67 Barracuda- Brakes and suspension on a 5000 budget- advice needed

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SeattleQQ1Fish

SeattleQQ1Fish

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I have 5000.00 to upgrade the brakes and suspension on my 67 Barracuda FB. The car will be driven daily, or at least a few times a week, exclusively on the street. I won’t be doing any kind of racing, but there is a lot of aggressive traffic around here, and the car needs to perform well in those situations.

My goal is to get the car handling and steering more like a modern car and braking strong enough to handle the 340 4-speed, 8 3/4 swap next year (and perhaps an even more powerful engine in the future.)

I’ll be running 15x7 cop wheels with 215 60 or 65 tires in the front and 225s in the back. It's hot here much of the year, so I'll run a good set of summer radials.

I want to do a front disc swap, rebuild the rear drums, and replace the all the brake lines in addition to suspension work.

What I have to start with:
-The original 273 / 904 and 7 1/4 rear
-All original suspension components
-Power steering was replaced with a fast ratio manual box from PST with a Moog pitman arm
-Front and rear manual drums (I plan on staying manual)
-No sway bars

I already have:
-All the parts to do the rear brakes, including the rear axle brake line and parking brake cable
- A set of LCA’s with the early sway bar tabs.

Not including the price of the wheels and labor, what’s the best bang for my buck on this budget?

Are things like tubular upper arms and adjustable strut rods necessary for what I’m doing, or can I get a good alignment with offset bushings alone? I imagine those things would kill my budget quickly.

Thanks in advance for your input
 
This is just me what I’n doing for my 65 Dart:
Front
1. 73-76 A body disc swap with 73-76 LBJ control arms
2. UCA Moog offset bushings
3. 65-72 rebuilt LCAs with stock location sway bar tabs
4. Helwig 1 & 1/4 in hollow sway bar
5. Steer and Gear rebuilt Power Steering box in their Stage III configuration (modern vehicle feel)

EDIT: I forgot TB’s! I will be using 1.03’s

Rear:
1. 8.75 rear housing with shortened and resplined truck axles
2. Dr Diff based rear disc kit (94-04 Mustang discs
3. 76 A Body cop car rear sway bar (have had it for at least 20 years now and will put it to good use

EDIT: I’ve got some cheap OEM-style shocks but I will definitely upgrade to much better.

All new brake lines, new master cylinder

I will be Using what I have for wheels - Wheel Vintiques 14 in chrome Magnums (yes, the rims do clear the rear brakes!).

Tires TBD

Engine is a basically stock rebuilt of a 66 Commando 273 in front of a Dakota A500 OD Engine
 
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Maybe this will help. I have $11K in my 383 rebuild and $1500 in my 4-sp rebuild. How far can you go with $5k? Focus.
 
Murray said:
Maybe this will help. I have $11K in my 383 rebuild and $1500 in my 4-sp rebuild. How far can you go with $5k? Focus.
Click to expand...

???

the info the OP gave and the reply was helpful and spot on.
 
Most bang ;
First stop is the tireshop and get rid of the skinny pizzacutters . All the brakes in the world are absolutely useless when your contact patches are the size of silver dollars. ( Yeah I know, a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea)
Get the fronts up to 235s and the rear to 295s, and then even a 10" drum drum will stop your street-car just fine, at street speeds. The trick is send some stopping power out to the fatboys in the back.
 
SeattleQQ1Fish said:
I have 5000.00 to upgrade the brakes and suspension on my 67 Barracuda FB. The car will be driven daily, or at least a few times a week, exclusively on the street. I won’t be doing any kind of racing, but there is a lot of aggressive traffic around here, and the car needs to perform well in those situations.

My goal is to get the car handling and steering more like a modern car and braking strong enough to handle the 340 4-speed, 8 3/4 swap next year (and perhaps an even more powerful engine in the future.)

