the Green Brick 69 Valiant out performed many high dollar sports cars in the one lap of America race with some well thought out simple upgrades
Exactly. @autoxcuda is a great member here who will share some info too. He has a badass little cuda.
the Green Brick 69 Valiant out performed many high dollar sports cars in the one lap of America race with some well thought out simple upgrades
I understand. A lot of guys either have forgotten or just don't know that the Valiants of 1960 won a then new compact car NASCAR series. They didn't just win. They placed in the first seven spots. All of that was done with stock or near stock suspensions, because they didn't have all the fancy stuff we have today. So be careful shopping around at what's called an "upgrade".
Boy, that 16:1 box sure is tough if you're not rolling. I'm a big guy too with a lot of upper body strength and I didn't like it. Even as light as the A bodies are, it's tough to turn that thing.
the Green Brick 69 Valiant out performed many high dollar sports cars in the one lap of America race with some well thought out simple upgrades
Learning that the cars absolutely crushed the competition, I don’t see why I would need to mod the engine. It’s a solid engine, capable of putting out plenty of power.
Currently my car feels mostly fine as far as the engine goes. I have issues with it stalling on me at a stoplight that I’m trying to figure out, but by and large it’s great. The suspension is so... squishy I guess. There’s lots of body roll, and yet i can feel every bump in the road. I hope to get rid of some of the harshness, reduce the body roll, and just make it all around better in that sense.
I believe the current steering is 24:1. I do have lots of trouble with it when stationary so I’m not sure I’d do 16:1, just don’t think it’s really necessary on a daily driver. I have lots of play (90° in one direction, normal play in the other) in the steering I’m hoping to eliminate that with a coupler rebuild and alignment.
Boy, that 16:1 box sure is tough if you're not rolling. I'm a big guy too with a lot of upper body strength and I didn't like it. Even as light as the A bodies are, it's tough to turn that thing.
I’m in good shape and the 24:1 is... an inconvenience at worst. Under average conditions, it’s no big deal trying to make a turn from stationary, but having to turn the wheels all the way to one direction can Be difficult and tiring If I’m trying to fit into a tight spot, I can’t imagine putting a 16:1 on the car
I think the 20:1 is a good compromise. I may look into that once I start driving mine again. I'm almost there, too.
So I upgraded the suspension on my '64 Dart to handle better, and this is what I have learned.
Do:
-Replace all the bushings, ball joints, and tie rod ends.
-Upgrade torsion bars to 1" bars
-KYB gas a just shocks if your cheap
-Bilstein shocks if your not cheap
-US car tool stage 2 chassis stiffening
-MP or Espo 6leaf rear springs
-Hellwig hollow sway bars front and back
-11.25" front disks
-dual pot master cylinder
Don't
-manual steering box 16:1 ratio
So this steering box does exactly what it's supposed to and does have a nice quick ratio. However, the ratio is not friendly for quick transition and greatly increase steering effort when the car has wide modern wheels and sticky tires. I'd suggest a firm feel quick ratio power box like a borgeson.
-Do not try to slam the car in search of increased handling. I did initially and had issues with bump steer and unloading the suspension in bumpy corners. Also it's hard to keep your pinion angle right and drive shaft from hitting the floor.
As you can see from the pics. I went higher and higher with mine over time. The car became significantly more enjoyable to drive.
For a true street car, suspension travel is key.
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Awesome! Thank you