K-Member / Rack & Pinion Steering Suggestions

AAndrews said
You stated " The Red Brick was able to hang with a C6 vette, just torsion bars and leaf springs."


I think you are oversimplifying how the Red Brick can stay with a Vette.


" Here's the builder's description of "The Red Brick"

1968 Plymouth Valiant 427 Engine Swap - Mopar Muscle Magazine

Mostly original paint (doors and Dr fender repainted, don't quite match), all steel body, torque boxes, frame connectors, 6 pt (non intrusive) cage, firewall to frame rail bars underhood, XV front chassis (radiator) brace.

Engine, 7.0 liter Small Block dynoed at 519 hp @ 5800, 506 lb/ft @ 4100: 340 resto block, AN connections at oil filter. HV pump, remote filter, 3 QT Accusump mounted behind passenger seat. K1 4.125” stroke crank, K1 rods, JE pistons 10.5 compression. Edelbrock Aluminum heads - Stage 3 ported by Hughes Engines with 2.08 intake valves. Comp roller cam 236/236 at .050 with .545”/.537” lift, Comp solid roller lifters, Comp 1.5 ratio rockers, Milodon road race oil pan, MSD E-Curve distributor. Edelbrock Victor 340 intake ported by Shady Dell, BLP 650 CFM carb. TTI ceramic coated headers, TTI 2.5” X-pipe exhaust with Magnaflow mufflers.

Trans: A-833 with 2.66 first gear in Passon Performance aluminum case. Hurst shifter solid mount. Steel flywheel - McLeod clutch

Rear: 66-7 B-Body housing with 2.94 center section, Dr. Diff clutch type differential. Aluminum driveshaft.

Brakes: Front - Baer 6 piston, 13” two piece rotors Rear—Mustang Cobra rear disc kit from Dr. Diff. Mopar aluminum master cylinder 15/16” piston dia. Wilwood rear pressure valve - adjustable from drivers seat. Carbotech track pads all around as well as street pads for cruising.

Suspension: Front - 1.20 T-bars, 72 K frame seam welded, reinforced with FFI kit, notched for oil pan clearance, boxed for NASCAR-style Speedway Engineering sway bar, FMJ spindles, FFI upper A-arms, Lower arms boxed with AR Eng plates and setup for heim style endlink. Poly lower control arm pivots w/AR Eng retaining plates, FFI C-body tubular tie rods, FFI Stage 3 steering box with PS cooler mounted behind grille. Poly strut rod bushings. Bilstein shocks. Rear- AR Eng front hangers, F-body rear shackles, 340 rear springs with poly on both ends. Adjustable frame mounted rear sway bar .875”. Bilstein shocks. Has new 275/40/17 Falken Azenis 200 tread wear tires on 17x9 Konig wheels on all 4 corners.

Misc: trunk mounted battery, light weight Toyota 60A alternator, custom dash insert with Autometer gauges, Extra-large warning lights for oil press, H2O and volts. Aluminum radiator with SPAL sucker fan – Manual switch and thermostatically controlled. Corbeau seats with 4 pt harnesses. Heater/defrost removed, factory glass all intact, wipers & turn signals function as factory.


It takes a little more than torsion bars and leaf springs. This is a highly modified A-Body. Very very well done by someone who obviously knows suspension systems power trains and race cars.. I would guess its out of the skill realm of 90% of the members of this site. For us who don't and still want a great handling car, the kits offered by HDK and RMS come with the engineering done that performs exceptionally well and a relatively simple install.

I am in no way knocking your knowledge or expertise. I'm sure your car handles very well too.
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I didn't oversimplify anything. Excluding the engine, which we're not really talking about here, there are only a few differences between my car and the Red Brick. The 6 point cage, the Nascar sway bar, and 1.2" bars mostly. There are quite a few components on my car that exceed the capabilities of the parts on the Red Brick. The simple fact is that I've seen the Red Bricks specs before, and they influenced how I built my car (along with a few other builds). So if you want to do this, let's do this.

The Red Brick vs 72Blu's Duster

And honestly, the list I posted right at the beginning pretty much covers everything the Red Brick has suspension wise. The bars are smaller because we're talking about primarily street use. The chassis reinforcement and other things were left out, but, they'd have to be added to make a RMS or HDK car hang with the Red Brick too. For comparison purposes I leave out the stuff you'd have to do either way- brakes, chassis reinforcement, engine, etc. But if you wanted your RMS or HDK equipped car to hang with the Red Brick, you'd have to do all the chassis and engine work too.

Suspension wise, the Red Brick is not an extraordinary set up, it uses more stock parts than my car does. And honestly, that's been my whole point all along. It has a lot of other things going on for sure, but the suspension modifications are pretty basic and straightforward.