I’ll be running 15x7 cop wheels with 215 60 or 65 tires in the front and 225s in the back. It's hot here much of the year, so I'll run a good set of summer radials.

I want to do a front disc swap, rebuild the rear drums, and replace the all the brake lines in addition to suspension work.

What I have to start with:
-The original 273 / 904 and 7 1/4 rear
-All original suspension components
-Power steering was replaced with a fast ratio manual box from PST with a Moog pitman arm
-Front and rear manual drums (I plan on staying manual)
-No sway bars

I already have:
-All the parts to do the rear brakes, including the rear axle brake line and parking brake cable
- A set of LCA’s with the early sway bar tabs.

Not including the price of the wheels and labor, what’s the best bang for my buck on this budget?

Are things like tubular upper arms and adjustable strut rods necessary for what I’m doing, or can I get a good alignment with offset bushings alone? I imagine those things would kill my budget quickly.

Thanks in advance for your input
Click to expand...

There are recipes out there with full cost breakdowns. Search for posts from 72BluNBlu, he has posted lists several times with suggestions as to what to do along with costs. And he daily drives his car, so it fits your topic very well.

I'm not going to say if you have a reasonable budget or not, but sure seems like you have enough. I know I don't have near $5k in my suspension and I am running the RCD shocks, used .99 TB's, offset bushing UCA's, braced LCA and an aftermarket 1.125" sway bar. With a home alignment, I think it drives as well as my 2015 R/T Challenger did, minus the slow ratio manual steering.
 
65 Dartman said:
This is just me what I’n doing for my 65 Dart:
Front
1. 73-76 A body disc swap with 73-76 LBJ control arms
2. UCA Moog offset bushings
3. 65-72 rebuilt LCAs with stock location sway bar tabs
4. Helwig 1 & 1/4 in hollow sway bar
5. Steer and Gear rebuilt Power Steering box in their Stage III configuration (modern vehicle feel)

Rear:
1. 8.75 rear housing with shortened and resplined truck axles
2. Dr Diff based rear disc kit (94-04 Mustang discs
3. 76 A Body cop car rear sway bar
All new brake lines new master cylinder
I will be Using what I have for wheels - Whell Vintiques 14 in chrome Magnums (yes, the rims do clear the rear brakes!)

Engine is a basically stock rebuilt of a 66 Commando 273 in front of a Dakota A500 OD Engine
Click to expand...

I like that suspension list.

I would add/change:

-leave the the rear drums. Unless you already have disk stuff

-run a hellwig adjustable rear sway bar. (the 76 police unit is extremely hard to find)

-add 1-1.03” torsion bars

225/60/15 front tires with 15x7 rims with 4.25 backspacing (cop rims) and 245/60/15 in back. Watch the front fender lip bottom to tire clearance. Might need to lip fender there. But 225/60/15 will fit like a 215/65/15. So might as well get wider tire.

next step would be shock upgrade. If you need new shocks then Biltstein RCD.

Don’t do the tubular UCA and adjustable strut on a budget deal.
 
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I'd ditch those 15" wheels and move to 17" with smaller walls and wider thread widths. Larger torsion bars, add front and rear sway bars, Offset upper a arms at least or QA1 or similar upper A-and get a modern alignment. Dr Diff 13" front and 11.625 rears with a 15/16 master cylinder with handle brakes. Add some good socks like Bilsteins, Fox, Viking, Hotchkis etc. Lots of posts on non-drag racing, street type to high speed track handling.
 
This is one of the threads @72bluNblu posted in with his list.

I'm pretty much duplicating it, but with Viking warrior double adjustable shocks. So far, so good. $5k should be plenty for a decent suspension build but you might start to stretch it if you want a better rear end (you want a better rear end). Your goals seems to match up well with the explorer rear axle swap though, might be a good idea to read up on it.

