suspension upgrade

-
anarchy0392 said:
Stock means 4.5 LBP, disc up front and drums in the rear not sure if they are 9" or 10". Its on a 7 1/4 rear. Lookinh for a 8 3/4.

As for what level of handling close to my ford focus that I take to the trac lol. The dart may see the trac 2 or more times a year and by trac I mean road course.

Okay then lets see

1.) 1" torsion bars

2.) Hellwig or feel firm sway bar

3.)Looks like billastines

4.) Not needed

5.) Not needed

6.) Make my own

7.) So camber bolt for camber and moog offset bushings for caster. Got a part number or link to the bushings?

8.) So I need 245/45/R17 to match stock tire hight or would it be a 50?
Click to expand...

If your aim is the track and you have some track experience with your Focus, I think you need to get a little more agressive...and more costly.

$800 is not going to take you far with your starting point. You will blow throught that with tires and rims. If you are doing track days, consider if it's importatant to you to have the same rim and tires all the way around to allow you to rotate.

1" t-bars might be on the soft side for track. Might consider 1.06". For over 1" at track, I'd be looking at frame connectors. Especially with a car from the rust belt.

For track, you could start out with just a front sway bar. I disconnect my rear one at the large not so tight track.

Then run homemade Home Depot 3" brake ducts and remove your disk brake shields to get the most out of what you have at the track.

To keep in your budget, You can run Moog offset #7103 upper control arm bushings to get positive caster. Do not install them per the instructions inside the box. Will you pay to have someone press these on? If so, might be about same cost to buy $200 tubular control arms.

If you have free access to alignment machine, try to get those specs now. Doesn't hurt to try for free.

Shocks are tough. I think you will out grow Bilstien RCD's but Hotchkis Fox schocks are out of you budget.

I don't think any of these upgrades are within your $800 budget after you do tires and rims and spacers. You need around 5.5" backspacing in the front with a 17x8 rim and factory discs. And the rear will be 4.5" backspacing with a large bolt 8 3/4 A-body rear.

Another idea in the rear is getting a 65-67 B-body rear end that is wider than a A-body rear and come with large bolt pattern. And cheaper than a A-body rear. The 65-67 rear's spring pads are slighly wider. It will bolt in. But if you pay to have someone relocate the spring pads it's cheaper then a LBP A-body 8 3/4 or a Dana. If you find a 65-67 B-body rear for a reasonable price.
 
abodyjoe said:
dr diff will sell ya a bolt in deal all set up ready to go for about $2200

http://www.doctordiff.com/strange-60.html
Click to expand...

Way over budget. IMHO. If he's not carefull, He's going to have $7K of suspension mods on a car he just bought, that will be worth $4K with a newborn baby while going to school.

Joe, what where the specs on that Mustang rim and tire you fit on your wife's 69 Dart?

I've got 245/60/15 on the back of my 68 dart with 15x7 rims. They have quite a bit of sidewall bulge.
 
800 could go far for used other than shocks these have to be new and if I use a b bodie could I just use a offset spring shackles
 
Not that they're inline with what it seems you want to do, the KYBs I put on my Dart are great. They are a bit stiff, but I was looking for that. Price was quite nice too.
 
anarchy0392 said:
800 could go far for used other than shocks these have to be new and if I use a b bodie could I just use a offset spring shackles
Click to expand...


If you could find used sway bars. Used T-bars over 1" are tough to find.

For a 65-67 B-body rear, the spring pads are wider than an A-body by a little amount 1/2" or so. You can just put it in the car and the leafs will box out a little to make up for the difference.
 
anarchy0392 said:
Also my budget is about 800 strecthed over the next few months. Got bills, house payment, and a newborn using up all my money right now lol and im not in a rush to get everything. I can get it piece by piece. It would also allow me appreciate each upgrade.also how low under stock should I go?
Click to expand...

This is a pretty important piece of information... Wheels and tires by themselves are going to cost at least $800 at the end of the day.
 
You may also want to give Dick a call at FirmFeel in Vancouver, WA. He is an a-body handling specialist, and makes his own sway bars, and all different sizes of torsion bars. www.firmfeel.com is his website.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top