65 Dart Street set-up

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Patch

Patch

Patch
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Hi all.....I have read numerous forums about setting our cars up for drag racing...but what I am really interested in is a nice, tight street handling set up with some new tech tricks thrown in for safety and driveability. I am planning on a 360 and a 4 speed in my 65 2 door Sedan....bigger torsion bars and what not....I have the 1973 disc brake set up already (not installed) and like most of us...have a small....spread out budget. I see these new kits from the suspension companies......anyway.....I'd like to hear what some of you think as far as what I want to accomplish.....Thanks....Patch
 
Do a search on Google.com for Tom Condran's book, "Performance Handling for Classic Mopars". It's awesome. For a measly $30, it answers all your questions and more. Now that I know it's possible, I would not even think about spending tons of hard-earned cash on suspension parts until understanding what they are, what they do, why they were designed as they were, etc. etc. etc.... and astonishingly, all of this is relayed in plain English that most people could understand, and the average car geek could devour easily. You will become an expert.

It has become a staple in my reference library. I will never sell my copy. It's that good!

- Erik

64 Valiant, 170 3-spd
82 Volvo wagon, 5.0 5-spd :)
 
Good question! I'm not sure there's a "right" answer though. You'll want dics brakes, heavier springs front and rear plus the widest tires you can fit.

The big limitation on our early A-bodies is the tire size, specifically the width that we can fit. The LBP will help by allowing a much better selection of wheels and tires, specifically 15" and larger diamter, check out the tire size on a 2010 Charger they are HUGE compared to the 13" and 14" tires our cars originally came with.
 
I'm running a '65 Dart 2-dr sdn./360, 395hp crate/Keisler 5 spd./3.91's. It's a good idea to upgrade the handling of your car! There are LOTS of things you can do to improve the handling, but I would first recommend having the K-frame blueprinted. Several recent articles in Mopar Action Mag. addressed steering upgrades...good reading!
You will want AT LEAST 16" x 8" wheels with no more than 4.5" back space.
Kenabody
 
16x8 wheels.......WOW. I see some metal work in my future....lol.....I know up front isnt an issue....but out back........Wowzzers......:)
 
A set of CAP upper control arms are in order. This way you can set camber and caster to support your handling needs. Look @ CAPAUTOPRODUCTS.COM for all your suspension needs. This company has all you need for your "A" body.
I run all of his "stuff" under my 65, and a variety of components on my other "A" bodies! No problems, just fantastic results!
 
Good idea Rob. Anything that stiffens up the flexable parts is a good idea.

The T-bars are a up and down item while thicker swap bars will control the boat on the water feeling. I would certainly start with sway bars and use as wide of a tire that I can stuff under/in the wheel well as possible. This, by itself, will take care of nearly most of the hadleing issues.

New rear springs are a really nice ting to pick up. I myself opted to get ESPO.coms 1 inch over bend springs for my Duster. It gives the car a nice rake without a jacked up look. They are also a tad stiffer but do ride well.

As far as braking goes, look for a donor Cordoba for the bigger brakes. A '79 will have them. 11.75 discs are nothing to look away from or balk at.

Also, look for the bigger drums from the same car, often found on HD 8-1/4 rears or stock on the 9-1/4 rears. The backing plate is key and swaps right on the 8-1/4. Once you have the backing plate, everything else can be purchased new from the auto parts store. (If it is any good)

This is what I did on my Duster.
 
Patch said:
16x8 wheels.......WOW. I see some metal work in my future....lol.....I know up front isnt an issue....but out back........Wowzzers......:)
Click to expand...

Patch, I think the wheel wells are the same size on a 65 cuda, although i'm not positive.
On my Cuda i'm running 17 X 9, in the stock wheel well, with 275's . I do have the spring's moved in,
the key is the back space of my rims at 5.94 inch's. They are perfecly centered. I have a 1970 8 3/4 with Yukon axles.

The rear rims are $164 each right now. fronts are 17 X 8 and are $158.

and what rumble said:cheers:
 
So the Grey or Chrome Bullitt style wheels? I've always liked those too.....But the rear springs definately would need to be moved in I understand???
 
Correct Patch.
I went with the Chrome wheels, and I like the classic 5 spoke look.
For fitment I used a tool called Percy's wheel rite, I think I got it from Jegs. It is a little flimsy, and made of plastic but it worked.

tire1.jpg


17reartire.JPG


tire2.jpg
 
Keith Mopar said:
On my Cuda i'm running 17 X 9, in the stock wheel well, with 275's . I do have the springs moved in,
Click to expand...

What aspect ratio? By the look of those pictures, must be something like a 275/40?

Useful to know that you can fit 17x9 without tubbing.

- Erik

64 Valiant, 170 3-spd
82 Volvo wagon, 5.0 5-spd :)
 
mpgFanatic said:
What aspect ratio? By the look of those pictures, must be something like a 275/40?
Click to expand...

Fronts Falken FK-452 - 225/45ZR17 - 87Y - BW
Rears Falken FK-452 - 275/40ZR17 - 96Y - BW

I should also add the rear's as said are 17 X 9, and fronts are 17 X 8
 
Any full profile shots of your B' Cuda? Those rims look very nice.....what center caps are you going to use? Also.....did you use the bolt in offset hanger set-up or the full weld in?
 
The center caps that came with them wouldn't fit over the wilwood front brakes. so I ordered some plain ones but they did fit. I can't take any more pics as the car is in the air as I'm doing the body work and putting the car in primer, well thats the plan.
Herer is a pic of the front rims.
I also used the weld in spring kit. The the other kit didn't move the front end of the spring over enough, i did try it.

tire3.jpg
 
I think those wheels look really cool, but the back wheels are going to rub like crazy on the inside wheel well based on my experience when the car rolls into a slight corner. You need some mini tubs.
 
The inside has 3/8 of clearence and the outside has 1/4" of clearence. To stop the rear end from moving and to stop tire rub I have installed a pan hard. We did this on my buddies 66 Canadian Valiant (US Dart) and worked really well, He's running 265's 45 16's on 16 X 8's. no rubbing even while doing monserous burn outs drifting sideways.
 
The Panhard bar or track bar is a weld in deal. Jegs is where mine came from. I did have to supply a little more metal than what came in the kit. You get a bar threaded at each end a frame bracket and some metal tabs to weld to the rear. If you shorten the bar you will have to rethread the end you cut off.

panhard.jpg
 
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