Thing about the adjustable strut rods and controls arms is that the stock replacement parts available are all garbage, and modern tires require a different alignment to work their best. I would say that adjustable strut rods are non negotiable for a car that will see serious street time but that's solely based on my comparison of the stock parts that came off my front end compared to the new "stock style" replacement parts I got from reputable sources (they're garbage compared to OEM design). If you have some NOS strut rod bushings you can use, then reusing the stock strut rods would probably be fine. The garbage replacement parts might even be OK, but I'd bet you wind up replacing them frequently and I know alignments aren't cheap in my town..

Offset bushings can suffice for the control arm, but offset ball joints are weaker so unless it's a trailered, drag only car, I'd stick with good stock style ball joints. Tubular upper arms are a wise investment though, especially for a disc brake swap up front.
 
My low budget performance build: Factory manual steering. Factory manual K-H 4-piston disc brakes with cross-drilled slotted rotors and ceramic pads. A-body 8.75 SG with factory 10 x 1-3/4 drums. Welded and reinforced 68-up K frame. Front and rear sway bars (1-1/8 and 3/4, respectively). Upgraded torsion bars (I went mild; you can go as wild as you want, but my take is more sway bar, less t-bar makes for a better street ride). Factory HD rear springs. Moog offset bushings. KYT shocks. 215-70-14 on 14 x 6 rally wheels. Doesn't sound like much but it was dead stable at speed on Willow Springs road course. As budget allows, I would upgrade wheels and tires, then shocks, then possibly a 20:1 manual box. Don't see any compelling reason to go any further than that, other than bragging rights — it already has better handling and braking than power (273 Commando/904). BTW this is not the car in my avatar picture... the blue 'vert is a slant six stocker.
 
I agree with just the simple upgrades, you don't need high-end parts to make your ride handle well. I honestly would say your tire sizes are fine, a 273 won't be struggling to put power down on 225s. Tires that are too wide for your needs will actually hurt the performance of the car; Wider tires/wheels are heavier, which means more rotational inertia, making it harder to accelerate or decelerate the car. It also means additional unsprung weight, which will make the suspension less responsive. Wider tires also mean more rolling resistance, which will decrease your gas mileage (probably a noticeable amount). The tire sizes you specified will likely be just fine, the compound of the tire will be important. A sticky, skinny tire can be just as good or better than a hard, wide one. If you plan on keeping the same wheels and tires for the 340 swap, then maybe go to a 235 or bigger in the rear and another size or two in the front. All depends on what you plan to do!

Another thing I would add is subframe connectors from US Car Tool. Good suspension parts won't be able to do their job if the chassis they are connected to isn't stiff. You will feel a noticeable difference in how the car behaves and handles once the front and back of the car are tied together. If you have any leftover cash you want to spend after the subframe connectors and other upgrades, you could maybe add torque boxes and inner fender braces.
 
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5K can go a long way, especially if you are doing the work.

If it was me and definitely increasing the power in the near future (340-4spd to start), I wouldn't waste ANY money on the 7-1/4 rear end now. It won't last. Plan for the future, 8-1/4, 8-3/4 or I hate to say it Phord rear.
Go for 4.5 BBP now. Get it over with and pay for your upgrades one time, not two times.
 
Chained_360 said:
A sticky, skinny tire can be just as good or better than a hard, wide one.
Click to expand...

Good luck finding a sticky skinny tire. Unless by sticky you mean “lasts a million miles”. :D

One of the biggest issues with 16” and smaller wheels is finding a tire with a decent compound without running drag radials and replacing them every couple of months. That and you can’t run 13” brakes.
 
92BzeKfl.jpg


Here is my list from another thread I started. It’s way over $5k but provides food for thought, and this doesn’t even cover wheels and tires.

You can take off almost $1k by not using viper brakes and almost another $1k if you keep the rear drums, then again, if you’re going big bolt pattern wheels you need to redo the rears anyway.

I’ve found one of the biggest hurdles is changing to BBP wheels. Basically requires to to start over front to back and can’t really do it one half at a time if you want to drive the car.
 
