh... Thanks.
The combination of the Stage 3 steering box and fast ratio gear make for a really nice response and feel. I have the 2" TTI headers and they clear by a mile. The instructions in the TTI pamphlet lead you to think that they do not, but I'd gladly let anyone look at my car to see for sure. The Hooker 5903 and 5209 do NOT clear. Factory manifolds would clear easily unless your exhaust guy was a spun out tweeker.
If you don't have the clearance for these Fast Ratio arms, the modifications to the P/S pump noted elsewhere will likely give you more feel with reduced boost, but you will still have the same 3 1/2 turns at the wheel.

I did read through all the threads and they were very helpful. I have a much better feel for what I need now.

I like the idea of the longer Pitman and Idler arms but unfortunately I do have the Hooker headers, which are a PITA to install and remove and provide minimal clearance. So that won't work. Wish I would have went TTI.

I'm probably going to order some parts next week, so I'll keep you guys updated.