DOES THE HDK SUSPENSION K-MEMBER HANDLE BETTER THAN A T-BAR SUSPENSION?

If we are talking racing, I would rather see us compete together against the other makes so that a Mopar/Mopar build wins regardless of the type of suspension.

But the reality is, we aren't talking about (most of the time) any kind of competitive use at all. And I don't see running canyons with Shelby's and Corvettes as "competing". So for most on this forum, the "best" suspension is the one they chose to use as long as it keeps or gets their car on the road.

There have been some builds that have competed against the other makes in some bigger series, though. One was the Valiant on TB's in CAM-T (I think?) that was very competitive despite being way down on power. Another I think of is the guy on here with the blue and black Duster that was friends with the owner of RMS, hasn't been active for years. He started on TB's in some kind of national event (maybe Optima?) and wasn't competitive. He ended up with RMS kits front and back and (I think) still wasn't competitive. But maybe he was more competitive than I know, just reading between the lines with him.

I would love to see someone build a car and be competitive in something like the Optima series or maybe the CAM classes again. There is the yellow Super Bee that won the Vintage class at Moparty and made it into the Optima Invitational at SEMA last year. He was on a full QA1 coil over setup but has now swapped to full SpeedTech kits front and back. There is also the orange Cuda that started the SpeedTech chassis design for Mopars and runs in the Optima stuff. He is also good enough to get into the SEMA invitational as well.

The big issue (besides time/money) with getting into those big series is that the competitors in the other makes aren't running a stock type suspension in any way, in the older cars. This makes sense in the fact that most of the older cars from the other manufacturers didn't have a good suspension design so they had to do something. But the biggest difference now (IMO) is most are running a 315/30R18 tire. If you can't stuff that under the fenders, I think you will be a back marker. Guess what the SpeedTech chassis did for the Yellow Super Bee, it allowed the guy to run a 315. To try and keep up, you are going to probably have to move frame rails around so those tires fit. So it's more than just a new suspension in those cases, it's a new chassis. And while you are at it, make sure you look at things like scrub radius, SAI, roll center (both instant and active), jacking, roll couple, CG, etc. etc. Because I bet the guys at places like SpeedTech did exactly that as well.

But the ultimate prize wouldn't just be to be competitive in a vintage class at one of those bigger venues, but to be competitive with the late model iron as well. Which isn't impossible, there is a '70-ish Camaro that won the Optima overall several times, but with all the tricks like a SpeedTech chassis, mega HP, ABS, etc. And the new stuff just keeps advancing, I guess the Dark Horse has brake by wire now? And the top dog at Optima the last several years has been a tricked out AWD GTR.

For me, I've give up on the dream of building a car for something like the Optima series and instead just want to enjoy driving it. I don't have any events out my way to compete in anyways. I couldn't even find anyone autocrossing up here. There is a road course at the local track, but an open road course day is like $300. That might be cheap if you have the funds to drop on a $5K suspension kit, but this poor boy is working overtime to repurpose OEM computer modules to avoid spending $250-350 on an aftermarket PDC and fan controller. So right now, it ain't in the cards.

Maybe someday I will road trip it to Moparty and maybe see how it stacks up, but the reality is I'm not sure I care anymore as long as it feels like it drives more like a modern car to me.