The first decision is whether to run big or small bolt pattern. I typically run small bolt pattern since it is such a pain to get all the big bolt pattern stuff. Maybe redo the drum brakes, 10", with Firm Feel shoes (Firmfeel Mopar Suspension and Steering ). Or just get a Kelsey Hays disc setup add some good brake pads. 7/8 torsion bars minimum and 6 leaf HD rear springs. Upgrade to stock A Body 8 3/4 rear when you get around to it and be done. Most important thing, once the suspension is rebuilt, is a front sway Bar. I want a tubular Firm Feel bar, but even a stock 67-72 bar will make a huge difference. You already have the hard to get lower control arms with sway bar tabs. I use rubber bushings and HD strut rod bushings with the original strut rods. Upgrade to 11/16 tie rod ends. Get good lower ball joints, the upper ball joints will probably still be good and might just need new seals. PST is a good vendor and offers discounts. Next get good shocks, good tires, and a great alignment. I am rebuilding the front end on the 67 Fastback, and it is the only A Body I have that has the big bolt pattern. I wish I had not started down that route. I have a 73 up reinforced K frame with rubber bushings everywhere and Bilstein shocks. I'm running 11.75 discs with OEM pin calipers with 10 x 2.5 rear drums and a 73 A Body 15/16 manual disc master cylinder. The only trick piece I have are Firm Feel tubular upper control arms. Out back I'm running a narrowed, custom BBP street axles, 8 3/4 to use stock offset wheels. The sway bar is from a Cop car. It works fine, but not sure the difference was worth it for all the thinking and new parts. I think it is easier and cheaper to get custom SBP wheels.
 
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DionR said:
Good luck finding a sticky skinny tire. Unless by sticky you mean “lasts a million miles”. :D
Click to expand...

Good point. A quick look at Tire Rack shows exactly one tire in 225/60/15- Radial T/A. If I want summer tires, I'll have to reconsider my wheel options..
 
First off, lots of good advice already, and some not so good. Run from SBP like the plague, it will haunt you. If you already have cop wheels then you're already going BBP, that's the far better choice. If you're upgrading as much as you want to upgrade the SBP will only limit future improvements.

As for tires, if you want better handling there's nothing worthwhile in 15". Basically all you've got are BFG T/A's and Cooper cobra's. They're not terrible, but if you really want more modern handling then more modern tires are where you need to start. 17's are readily available in lots of good compounds, and you can get classic looking 17" rims that won't look out of place with the right tire sizes. A set of 17x8's with 245/45/17's will blow the doors off anything you can get in a 225/60/15. Also, don't get caught up in the weight, especially with cop rims. The 275/35/18's on 18x9's I run on the front of my Duster are a lighter wheel/tire combo than the 225/60/15's on 15x7" cop wheels that they replaced

tireweights_zpsf3d39dce-jpg.jpg


For the rest of it there are a few good sources, Bergman AutoCraft (BAC), Firm Feel (FFI), PST, and QA1 pretty much make everything you need.

Suspension work:
1.03" - 1.12" torsion bars (PST, FFI, BAC) ------------------------$250-$355
Tubular UCA's (PST, FFI, QA1, etc)------------------------$350
Adjustable strut rods (QA1-52311)----------------$229
Solid tie rod sleeves (QA1-52325)----------------$65
LCA boxing plate (PST LCAPLTMOP621)-------------$18
Greasable LCA pins (FFI w bushings)----------------$135

Helwig tubular front sway bar 1.25" #55917 ----- $327
Solid rear 3/4” #6907--------------------------------$237

Rear Springs: 0 arch, something in the 120 lb/in to 130 lb/in rate

Hotchkis leaf springs (HSS-24385)------------------$380


Energy suspension 1" shackle bushings 2-2117G----$9

Bilstein RCD shocks(RCD-70-56663)------------------$500

Grand total on that is about $2,600 , I updated prices on this from my previous list, they should be fairly close. So that's only about half your budget. Not everything is there of course, you'll need tie rod ends, ball joints, etc. But you should be able to stay under $5k pretty easily.

