68’ barracuda tear down and rebuild suspension Q’s

[Chryslerkid]

I am researching different options for the complete rebuild of my 68’ barracuda suspension. I am planning on rebuilding a 350-400hp 318 meant for street driving and cruising on the weekends.

My current suspension is old and tired. I am strongly considering buying a super front end rebuild kit from PST Suspension with polygraphitebushings, new bill stein shocks, new torsion bars, new leafs.

My questions are:

Which width torsion bar should I buy for my application?

Am I forgetting anything in my list above as far as parts for the rebuild?

Are there any objections to this specific rebuild kit or company that I am purchasing from?

Any recommendations are appreciated, I am not trying to reinvent the wheel here. I just want a nice handling car that will do well in the windy hills I live in.

 

[BB73Challenger]

I have done a kit from PST for my Challenger, and it cam pretty complete, i don't recall needing anything additional for the install, but what I did learn was I should have bought offset ball joints, as I could get close but not enough camber for a "modern" alignment if I remember correctly.

Also, on my Barracuda, I did the 340 torsion bars, as I bought a good used set here and were 100 times better than my worn originals.

And how about sway bars if you are building a complete good street driver!

 

[RedFish]

I haven't seen offset ball joints. There are offset upper arm bushings available from Moog. You didn't say what you have or want for brakes nor did you say anything about a stabilizer bar.
If your car came with KH disc brakes and a stabilizer bar, renewing with a kit works short of the modern radial tire alignment specs.

 

[Chryslerkid]

Currently I am running front disc rear drums. I was thinking about a front sway bar however I may just rebuild the suspension and then install a sway bar later depending on the ride.

 

[72bluNblu]

I am researching different options for the complete rebuild of my 68’ barracuda suspension. I am planning on rebuilding a 350-400hp 318 meant for street driving and cruising on the weekends.

My current suspension is old and tired. I am strongly considering buying a super front end rebuild kit from PST Suspension with polygraphitebushings, new bill stein shocks, new torsion bars, new leafs.

My questions are:

Which width torsion bar should I buy for my application?

Am I forgetting anything in my list above as far as parts for the rebuild?

Are there any objections to this specific rebuild kit or company that I am purchasing from?

Any recommendations are appreciated, I am not trying to reinvent the wheel here. I just want a nice handling car that will do well in the windy hills I live in.

PST has a pretty good set up. The UCA bushings you'd want are the MOOG K7103's, they're offset to get more positive caster if you're keeping the stock upper control arms. They're rubber, and I'm not aware of an offset UCA bushing made out of poly or anything else for the stock arms.

When I install poly bushings I always use greaseable LCA pins and adjustable strut rods. According to the PST website the polygraphite they use is supposed to be self lubricating, and I'd have to see their LCA bushing design to see if greaseable pins would even work with them because that style LCA pin has a larger diameter to replace the inner shell of the bushing. But for anything other than rubber I like to be able to add grease if something starts squeaking. Maybe @PST will chime in on the polygraphite bushings.

The adjustable strut rods are very helpful. The stock strut rods were a "one size fits most" type of deal, and them being the right length depended a lot on the OE rubber bushings having a whole ton of flex and give in them. Get rid of the rubber bushings and the length of the strut rod is more important, it has to be more accurate for the suspension to work properly. Otherwise the LCA will bind as it travels, and that doesn't make for good handling. I install adjustable strut rods on all of my cars regardless.

The PST 1.03" torsion bars are a good diameter for decent handling without getting too crazy. They'll work great with a set of Bilstein shocks and that will do wonders for your cars handling ability. You can definitely go bigger, but if you're just street driving and cruising around you don't need to. If you want to do AutoX stuff or have a real corner carver, you might look at 1.06" or 1.08" torsion bars.

Sway bars will still be a good idea even with the 1.03" bars, but you can install those any time. So if you want to do the rebuild and see how it rides and handles first that's not a bad plan at all.

 

[AJ/FormS]

I am planning on rebuilding a 350-400hp 318 meant for street driving and cruising on the weekends.

If you really want that much power from a 318, for a street cruiser; I highly recommend aluminum hi-flow heads, and max the cylinder pressure as high as you can affordably go, to around 185 or a bit more. This will allow you to run a much more streetable cam, like a 220 to 228 @.050. I'm thinking Magnums. And I'd try 87E10
Or just put a small stroker crank in it,like a 3.58 or a 3.79.. The 3.58 would make getting a zero-deck easy. It's almost too easy
Make up any performance shortfall with stall and gears.

 

[Chryslerkid]

Thanks for all the info everyone. I will keep you all updated as I dig in to this project.

 

[PST]

PST has a pretty good set up. The UCA bushings you'd want are the MOOG K7103's, they're offset to get more positive caster if you're keeping the stock upper control arms. They're rubber, and I'm not aware of an offset UCA bushing made out of poly or anything else for the stock arms.

When I install poly bushings I always use greaseable LCA pins and adjustable strut rods. According to the PST website the polygraphite they use is supposed to be self lubricating, and I'd have to see their LCA bushing design to see if greaseable pins would even work with them because that style LCA pin has a larger diameter to replace the inner shell of the bushing. But for anything other than rubber I like to be able to add grease if something starts squeaking. Maybe @PST will chime in on the polygraphite bushings.

The adjustable strut rods are very helpful. The stock strut rods were a "one size fits most" type of deal, and them being the right length depended a lot on the OE rubber bushings having a whole ton of flex and give in them. Get rid of the rubber bushings and the length of the strut rod is more important, it has to be more accurate for the suspension to work properly. Otherwise the LCA will bind as it travels, and that doesn't make for good handling. I install adjustable strut rods on all of my cars regardless.

The PST 1.03" torsion bars are a good diameter for decent handling without getting too crazy. They'll work great with a set of Bilstein shocks and that will do wonders for your cars handling ability. You can definitely go bigger, but if you're just street driving and cruising around you don't need to. If you want to do AutoX stuff or have a real corner carver, you might look at 1.06" or 1.08" torsion bars.

Sway bars will still be a good idea even with the 1.03" bars, but you can install those any time. So if you want to do the rebuild and see how it rides and handles first that's not a bad plan at all.

On our polygraphite front end kits we supply in the kit with a set of lower rubber control arm bushings in addition to the poly LCA. This is for customers that want rubber lowers. Our polys will work with your stock pivot shaft as well. But we do offer greasable pivot shafts and are over-sized to run without the inner sleeves.

Thanks
James

 

[rednesss]

On our polygraphite front end kits we supply in the kit with a set of lower rubber control arm bushings in addition to the poly LCA. This is for customers that want rubber lowers. Our polys will work with your stock pivot shaft as well. But we do offer greasable pivot shafts and are over-sized to run without the inner sleeves.

Thanks
James

Can you get replacement heim joints for the strut rods from PST or can you just source them from anywhere?

 

[PST]

Yes we supply replacement heim joints for our strut rods. I would ask that you please call into our customer service and they will assist you.

Thanks
James