Chassis work:
Subframe connectors (1.5" x 3", .083" to 1/8" wall)
Torque boxes (US Cartool)

Extra credit:
Shock tower to firewall reinforcement (US cartool or tubular "J" bar)
Lower radiator support reinforcement (US Cartool)

Alignment:
-.5° to -1° camber, +3° (minimum) or more caster, 1/16" to 1/8" toe in

For the explanation- I recommend tubular UCA's because you can't really get more than +3° of caster with the stock UCA's and the Moog K7103 offset bushings. That might be ok for you, but really the car will handle better with more caster. I recommend adjustable strut rods to eliminate binding on the LCA travel. The stock set up is "one size fits most" that doesn't usually fit any particular car all that well, and if you upgrade the LCA bushings you need to tune the strut rod length. I used to recommend the Mopar Oval Track rear springs, but their quality has been terrible lately and I won't recommend them until they improve that. It's a shame because they used to be a good, low cost option for an improved rear spring, the other options like Peter Bergman's Eaton springs or the Hotchkis springs are much more expensive.

If you really want more modern handling you'll also need chassis stiffening. Minimum I would say is torque boxes and subframe connectors, and the subframe connectors you can make yourself if you have some fabrication skills. US Cartool makes great chassis stiffening parts. The only thing I'd skip 100% of the time is their subframe connectors, because really you need to fully strip the car to install those right. And even then you really need a lift or a rotisserie. Without those, just make your own out of rectangular tube. It'll work just as well, and it will be LOTS easier to install. I've done both, and I wouldn't do the US Cartool ones again.

Brakes:
DoctorDiff sells everything you need for the front disk conversion. He sells the full 73+ Mopar conversion for the 10.95" brakes (stage I) as well as everything for the 11.75" Mopar disks (stageII). The 11.75's do require 15" or larger rims. I ran the 11.75's on my Challenger for 70k miles as a daily driver too, they work fantastic. And everything is off the shelf Mopar on those. Cass (aka, doctordiff), is super knowledgeable and very helpful. One of the best Mopar businesses out there.

Stage I- 10.95" Front Disc Brake Kit (Stage 1) (around $500 depending on what else you need)
Stage II-Mopar 11.75" Front Disc Brake Kit (Stage 2) (around $600)

I have more details on the specific stuff I've done to my car in my build thread, which is linked at the bottom of my signature.

img_9963-jpeg.jpg
 
72bluNblu said:
First off, lots of good advice already, and some not so good. Run from SBP like the plague, it will haunt you. If you already have cop wheels then you're already going BBP, that's the far better choice. If you're upgrading as much as you want to upgrade the SBP will only limit future improvements.

As for tires, if you want better handling there's nothing worthwhile in 15". Basically all you've got are BFG T/A's and Cooper cobra's. They're not terrible, but if you really want more modern handling then more modern tires are where you need to start. 17's are readily available in lots of good compounds, and you can get classic looking 17" rims that won't look out of place with the right tire sizes. A set of 17x8's with 245/45/17's will blow the doors off anything you can get in a 225/60/15. Also, don't get caught up in the weight, especially with cop rims. The 275/35/18's on 18x9's I run on the front of my Duster are a lighter wheel/tire combo than the 225/60/15's on 15x7" cop wheels that they replaced

View attachment 1715674885

For the rest of it there are a few good sources, Bergman AutoCraft (BAC), Firm Feel (FFI), PST, and QA1 pretty much make everything you need.

Suspension work:
1.03" - 1.12" torsion bars (PST, FFI, BAC) ------------------------$250-$355
Tubular UCA's (PST, FFI, QA1, etc)------------------------$350
Adjustable strut rods (QA1-52311)----------------$229
Solid tie rod sleeves (QA1-52325)----------------$65
LCA boxing plate (PST LCAPLTMOP621)-------------$18
Greasable LCA pins (FFI w bushings)----------------$135

Helwig tubular front sway bar 1.25" #55917 ----- $327
Solid rear 3/4” #6907--------------------------------$237

Rear Springs: 0 arch, something in the 120 lb/in to 130 lb/in rate

Hotchkis leaf springs (HSS-24385)------------------$380


Energy suspension 1" shackle bushings 2-2117G----$9

Bilstein RCD shocks(RCD-70-56663)------------------$500

Grand total on that is about $2,600 , I updated prices on this from my previous list, they should be fairly close. So that's only about half your budget. Not everything is there of course, you'll need tie rod ends, ball joints, etc. But you should be able to stay under $5k pretty easily.

Chassis work:
Subframe connectors (1.5" x 3", .083" to 1/8" wall)
Torque boxes (US Cartool)

Extra credit:
Shock tower to firewall reinforcement (US cartool or tubular "J" bar)
Lower radiator support reinforcement (US Cartool)

Alignment:
-.5° to -1° camber, +3° (minimum) or more caster, 1/16" to 1/8" toe in

For the explanation- I recommend tubular UCA's because you can't really get more than +3° of caster with the stock UCA's and the Moog K7103 offset bushings. That might be ok for you, but really the car will handle better with more caster. I recommend adjustable strut rods to eliminate binding on the LCA travel. The stock set up is "one size fits most" that doesn't usually fit any particular car all that well, and if you upgrade the LCA bushings you need to tune the strut rod length. I used to recommend the Mopar Oval Track rear springs, but their quality has been terrible lately and I won't recommend them until they improve that. It's a shame because they used to be a good, low cost option for an improved rear spring, the other options like Peter Bergman's Eaton springs or the Hotchkis springs are much more expensive.

If you really want more modern handling you'll also need chassis stiffening. Minimum I would say is torque boxes and subframe connectors, and the subframe connectors you can make yourself if you have some fabrication skills. US Cartool makes great chassis stiffening parts. The only thing I'd skip 100% of the time is their subframe connectors, because really you need to fully strip the car to install those right. And even then you really need a lift or a rotisserie. Without those, just make your own out of rectangular tube. It'll work just as well, and it will be LOTS easier to install. I've done both, and I wouldn't do the US Cartool ones again.

Brakes:
DoctorDiff sells everything you need for the front disk conversion. He sells the full 73+ Mopar conversion for the 10.95" brakes (stage I) as well as everything for the 11.75" Mopar disks (stageII). The 11.75's do require 15" or larger rims. I ran the 11.75's on my Challenger for 70k miles as a daily driver too, they work fantastic. And everything is off the shelf Mopar on those. Cass (aka, doctordiff), is super knowledgeable and very helpful. One of the best Mopar businesses out there.

Stage I- 10.95" Front Disc Brake Kit (Stage 1) (around $500 depending on what else you need)
Stage II-Mopar 11.75" Front Disc Brake Kit (Stage 2) (around $600)

I have more details on the specific stuff I've done to my car in my build thread, which is linked at the bottom of my signature.

View attachment 1715674886
Click to expand...

Your willingness to repost this information time after time is admirable, and i recommend your suspension suggestions be stickied if they haven't already, lol!
 
OK, here is my $0.02 worth. You have had a lot of good advice so far. Some of it is probably a little more race/performance oriented than you wanted. I understand you won't be racing, but want a good handling car in 'aggressive' traffic. Here are my thoughts on a well handling almost daily driver car that should perform well without breaking the bank.
1. Front end: First let me say that although you might not have much luck on the Autocross circuit with a stock, 50 year old Mopar suspension, there is nothing wrong with it for what you are talking about. You do not really need tubular control arms to achieve a good handling car. Contact PST for a poly-urethane front end rebuild kit. They are a sponsor on FABO, they give us a 10% discount and their stuff is good quality. You could look into boxing in your LCAs. I have heard that this will improve handling, and if you can weld the cost would be minimal. While the front end is apart for the rebuild, paint all parts (like UCAs, LCAs, etc.) with a decent quality paint. Eastwood makes a spray bomb chassis paint that is very good, and will hold up much better than Krylon or Rustoleum. Have the parts all sand blasted before painting. The front sway bar will make a big difference. It might not be a bad idea to get new torsion Bars while the front end is apart.
2. Rear end: Don't throw any money at your current rear end. You said you were going to replace it with an 8.75 next year. So for right now I would just do a good brake job on the rear and call it good. If your springs are weak, a new set of rear springs would be a good idea. Get them now ONLY if they will be a direct transfer from the 7.25 over to the 8.75.
3. Tires: Although I agree that for maximum performance you might want to switch to 17 inch rims and tires, you said you were not going to be racing. So I see no reason to dump several thousand dollars here. Cooper Cobras or BF Goodrich Radial TAs would be a good selection, but there are eof other decent 15" tires. Look at www.tirerack.com. Any decent quality, modern radial tire will give you what you want. If you want raised white letter tires, I will warn you the the white letters on the Radial TAs tend to yellow and become no longer white prematurely.
4. Brakes: I had 10" drum brakes on my 69 Barracuda Fastback. about 10 or 12 years ago, I did a manual front disk conversion and WOW what a difference. I do not regret not going with the power brake kit. Manual disks on the front with drums on the back work great. You should be able to do a front disk conversion and a rear brake job for about $1000 or less depending on what you select.

I am guessing you can do all this for around $2500 to $3000. Now I know that some guys are going to poo-poo these suggestions, but if you are truly focused on a non-race car, you can achieve the level of handling and braking you are talking about for WELL under $5000.
 
So rebuild the stock suspension, convert it to stock front disc brakes and use XHD leaf springs out back and set ride height where you want it. The stock suspension is plenty adequate for what you want and you can save a ton of cash for something else.
 
harrisonm said:
OK, here is my $0.02 worth. You have had a lot of good advice so far. Some of it is probably a little more race/performance oriented than you wanted. I understand you won't be racing, but want a good handling car in 'aggressive' traffic. Here are my thoughts on a well handling almost daily driver car that should perform well without breaking the bank.
1. Front end: First let me say that although you might not have much luck on the Autocross circuit with a stock, 50 year old Mopar suspension, there is nothing wrong with it for what you are talking about. You do not really need tubular control arms to achieve a good handling car. Contact PST for a poly-urethane front end rebuild kit. They are a sponsor on FABO, they give us a 10% discount and their stuff is good quality. You could look into boxing in your LCAs. I have heard that this will improve handling, and if you can weld the cost would be minimal. While the front end is apart for the rebuild, paint all parts (like UCAs, LCAs, etc.) with a decent quality paint. Eastwood makes a spray bomb chassis paint that is very good, and will hold up much better than Krylon or Rustoleum. Have the parts all sand blasted before painting. The front sway bar will make a big difference. It might not be a bad idea to get new torsion Bars while the front end is apart.
2. Rear end: Don't throw any money at your current rear end. You said you were going to replace it with an 8.75 next year. So for right now I would just do a good brake job on the rear and call it good. If your springs are weak, a new set of rear springs would be a good idea. Get them now ONLY if they will be a direct transfer from the 7.25 over to the 8.75.
3. Tires: Although I agree that for maximum performance you might want to switch to 17 inch rims and tires, you said you were not going to be racing. So I see no reason to dump several thousand dollars here. Cooper Cobras or BF Goodrich Radial TAs would be a good selection, but there are eof other decent 15" tires. Look at www.tirerack.com. Any decent quality, modern radial tire will give you what you want. If you want raised white letter tires, I will warn you the the white letters on the Radial TAs tend to yellow and become no longer white prematurely.
4. Brakes: I had 10" drum brakes on my 69 Barracuda Fastback. about 10 or 12 years ago, I did a manual front disk conversion and WOW what a difference. I do not regret not going with the power brake kit. Manual disks on the front with drums on the back work great. You should be able to do a front disk conversion and a rear brake job for about $1000 or less depending on what you select.

I am guessing you can do all this for around $2500 to $3000. Now I know that some guys are going to poo-poo these suggestions, but if you are truly focused on a non-race car, you can achieve the level of handling and braking you are talking about for WELL under $5000.
Click to expand...

I obviously don't disagree that you can have a great handling car for under $5k in suspension work. BUT, there is some bad information in here.

1- The "50 year old" mopar suspension isn't any older than the Mustang II stuff that guys put on when they do coilovers. Pinto suspension? C'mon. The mopar torsion bar suspension is capable of hanging with the best stuff out there if properly set up. Now the parts are out there to do exactly that. The fastest Mopars on autoX and road courses are running torsion bars.

You do need tubular UCA's for better handling. Why? Because the +3° of caster you can get with the stock UCA's and offset bushings isn't enough when you start running wider tires. The tubular UCA's have more caster built in, so you can get more like +5°, which greatly improves the driving characteristics with the wider front tires. Can you do it without tubular UCA's? Yes. Are you better off with them if you're serious about handling? Also yes. And in this case, the OP has small ball joint UCA's. He wants BBP disks, so, he already kinda needs new UCA's.

3- there's nothing really streetable in 15" with a treadwear rating under 400. Look all you want at tirerack, I'm there all the time. BFG T/A's and Cooper Cobra's are the only things you'll find in the right sizes, they are both all season tires and are much harder compounds than you'll find in real performance tires. If there's something else go ahead and post it. There isn't. I ran around on 225/60/15's for awhile. They're ok, but the tires and sizes you can get when you go to 17" or 18" rims are ridiculously better. Not even a comparison.


Some evidence of the "50 year old" mopar suspension working great...
’70 Challenger On Factory-Style Suspension is an Autocross Warrior

2010 SRT8 Challenger vs the '70 Hotchkis Challenger. The '70 won on the skid pad.
2010 Dodge Challenger SRT-8 vs. 1970 Dodge Challenger | Edmunds

Here's the video of the Hotchkis Taxi thoroughly flogging a 2012 3 series BMW. Remember, that's a 4 door Satellite. The video is a little long. You can pretty much just start at the 3minute mark. At 4:30 you can watch the Hotchkis Taxi kicking butt. And at 6:00 min TireRack's professional driver goes into how the Hotckis Taxi is a full second a lap faster than the BMW 3 series with the same tires and the same driver, even though Woody (tirerack's driver) had never driven a "protouring set up car" before the test and has probably turned thousands of laps with that 3 series.


Another Hotchkis Taxi vote. Wracks71, a member here, ran his fully RMS equipped duster at an event back in the day. Also present, the 4 door B-body Hotchkis taxi, with torsion bars and leaf springs. The Taxi won. Kind of apples and oranges I know, lots of different equipment and different drivers. But those old torsion bars still came out ahead.
2013 Muscle Car of the Year - Popular Hot Rodding Magazine
 
One look no further than the 1961 NACSAR Compact Car Race to see how an A body can handle with a stock suspension. Dated, yes, but still relevant.
 
My suggestion would be, "Let your budget be your guide". With that being said, figure where you want to start & start pricing new & used pieces. Put a Wanted Ad up on the site to see what is available through our members. Someone maybe upgrading & sell you some or all of the parts & pieces to do your upgrade. If you can't go it all at one time, first I would upgrade my brakes, second upgrade suspension & then anything else that needs to be done. All of the parts & pieces you remove should be cleaned up & put up in the For Sale section, you never know someone may be looking for what you took off for their build.
 
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